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Content is king, but which type converts? Social listening is one step in answering that question. Brands use it to monitor social media for relevant information, keywords and conversations to gain insights from potential prospects. Social listening quantifies sentiment toward your brand, what content is garnering attention and common themes to address or leverage.
Is your content engaging?
Social listening is beneficial in building an engaging, intentional content-marketing strategy rather than just “winging it.” Brands typically look at likes and comments when measuring engagement. While social media algorithms that affect visibility favor those metrics, they do not offer a complete picture of how many people view your content or are interested in your services.
Wonder why your posts have more views than likes or comments? Viewing is the easiest, non-committal course of action for users, and is why 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute. But if your audience isn’t actively engaging, it could also indicate your approach is not resonating with them due to the topic, delivery, or posting too little or too much. For example, overlooking the use of video could be a missed opportunity when 50% of social media users say they prefer it over other types of content.
Creating a thoughtful social media strategy that builds engagement, community, and interest in your ideal markets begins with understanding what’s relevant and important to your audience.
Let’s discuss how to start using social listening.
Social listening ABCs
Here are some methods to begin social listening, many of which don’t cost a thing:
Set up alerts
Use tools such as Google Alerts and Sprout Social to get notifications when there are mentions of your firm’s name, keywords, industry themes, and prominent firm figures. Alerts are a timely way to stay informed about conversations and news even when you’re not directly tagged on social media. These insights help you address common challenges or determine the best times to reach prospects.
Pro tip: Do the same thing for your competitors to monitor what prospects say about comparable firms in your market.
Give them more of what they want
Lean into content – such as a short-form video, award announcements, or team photos – that has historically performed well.
Consider where your leads originate and create more content around those themes, such as prospects hearing about a media mention or recent achievement.
“Spike” positive content by encouraging participation and visibility on posts you anticipate will perform well.
Promote posts on LinkedIn using the “notify employees” option to nudge coworkers to share them.
Send post links to your internal teams and encourage sharing them with templated post inspiration such as: “Have you heard? Our firm recently received this award! I’m thankful to work with an amazing firm that values its advisors.”
Boost posts if you have an ad budget. Carefully select which posts to promote and use the feature sparingly to remain effective.
Use FAQs for content and process improvements
Leverage conversations online and offline to address what’s important to your audience and proactively answer common questions.
Use feedback about recurring challenges regarding a process or operating model to improve client care or launch new features.
Analyze click-through rates on blog posts and other content
Users might contribute little, but they may spend time reading your blog or newsletter.
Use this data to repurpose shorter-form content for social media such as a “tweetable” quote, 20-second video clip, or step-by-step instructions.
Follow industry-adjacent organizations and events
Find prospects by identifying conferences, ceremonies, and network events to join, invest time and resources and make connections.
Create savable, shareable content. Likes and comments increase your visibility, but saves and shares are next-level engagement. Platforms like Instagram highly favor shares and saves, directing more eyes to quality, credible content.
Develop content that provides value to users such as tips or tutorials
Make your content so compelling that users share it with their network or refer to it repeatedly.
This is an excellent way to build trust and credibility as an expert. You’ll be the brand that’s top-of-mind (or feed) when prospects are looking for firms in the future.
Social listening makes you a digital fly on the virtual wall of social media to better tailor your content and connect with prospects. Intentional listening, a core component of building purposeful engagement in every great relationship, is critical on social media. Use these strategies to elevate your social-media marketing, address and apply your audience’s feedback, get to know your ideal clients even better and attract more of them to your door.
Lauren Hong is president of Out & About, a full-service marketing firm that she founded in 2013.
Read more articles by Lauren Hong
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
