February 19, 2018
Social monitoring extends far beyond the realm of social media. It really encompasses every area of the internet in which people have an opportunity to chat about your brand. Most marketers make the mistake of assuming they only need to put their ear to the rails on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but some of the best social data online can be mined from places other than social media. Here are just a few:
If you are new to social listening, you may be inclined to start with a platform like Facebook, but Google is truly the god of all social data. Think about it. The search engine holds the keys to all the information posted on every social media platform, in addition to other places online, like forums and blogs. So, using Google should be your first start.
In addition, Google offers a social monitoring program called Google Alerts that is an easy way to discover exactly when people are talking about you (as in real-time social data). You can set it up to e-mail your Gmail account whenever your search term is mentioned. If you prefer your feedback weekly or monthly, you can also schedule when your alerts are sent.
If you are using a marketing automation platform for your e-mail marketing campaigns, you can also take this opportunity for active social listening. GetResponse is a prime example of an automation tool that can double down for social monitoring. It uses your e-mail to better understand your customers.
GetResponse is intended to automate the entire customer journey, from landing pages to beautifully designed templates, but it can also analyze social trends and report back to you. The system can tell you things like which customers are opening what e-mails, who is clicking on what links, and metrics for your most engaging content.
Another means of using e-mail for social monitoring is by encouraging social media followers to sign up for your mailing list, and simultaneously promoting your brand’s social media profiles in your e-mail campaigns. Once you have cross-pollinated these efforts, track the metrics and enjoy your deep insight!
The best way for a busy business owner to monitor social data without visiting their social media sites is through social media monitoring tools and aggregators. This means a single dashboard that you can connect to all your social platforms and perform your actions there. It is by far the most convenient way for people to social monitor on the web.
By now, there are hundreds of tools available online to assist a company with their social listening strategies, but there are a few that never fail. Check out these three for starters:
Buzzsumo is a platform that allows you to dive deep into Facebook without actually logging into the platform. You can analyze Facebook pages down to the post and establish which content is performing best.
The tool is simple to use and requires little to no market experience. Buzzsumo can provide data like:
This social monitoring tool caters to small business. It has a well-organized dashboard where you can track all of your customer conversations and analyze social data. Sprout Social also offers a “Social Customer Service” feature which allows a company to converse with customers across their social platforms.
In addition to social listening, the platform serves as a social media management tool. Sprout Social offers features like collaborative calendars and built-in messaging. These tools will allow your team to work together to monitor your customers and establish procedures accordingly.
If you want to go all-out in your social monitoring efforts, but don’t want to bother with each social media platform, then Crimson Hexagon is your prime choice. The system was designed to identify growth opportunities and perform deep analysis. This is purely done based on the needs and wishes of your audience using automation and social monitoring.
Crimson Hexagon covers all bases. It doesn’t just analyze data from social media, it also gathers data from these sources:
The platform doesn’t just listen for you, it makes decisions and takes definitive action. It’s pretty much a “set it and forget it” type of system that works really well for demanding operations.
Humans will socialize everywhere, and that applies to the digital space as well. There are a million places on the internet for people to chat. Don’t limit yourself to monitoring just the social channels. You might be missing out on the one data set you need to drive your business to the next level!
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