November 13, 2018
If someone is talking to you, do you listen? So how does that differ in the digital space? Your customers have a voice and they are more than willing to share it. Social media monitoring is imperative to continued business because it’s one of the only ways you know if you’re doing a good job.
Yet, the average response rate for a brand is less than 12% on Twitter and 9% on Facebook. Surely these brands are not ignoring their customers, so what gives? It’s probably that they’re not talking about them. Here are a few reasons why social monitoring is the bee’s knees:
Social monitoring makes your brand more approachable. Why? Because you’re always there, thus, you are reliable. Monitoring is automation, so you do not actually have to listen 24/7. Just pay attention to your notifications.
Did you know that 34.5% of consumers prefer to reach out to brands for customer care through social media? That beat out other channels like live chat (24.7%), email (19.4%) and 1-800 numbers (16.1%). So, paying attention to social media is a wise idea.
Key influencers and brand advocates are a modern marketer’s best tool. That’s because word-of-mouth always wants to remain the most powerful form of advertising. Continuous social monitoring allows you to identify the most influential people talking about your brand.
You can then reach out to them for possible collaboration. When you have an advocate with a huge following shouting your name, you will see a spike and traffic. And that typically leads to conversions.
You can also use social monitoring to see what your competition is up to. Pay attention to their campaigns that are working and those that are failing. It’s likely, since you’re in the same industry, the same could happen to your brand. Therefore, monitoring helps you avoid pitfalls and common obstacles.
On the flip, it will also demonstrate any type of advertising that is a success. You don’t have to copy anybody. Use this as an inspiration for running your own successful campaigns.
There is nothing worse than ignoring an upset customer. You will never see them again. However, social monitoring allows you to respond within minutes. In this fast-paced, busy world, that can be an impressive feat. You can win back lost customers by having a stellar response rate and making them feel as if they are the only customer you have.
Even if your attempt falls on deaf ears for the angry customer, it’s social media. Other people are watching, and they will see how you handle issues in a professional manner.
Social monitoring is not difficult. There are many tools on the internet that are free. Google has a basic monitoring tool called Google Alerts. Once you set your notifications, make sure you follow up, or else, what’s the point?
This is really about consumer personalization. The more you can make, the more success you will see. Social monitoring can build that bridge.