In most digital marketing and offline marketing campaigns, market research has always been a fundamental part to determine the success with your marketing initiative. Social media marketing has made it very easy to find out what people are saying about you, what do they think about your products and services, what they are really interested in, what questions they are asking, and what you should be talking to them about.
It really doesn’t matter if you don’t want to monitor and listen what is being said online about you, it is happening even with out you. The online conversation is making brand impressions on your business and market everyday. It is happening even if you have chosen to ignore social media completely. You can ignore social media, but you can’t choose to ignore the big impact the conversation is having on your business and what your audience thinks of you.
Once you start with the listening process, what questions should you ask to get started with the research? Find a couple of questions below that you can use for your research.
Online conversation listening process
- Who is talking about your products and services?
- What are these people saying about you, your industry and your competitors?
- Is the conversation positive or negative?
- What are your competitors doing on various social media channels?
- Are they successful?
- Are they generating a buzz?
- What content attracts your target audience?
- What answers can you provide to your target audience?
- What social media channels can you use?
- Who can you connect with to influence your brand?
- What are the threats and opportunities?
Once you have all the data from your listening research, you should be able to plan your strategy. You will have an insight on where you should start your social media marketing campaign, and what social media channels you are going to use. When you are familiar with what you are dealing with, you can plot a strategy and plan to meet your business objectives. A well planned social media marketing strategy together with a listening process can help you find out what people are saying about you, right now.
