What is the role of the Social Listener?

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It is difficult for companies to conduct research to find out the response their products generate in their audiences without being invasive and, more importantly, without influencing them. This is why in recent years the concept of “social listener” or “social monitoring” has begun to develop.

Basically, the role of the social listener (which can be a what is 99 acres?person or a specialized company) is to evaluate what is being said publicly about a brand or product and respond appropriately. The interesting thing about this technique is that the information collected is not only limited to metrics such as how many likes Facebook posts have or how many followers there are on Instagram, but it also gathers a broader image that includes the perception, image, attitude and evaluation that the public has built over time about the brand – and most importantly, from an emotional perspective.

It answers the eternal question of whether the what is 99 acres? company is meeting its initial objectives and commitments to its customers.

Social listening as an online monitoring tool is not necessarily limited to marketing, and can also be applied to individuals or institutions. In this article, however, we will focus on social listening as a concept related to marketing.

The why of social listening

Some studies in social psychology have revealed that invasive assessments such as focus groups or psychological market surveys produce bias in the audience, with a tendency to influence the response positively or negatively towards the company that consulted and generating unreliable results.

We could say that this work is carried out in a “natural environment”, which is the Internet (and especially social media). In this environment, there is a process of interaction between the audience where opinions, critiques and reviews are constantly being shared freely, which the social listener uses as a tool to generate pure exploration.

How does the social listener carry out his role?

The role of the social listener is to generate research as if he were a scientist, using data and developing hypotheses.

The problem is that the Internet produces an unlimited amount of scattered and poorly structured data, which encompasses an endless number of topics that need to be defined. To do this, the brand interested in knowing what is being said about its product must establish an objective that encompasses 4 different stages or processes:

Monitoring: The social listener analyzes what is being said about a topic using keywords to find media that talk primarily about numerical data such as metrics or statistics. The goal is to know the audience's level of satisfaction.
Ask and listen: a deeper analysis of the causes that led to the development of the monitored opinion, by approaching the audience as an equal in discussions and forums. The goal is to listen to the audience in order to detect any possible discontent and correct it.
Explore and learn: The role of the social listener is to evaluate the future of various alternatives that could potentially modify the current state of the company , imagining the audience's reaction. The goal is to predict behavior and response to a change.
Act and interact: seek new horizons of expansion for the brand, generating interaction not only with the audience but also with the competition. The goal is to consolidate and expand the company's projections.
Benefits of social listening

Applying this concept can bring many benefits to your brand, such as knowing and understanding your audience to create a more effective product, being alert and anticipating crises, identifying the effectiveness of a campaign, recognizing errors and improving them, and even expanding your customer base.

The biggest benefit, however, is that social listening produces a significant improvement to your communication strategy: if you don't just limit yourself to listening to feedback but act on it, the interest you show will build deeper and more stable levels of commitment and loyalty.