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Social Media Monitoring Tips

Why should you monitor social media? The answer is simple: people trust the opinions of others more than brand advertisements, official websites or PR releases. Electronic word of mouth is deemed as credible as face to face conversations. Interpersonal influence and word of mouth (WOM) are ranked the most important information source when a consumer is making a purchase decision. Social software has changed the way information gets reported online. Almost anyone with an inclination to write and with access to internet connection can potentially get their message across. It is a big risk for your business if you are not aware of what’s being said about your products or services by any individual or your competitor for that matter.

Sample Free Tools
There are a range of free tools that you can use to implementing a social media monitoring program. One of the most used free pieces of software is Google alerts, where you simply set keywords (your business, products, competitors, industry, etc) to follow and have content automatically emailed to your account. You can set to have the notifications on weekly and daily basis, or ‘as it happens’. Other software worth having a look at includes Socialmention, Samepoint, Blogpulse and HowSociable. Twitter applications such as Tweetdeck have the functionality to search keyword topics.

Define Your Objectives
It is important to define what you are monitoring and this will assist you in deciding what tools to use and what keywords to focus on. Have a clear goal in mind, such as monitoring brand mentions, monitoring product and service mentions to answer customer queries, setting up a platform to share marketing information with the employees, finding conversations, monitoring the market to identify potential opportunities or identify individual and businesses that may require our services.

Where are you going to Monitor
The numbers of social media platforms available are increasing at a remarkable rate. It is simply impossible to monitor and have a presence on all of them. You need to select the platforms that are most relevant to the demographics, geographics and psychographics of your current and potential customers and ensure that you are monitoring these platforms for mentions of the business, brand, products and competition.

Decide what to Monitor
As most monitoring is keyword based, it is essential that you input the correct keywords to search; otherwise you will end up with a plethora of information that is simply of no use. Furthermore, you cannot search every keyword as the information that you will receive will create an overload. You need to be selective in the search terms that you use. At the beginning, focus on tracking the company name, brand names, product names, names of key staff, competitor names and products and industry keywords.

Manage Your Reputation
Social media monitoring will highlight conversations about your business, as well as identify the platforms that these mentions and conversations are taking place. When you are alerted to a mention, visit the social media platform and engage in the conversations. If there is something positive said about the business, brand or product, thank them for the comment, notify of future developments and ask for customer feedback. Conversely, if the comments are negative, address their concerns honestly and transparently. These conversations are occurring whether you are monitoring or not; it is better to bury your head in the sand or actively search for and manage these conversations?

The First Stage is Listening
Although mentioned above is to monitor for conversations and engage with them; the first stage involves simply listening. You need to understand the tone and the culture of the community before you start posting comments and engaging; if you do not, you may be perceived as damage control rather than open communications. You need to get to know the community members, stakeholders and influencers, as the norms of behaviour expected amongst the group.

Select Tools Support Your Strategy
If you have decided that your customer profile indicates that they are most likely to be found on a particular social network platform, for example, Twitter and Facebook; choose the software and tools that are strong in collecting, collating and analysing the data in those platforms.

Identify Leaders and Build Relationships
As the information produced by the social media monitoring tools identifies the most influential social media networks where there are conversations surrounding your business, you will also be able to identify the most influential people within those networks. In an attempt to develop brand champions, try and connect with these people; they will be respected in the community and considered as thought leaders. If you can create a positive perception of your business, brand or products, their ability to reach and convince network members can dramatically increase the awareness and desire for your products and services.

Paid Monitoring Software
There are a range of paid versions of social media monitoring software, which range from a minimal monthly fee to rather large contract payments. The added benefit of the paid versions is in their ability to provide the analytical and evaluative tools to support your social media efforts. Not only will they identify conversations and platforms where these conversations and taking place; but identify the influence on the market these have, enable you to responds and engage from the software itself (saving a lot of time), as well as provide advanced analytics of your social media marketing efforts. Some of the more popular systems on the market include Radian6, Scoutlabs and Alterian. However, lesser known (and much cheaper) options include Viral Heat and Trackur, among many others.

Be Proactive in Your Media Monitoring
The old saying has never been more truthful here – the best business decisions are made being based on the best information. How can you make accurate business decisions if you are not monitoring and utilising the plethora of information that is available daily from people who are, or could potentially be your customers. Even if you are not ready to jump into the world of social networks and social media marketing, you must surely appreciate the value of knowledge. Don’t get left behind.