Social listening as a marketing tool has been gaining recognition and universal adoption. More companies are becoming aware of the technology, and they are asking a number of questions about the technology and about its functions. More often than not, most of them end up believing social listening is a tool that aids in online reputation management, offering insights for customer service and market research. These are some very crucial use cases of social listening, without any doubt. However, if you read on, you will know how social listening can be a wonderful tool for lead generation.
In simple terms, social listening is about paying attention to and tracking brand mentions, industry news, competitor news. Besides helping you with customer service, this tool helps to increase prospects for income – through its lead generation capabilities.
Social Listening Use Case – Lead Generation
The many uses of social listening include online reputation management, customer service, real-time feedback, building brand awareness et cetera. And at some level, all these uses are interlinked. An increase in lead generation can be a direct outcome of a great brand awareness campaign. But, how do we leverage social listening to power up lead generation?
Prospect Hunting
Social listening tools can be used to monitor the experience your customers had with your brand and check how they are talking about it post the purchase. Follow-ups and up-scale customer service will help you build a relationship with them.
People who talk about your brand or product online could also be potential customers. Listening to them is obviously very important and yet, sometimes we fail to do that. We need to tend to the needs of this already established market, satisfy them and convert them into long-time loyal customers. Also, never forget that happy customers are advocates for your brand. When positive word-of-mouth spreads, it will draw in more customers and is an amazing instance of free but powerful advertisement.
An important note to keep in mind is that social listening holds the key to such social mentions. The customer might not tag you or mention your account handle in the comment. Tracking views and engagement on such mentions help you in lead generation for your brand. Hence, monitoring all the social media account, the brand name as a keyword and all hashtags (your brand uses) is a must.
Monitor Your Competitors
Monitoring the chatter around your competitor’s brand is critical to understanding the perception customers have for them. It not only helps you know your share of voice, determine your differentiating points but also, gain potential leads. You could also follow your competitor’s unhappy customers and convert them into your customers by meeting their needs. This can help you increase your customer-base while setting your goals which clearly make you win against your competition.
Monitoring your competitors tells you a lot. Their pain points, areas into which they are investing time and resources, or the product/service features they are working to improve. All these insights can be converted into opportunities worthy of pursuit. If company A acquires company B (who were your competitors) but shuts down its operations in Seattle, you will see the opportunity in Seattle, as it is now an established market offering you an opportunity to invest.
Social Engagement
Customers who feel valued become your best advocates. Building such strong relationships with your customers is not easy. Investing time to listen to your customers online and responding in time, could make them place their trust in you. Customers would prefer a trusted brand over a cheaper brand, such is the power of buyer-seller relationships.
Social listening and tracking your customers and their chatter about your brand will help you react and reach out to them immediately and to make them feel valued. It is as simple as that, yet such a task takes time and effort. When you are trying to establish a bond, you will need to be patient, listen to people, understand needs, be empathetic and offer a solution, but not start spouting a sales pitch. The idea is to build credibility first.
In conclusion, a multi-pronged social listening strategy for lead generation can help you spread brand awareness, tap into vital information and actually build your customer base.