The Truth About Listening

Transcription

1 The Truth About Listening Social Media and Digital Communication Social Pro = #SocPro Steve Lee, APR 1

2 NOT Listening Caring 2

3 Whack a Mole If you think explaining digital comm functions is tough, try explaining listening Largely unwashed comments are coming at us every minute of the day Knee jerk reactions 3

4 What is Listening? More than monitoring social conversations, it looking for conversations Noting behaviors and motivations Learning wants and desires Sensing trends Hearing problems, pain 4

5 The Ideal Scenario Listen Change Understand Learn 5

6 The Trouble with Listening Most orgs don t really want to invest in listening, it sometimes brings bad news Shoot the messenger Pandora s box So what? says the org What happens with what we learn? Who in the org is open to listening? Who cares? We know what s best Too difficult or costly to affect change Really don t want to change 6

7 Why Listen? Identify, target and acquire customers The hardest and usually last step in listening Research: Current & Future needs, wants, desires General and specific trends Content THEY want or need Competition Who is doing/saying what? Early distant warning Crisis averted/mitigated 7

8 What s the Question? Listening is overwhelming, too many datapoints Know the specific question, or have a clear objective before you start Focus in on specific, identifiable org needs New product launch, problem product, competition, consumer movements, sentiment Test new ideas, trends Management tells us their hot buttons 8

9 Where do we Listen? All points of the Digital Diamond Website Web, , social, blogs First and best point of contact Blogs Digital Diamond Comes from everywhere Blog comments Usually clear and specific Social conversations Social Media Listen to your social channels and, if reasonable, to the entire channel 9

10 Types of Listening Active vs. Passive Listening Active requires response Passive is simply data gathering Both are important, but active may not be possible because of org culture Real Time Listening Often associated with customer service, CRM Listen for and quickly handle problems Great for crisis management Costly 10

11 Levels of Listening Level 1: One person, few hours a week Passive, some value Level 2: More people, more hours, specific Active, can be valuable Level 3: Multiple people, employe tools & services Goal-centric, sophisticated 11

12 What to Listen For Develop a Path to Purchase What happens, in sequence, before the audience takes the final action? Buys, Visits, Votes, Donates, Volunteers? Run a race, says on social post Researches online, likes Facebook brands, follows Twitter brands, joins groups Good place for SEO keywords, search ads LIKELY TO SHOP for running gear Watch for specific, predictable behaviors leading to action Place messages and offers in the Path to Purchase 12

13 What to Listen For Customer Relationship Management Listen real-time for people with problems Respond online, quickly with guidance Good association for the org, caring, responsive Take big or personal problems offline Responders must be fully trained Have set of Q&A (responses) ready Good tactic is you know a problem is coming 13

14 Sentiment Sometimes we just want to take the temperature of our key publics What s hot, what s not Strong feelings, or just sorta, kinda feelings Good benchmarking tool test, wait, retest Effective in issues battles like zoning Can be a test of believability Distro message, gauge reaction 14

15 Listening Resources More than money, listening takes a lot of staff time Include news media as appropriate Don t trust exclusively to young staffers Listening services are imperative as your needs grow Costs money, time to learn, time to assess (NOT analytics) You can spend $ thousands, start small Requires processes within the org Categorize results and know who to pass to 15

16 Lead Generation Ask everywhere Web, , social, blogs Contact (Help) Me visible and easy Make it as painless as possible Not salesy, that scares people off How can we Help? answer questions Capture and get leads to the right people Respond quickly 16

17 Lead Generation Keep customer needs in the forefront Goal is to take then to choice Being helpful builds reputation Avoid overt selling, let the customer ask Document status Follow-up later if not converted Build in goal conversion (GA) Tie into sales software 17

18 Thank You Steve Lee, APR Twitter.com/SMUSocPro Class Hashtag: #SocPro Linkedin.com/in/SteveLeeAPR Twitter.com/SteveLeeAPR Facebook.com/SteveLeeAPR Instagram: SteveLeeAPR Snapchat: SteveLeeAPR 18