Establishing an online reputation is important for every business. It’s also critical that you build a social media following. In fact, failure to do either can have grave consequences. The best case scenario is getting to the point where your company is immediately recognizable. It’s what most marketers aim to achieve for the brands they develop.
Given the number of people on social media, and the sometimes challenging online climate, brand building can become difficult. Many companies don’t understand this issue until something goes wrong and they receive negative attention. It can become an absolute nightmare. It’s why brand building is an ongoing process. You’re never done. As long as you’re in business, it will be necessary to post on social media and mitigate problems that arise. For this reason, social media listening is critical.
About Social Media Listening
As the term denotes, social media listening is monitoring or “listening” to what’s being communicated online about your brand. Just like a person’s reputation, a brand’s reputation is important. There are companies that specialize in this area because it’s a critical aspect of brand development. NetBase is an example of a company that helps brands mitigate and overcome challenges that arise online. They are a leading provider of social analytics.
There are technologies that pay attention to discussions that are related to your brand and provide comprehensive reports. This is done through the analysis of keywords and even conversations surrounding competitors and the industry at large. Companies like NetBase use social listening to provide guidance and direction for a strategic approach to brand building.
The True Value of Social Media Listening
The idea of a fire burning in a home and not knowing is daunting because the entire house can burn down. That’s a good analogy for why you must understand what’s happening on social media. There are social media listening reports that can provide that information. Instead of waiting until you have a public relations nightmare, why not get in front of it before it becomes front page news? There’s also the fact that customers like it when brands respond to concerns.
If you ignore a customer complaint, there’s a good chance that it will get worse. There’s even a chance that they will become more vocal on social media. There’s also a chance of having the issue go viral. While you could eventually get things under control, it’s something that doesn’t have to happen.
Being Strategic About Brand Development
Developing a brand isn’t something that occurs overnight. While there are some success stories that are unique in that the brand grew immediately because of a major event, that’s not the norm. Growth usually requires a lot of effort and planning. Social media listening enables you to address what’s happening with your brand in a way that is responsive and not reactive. This isn’t just a good way to handle things in business, it’s a good way to handle things in life.
Using NetBase is a great way to truly leverage the power of social media listening so that it works to your advantage. This can be accomplished through analysis of metrics and data gained by using artificial intelligence. With the availability of technology today, not using analytics is nearly unfathomable. It’s a powerful tool that successful brands use to advance business objectives. Perhaps more importantly, it can help to avoid issues that can seriously impede progress. Unfortunately, it happens far too often and some small brands have a hard time overcoming the challenge.