Most brands only pay attention to social media when they are posting. But some of the most valuable insights come from listening to what people say about your brand, industry, and competitors when you are not in the conversation.
Social listening goes beyond monitoring your mentions and notifications. It involves tracking keywords, phrases, brand names, and industry terms across social platforms to understand trends, sentiment, and opportunities in real time.
A customer complaint that goes viral can cause serious damage. Social listening alerts you to negative mentions early so you can respond before they escalate. Brands that respond to negative feedback within 1 hour recover customer trust 70% of the time.
The questions your audience asks online are a goldmine of content ideas. If people keep asking "how to schedule Instagram posts," that is a signal to create content addressing that exact question.
Track what people say about your competitors. Are their customers complaining about a feature that you do well? That is a marketing opportunity. Are they praising something you lack? That is a product development insight.
SocialHub's listening dashboard lets you track unlimited keywords across Twitter, Reddit, and public Facebook groups. Set up alerts for your brand name, product names, competitor names, and key industry terms. The sentiment analysis automatically categorizes mentions as positive, negative, or neutral, so you can prioritize your responses.
Start with the basics: your brand name, your top 3 competitors, and 5-10 industry keywords. Review your listening dashboard weekly and incorporate insights into your content strategy and customer response workflow.