Editorial
The Gist
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Rethink social strategy. Consumers are tuning out branded content. Brands must shift from broadcasting messages to actively responding to real customer conversations.
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Spot hidden opportunities. Social listening reveals unexpected product uses, unmet customer needs and brand loyalty drivers that traditional research might overlook.
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Turn insights into action. Brands that track customer struggles and successes can improve experiences, drive innovation and build stronger relationships.
CMOs are constantly tasked with making strategic decisions about where to allocate their budgets. According to Gartner research, social media remains a significant investment area, absorbing 12.3% of digital channel budgets. However, despite this substantial investment, a shift in consumer behavior suggests that brands may need to rethink their approach to social media marketing.
While 77% of US consumers have used social media in the past year, only 39% are receptive to branded content. There is a growing reluctance among users to engage with promotional material on these platforms. This trend underscores the need for brands to adapt their strategies.
It’s time for a reevaluation of how brands engage with consumers throughout the customer journey. The key is to listen where consumers are naturally conversing and to rethink how to learn from (and about) customers. Social listening, often an underutilized capability, can significantly enhance a brand's understanding of its customers' goals, aspirations and needs.
This approach identifies vulnerabilities and uncovers opportunities to drive customer loyalty, retention and advocacy. Organizations that prioritize how and where they listen across the customer journey are better positioned to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Maximize Social Listening With Your Existing Tools
To maintain a competitive edge in customer loyalty and growth, brands must start by understanding their customers. According to Gartner research, social media ranks among the top three data sources for building customer personas. These personas provide valuable insights that inform everything from content development to customer care to digital commerce functionality.
Brands should use and optimize existing resources to enhance their customer understanding capabilities. This involves identifying available data and tools within the organization and collaborating with teams that manage social media listening vendors. By standardizing the integration of social listening into ongoing customer understanding efforts, brands can avoid unnecessary investments in additional research insights or platforms.
Engaging IT and marketing technology leaders is essential to gain visibility into data and analytical technologies. These leaders can provide insights into how data can be used, help identify future technology investments and prevent duplication of work.
Identify Key Customer Insights Through Social Listening
Social listening offers a deeper understanding of customer interactions with your brand. Customers engage with and discuss your brand on social media at every stage of their journey, which can provide valuable insights into both current and prospective customers. To maximize the benefits of social listening, brands should focus on three key themes: hacks, hardship and happiness.
Identifying Product ‘Hacks’
Monitoring how customers "hack" your product or category (i.e., using it in ways not originally intended) can reveal opportunities for innovation. For instance, some food brands have embraced the popularity of secret menu items by integrating them into their mobile apps and promoting them on TikTok. This has both enhanced customer personalization and streamlined operations for employees.
Listening for Customer Hardships
It's important to track customer complaints and validate them using other data sources like surveys. Brands should prioritize complaints based on engagement, emotional responses and conflicts between brand promises and delivery.
Tracking Customer Happiness
Monitoring positive customer advocacy about specific aspects of your customer experience can help amplify these strengths. Brands can use their passionate customer communities to gather feedback and create features that enhance the user experience.
Related Article: Why Most Brands Fail at Customer Loyalty (And How to Succeed)
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Turn Social Listening Data into Real Customer Value
While many organizations focus on known issues, customers use social media for various purposes, and they seek out advice, tips and inspiration to achieve their own goals. Brands should proactively seek out goal-driven content, such as tutorials and success stories, to identify engagement opportunities.
This approach allows brands to deliver value by understanding how existing offerings might be underutilized and by identifying new experiences, products or services that meet customer needs.
As social media continues to play a pivotal role in digital marketing strategies, brands must adapt to changing consumer behaviors. By using social listening and focusing on customer understanding, brands can navigate the evolving landscape and realize new opportunities for growth and engagement.
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