beginner's guide: social listening
DESCRIPTION
An introduction-level guide on social listening. This class will take you through the a) three elements of social listening; b) the four "action checklist" items to find out what sort of action to take after a social listening activity; and c) what it takes to make social listening work for you and your business. Please share on Twitter, LinkedIn, and/or Facebook if you found it useful! Free to use, with attribution for non-commercial purposes, no derivatives permitted.TRANSCRIPT
Social Listening Introduction Class
Jason Cruz
Social Products Lead MRM//McCann Philippines
About the lecturer
@jsncruz
The science of social listening
@jsncruz
Social listening in a nutshell
“[Social listening is] …listening to online conversations to monitor
possible or actual trends, in order to measure the potential impact of
these chatter.”
- Jason Cruz, MRM//McCann
@jsncruz
Difference from other Disciplines
Serves both positive and negative effects of
online conversations
Makes extensive use of third-party
measurement tools
Applicable at all stages of a marketing
campaign
@jsncruz
From promoting the start of a
campaign to the post-event
evaluation, social listening has an important role.
Social listening can help with message
amplification (positive) and crisis-effect
mitigation efforts (negative).
Tools define the quality (and often, quantity) of social
listening for a business. These are investments.
Top Uses for Social Listening
@jsncruz
Discover New Content Ideas for Marketing Campaigns
Build Relationships with Brand Fans and Advocates
Spot Online Conversations Early and Manage Crisis
Elements of social listening
@jsncruz
The three elements of social listening
“The three aspects of social listening are mining, monitoring, and
measuring.”
- Gibson Patterson, Razorfish (2013)
@jsncruz Source: slideshare.net/cadmef/social-listening-preso-may-2013-v2
mining
Mining is the act of actively searching for specific keywords and/or phrases online.
Sample word cloud generated from mining the keyword, “iPhone”.
Getting Started with Mining: • Keywords and/or phrases are selected
ahead of time. • For marketing campaigns, entire
phrases may be mined. • Results are entirely dependent on what
are publicly available.
@jsncruz
Monitoring
Monitoring is the act of actively watching online conversations based on predetermined keywords and/or phrases to spot possible trends.
An example of a social monitoring team in action, the Dell Social Media Command Center.
The Progression of Social Monitoring: • Evolved from simple observation
practices of Online Community Management.
• Scales up in accordance with volume of data, and complexity of data generated and needed.
@jsncruz
measuring
Measuring is the act of calculating online conversation statistics to predict the possible impact of the online conversations being monitored.
Sample measurement report dashboard from popular listening tool radian6.
Making Sense of the Numbers: • Measurement dashboards present
large amounts of data; measuring only those that contribute to a business or communications objective should be top priority.
@jsncruz
What Next?
@jsncruz
“Understanding what works, what might work, why it might work, and
under what circumstances is a major differentiator within the social
media professionals ranks.”
- Jay Baer, Convince & Convert
Source: convinceandconvert.com/community-management/6-skills-you-need-to-be-a-social-media-professional/
Action Steps & Analysis
@jsncruz
Analyzing Listening results
To determine the right course of action for social listening results, this action framework checklist should be considered:
@jsncruz
Mention Volume over time Source influence
Pickup Magnitude Direct Relevance
Action Checklist
Mention Volume over Time
MV/T is the absolute number of mentions of keywords and/or phrases, taking into consideration a specific and relevant timeframe to mine, monitor, and measure.
@jsncruz Source (image): kdvr.com
Why the Time Element? Fencing in data from a specific and relevant time frame reduces the risk of “contaminating” the social listening data with old (and likely) irrelevant results.
Source Influence
Source Influence is the actual and perceived clout of the mention source (or sources). This affects the potential impact of online conversations.
@jsncruz
Why Consider Source Influence? A source mention from a high-influence individual obviously has further reach and generates more impressions than low influence users (see red circle).
Source (image): twitter.com
Pickup Magnitude
PM is how much interest the keywords and/or phrases receive online, and how it crosses borders into the non-digital space (traditional media).
@jsncruz
Why is Pickup Important? Understanding how keywords and/or phrases are magnified outside of digital space will affect the strategy and execution of action plans.
Source (image): getrealphilippines.com
Direct Relevance
DR is the potential effect of online mentions in relation to how much impact it could have to a brand, business, group, or community.
@jsncruz Source (image): un.org
Why Measure Direct Relevance? Social listening results could have important and life-changing impact – but somewhere else, and does not affect one’s immediate surroundings or interests.
Tools of the trade
Third-party tools are popular for social listening because allow digital marketers to get large amounts of data efficiently and effectively.
@jsncruz Some of the most popular social listening tools currently available.
Social Listening in action // Mock Case
@jsncruz
Mock case Study – Soda Z
§ Briefing § A news report on Soda Z allegedly
causing a man to die (after daily consumption of 10L of Soda Z for 5 years).
§ Total mentions: 1000 tweets; a Facebook post with the news report (shared 50 times); steadily picking up re-writes on blogs.
§ Parameters § There is proof that the death was partially
caused by Soda Z side-effects. § The news report was local. § The actual case occurred in South Africa. § The actual case happened in 2006. § Timeframe from first mention to being
spotted was two (2) days. § The most influential mention source has
350 followers, and on average tweets twice daily; average mention sharer has 120 followers/friends.
@jsncruz
Mock case Study – Soda Z
With the Action Checklist, an action plan for social listening can be formulated clearly for this case.
@jsncruz Source (image): blog.brightcove.com
Mock case Study – Soda Z
Mention volume over time. Flagged as “Potential Crisis” because of a large amount of interest on a topic in a relatively short period of time.
Mention Volume HIGH
Timeframe SHORT
Conclusion POTENTIAL CRISIS
@jsncruz
Mock case Study – Soda Z
Source Influence. Even with a high number of mentions, the perpetrators were generally not influential (even those who picked up were at a similar influence level).
Source Mentions LOW/MEDIUM
Individual Influence LOW
Conclusion NOTHING SERIOUS
@jsncruz
Mock case Study – Soda Z
Pickup Magnitude. High volume of social shares (increased awareness about a negative issue) and crossing over to traditional media (even more reach) extends news to more people.
SOCIAL SHARES HIGH
CROSSOVER YES
Conclusion POTENTIAL CRISIS
@jsncruz
Mock case Study – Soda Z
Direct Relevance. The news source happened a long time ago, and is not locally-relevant. This issue is flagged as “nothing serious” due to this.
Age of Information OLD
LOCAL CONTEXT LOW
Conclusion NOTHING SERIOUS
@jsncruz
Mock case Study – Soda Z
Analysis and Insights from Social Listening: 1. The issue was definitely serious, given that it was picked up on both social
media and crossed-over to non-digital space in a short period of time. 2. The low influence levels of the mention sources meant the keywords and/
or phrases could not travel very far. 3. The fact that the news was quit old, and that it was not relevant to the local
online audience meant it did not have much impact to said audience.
@jsncruz
Verdict from Social Listening NOTHING SERIOUS
Social Listening in action // Real World
@jsncruz
The KITKAT – Facebook Tweet
@jsncruz
The KITKAT – Facebook Tweet
KITKAT’s timely tweet fulfilled every single parameter for action, due mostly to how social listening was conducted by the social team.
@jsncruz
Mention Volume over Time Source Influence Direct Relevance Pickup Magnitude
Numerous complaints in a
matter of minutes
Facebook users across all
demographics
Affected Facebook users around the
world
(After) Picked up by local and
international news
The KITKAT – Facebook Tweet
@jsncruz
Now world-famous, the KITKAT – Facebook tweet underlined the importance of social listening, as well as effective moment-marketing practices.
How businesses can use social listening
@jsncruz
Lessons Going Forward
Businesses can benefit greatly from the advantages offered by a strong and well-defined social listening system in place.
@jsncruz
Create (or hire) a dedicated social media management team
Make space for moment-marketing opportunities
Regularly update and define list of relevant keywords and/or phrases
Create “what if” scenarios and prepare action plans
LESSONS
Dedicated Social Team
The management of online, social activities – social media management, community management, social listening – must be given to a dedicated team.
@jsncruz Source (image): mashable.com
Social media cannot be treated as a “side activity” which can be handled as a second-role by employees. This practice takes away much-needed focus and attention to spot opportunities first and manage potential crisis incidents.
Moment-marketing space
While it’s good that businesses plan out social content, there must be a more flexible process to allow publication of “real-time” content.
@jsncruz Source (image): twitter.com
Moment-marketing is infamous for being difficult to pull off correctly. It’s a mix of timing, context, and picking battles well – it’s inefficient and ‘trying too hard’ to try and execute it all the time.
Know what to listen for
To listen to as many keywords and/or phrases as possible is inefficient and ineffective; selecting 5-10 of the most relevant give better data and results.
@jsncruz Source (image): blog.kissmetrics.com
Smart social listening is also about deciding what not to listen to. Sweeping terms are alright, but there should be more detailed, campaign-specific terms to listen for as well to generate better data and results.
Contingency plans
Social listening allows a brand or business to plan ahead of time. Therefore, it allows one to act before anyone else, or manage issues before they blow up.
@jsncruz Source (image): motherjones.com
Spotting content opportunities or potential crisis is useless if there are no action plans or processes in place. Social listening should work hand-in-hand with pre-determined action plans to either amplify (for opportunities) or mitigate (for crises) effects.
Social Listening Thank you!