Knowing what is being said about you across the internet is a great way to help you add to and control the buzz. The way to know is with social media monitoring. Essentially, this means listening in about what others are saying so that you can use it in numerous ways. You can control buzz, increase buzz, and even change bad buzz into good buzz.
* Reporting – Many people don’t use regular methods of reporting problems, but instead go straight to social media to complain or ask their friends questions about a product. If you can catch it, you can add your own response to it, either by turning the answers into a blog post or by answering directly on the thread.
* Research – Social media monitoring is one of the very best ways to conduct audience research. When you’re an observer, your audience will be themselves and reveal so many ways that you can help them. The research you do via social monitoring will enable you to create more products, solve more problems, and wow your customers.
* Building Expertise – Watching social media will help you build your expertise in a way you may not have thought. You’ll learn about what your audience really thinks, as well as what their problems and issues are that you can solve. Plus, when you answer their questions they’ll start perceiving you as the expert.
* Decision Making – By monitoring social media, you’ll be able to make better choices about how to create a product or service. You’ll understand more about your audience so you’ll be able to make more decisions, based on the things you learn from monitoring what your audience is saying and doing.
* Idea Generation – If you need more product or service ideas, monitoring the social buzz can help you do that. When your audience asks their friends for resources you’ll be at the ready to point them in the direction of your products, and you’ll also be able to learn about the new products you need to create.
* Customer Service – Even though social media isn’t the main channel you want to use for customer service, the fact is that people are talking about your work via social media. If you can see and participate in what’s being said in a positive way, you can actually serve your customers via their own social media.
* Engagement – Social media is a great way to engage, but without social monitoring you might miss discussions that take place that you could contribute to. Watching what’s being said gives you the best chance to engage with your customers in a natural way.
* Solve More Problems – The more you know about your audience, the more problems you learn about, and the more problems you can solve. The fact is, it’s much easier to give your audience what they want than to tell them what they want. Observing them helps you accomplish that.
Social media monitoring is a great way to wow your audience to the point where they’ll feel as if you read their mind. You’ll be so fast at answering their questions, dealing with problems, and getting great ideas that you’ll end up being known as the go-to expert in your niche before you know it.