subject: Learn More About Your Customers Preferences Using Social Media Tracking [print this page] In order to keep your business thriving, it is essential that you utilize social media tracking. By tracking social media, you will remain knowledgeable about the wants and needs of your customers.
Technological Advancements
Marketing via the television was rather simple. Shows were broadcast that had the ability to give brands immense publicity. The growing number of channels on cable allowed the smaller brands affordable advertising. Finding your target audience was relatively easy and it was nearly just as simple to measure their response.
With the technological advances of today, competing for the attention of the consumer is not sustainable. This technique worked when consumers were interrupted while watching television. Today, a marketer cannot program the consumers via commercials; instead, you must attract consumers through genuine brand experiences and unique content.
To succeed in business you need to know where your brand will fit into the lifestyle of your consumers. To understand this, you need to be part of their conversations and communities, which will give you the information you need to continue engaging and then connecting with your customers. There are social media monitoring tools available to assist you with obtaining this vital information. However, prior to using any of the tools, you need to know what the following four terms mean.
Customer Influence
If you have customers with a strong opinion concerning your brand, it is important that you understand the influence that those customers may have.
Do they have many followers?
Do these customers get retweets?
Are there external links that point to their blog, if so, how many?
Do their blog posts attract attention and have lots of comments?
Sentiment
Are the comments on the blog posts positive or negative? Most of the current tools try to assign sentiment to posts automatically. This is helpful for some brands, but is only approximately 70 percent accurate for most cases. Manual spot-checking is encouraged prior to making any decisions that are based on the influence data.
Volume
This term refers to the number of conversations taking place. Many of the monitoring tools allow for charting the volume for particular keywords over time. This gives you an excellent way to measure the effectiveness of your social media campaigns and marketing efforts, especially when used in conjunction with sentiment.
Workflow
This refers to the act of assigning, tracking social media and then responding to it, especially in a team environment. Effective workflows prevent missed opportunities and double responses.
Now that you are aware of and understand these terms, you can find the social media tracking tool that works best for you and your business.
