Chapter 6: Social Listening
Chapter 6 of 15
Chapter 6: Social Listening
6.1 Listening Tools
Social listening tools monitor online conversations about your brand, industry, competitors, and relevant topics, providing valuable insights for strategy.
Popular Listening Tools:
- Brandwatch: Comprehensive social listening and analytics
- Sprout Social: Listening with engagement capabilities
- Hootsuite Insights: Integrated listening and monitoring
- Mention: Real-time brand monitoring
- Google Alerts: Free basic monitoring
What to Monitor:
- Brand mentions (with and without @)
- Competitor mentions and activity
- Industry keywords and trends
- Hashtag performance and conversations
- Customer questions and complaints
Listening Benefits:
- Identify opportunities for engagement
- Respond to customer issues quickly
- Discover content ideas and trends
- Monitor competitor strategies
- Understand audience sentiment
6.2 Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment analysis evaluates the emotional tone of conversations about your brand, helping you understand public perception and identify issues early.
Sentiment Categories:
- Positive: Praise, recommendations, positive experiences
- Neutral: Factual mentions, questions, general references
- Negative: Complaints, criticism, negative experiences
Analysis Applications:
- Track brand sentiment over time
- Identify sentiment trends and changes
- Compare sentiment across platforms
- Measure campaign sentiment impact
- Monitor competitor sentiment
Responding to Sentiment:
- Amplify positive sentiment with engagement
- Address negative sentiment promptly
- Use insights to improve products/services
- Identify brand advocates and influencers
- Inform content and messaging strategy
6.3 Competitive Intelligence
Social listening provides competitive intelligence to inform strategy and identify opportunities.
Competitor Monitoring:
- Track competitor content and campaigns
- Monitor competitor mentions and sentiment
- Analyze competitor engagement rates
- Identify competitor partnerships
- Discover competitor weaknesses