One of the most amazing aspects of social media is the ability to listen directly to your customers to find out their needs and wants. Unfortunately, this is not done by many companies. Instead they rather either spend lots of money on expensive surveys and market research, or avoid it altogether. There’s nothing wrong with spending on surveys and market research, but avoiding information that is right in front of you is a big mistake.
Shut Up And Listen
There’s such a temptation to chatter all the time on social media — what you’ve had for lunch, what you’re doing instead of working, advertising your product specials. In some ways this temptation is good for business. Not because you should blather on and on, but because your customers are probably sharing quite a bit about themselves. Instead of chattering, be quiet and listen to what your customers are saying.
Free Research
Because customer share so much about themselves online, there is a huge opportunity to research what people think about certain products and services just by listening. The better able you are to fulfill the needs of your customers, the more successful you will be. Follow customers and potential customers and see what they are saying. Use keyword searches to find out what problems and needs people have and figure out how you can solve them.
Competitive Advantage
Many of the companies I’ve worked with have had a huge opportunity to connect right to their customers using social media. Even better, none of their competitors were following potential customers. Just by listening and paying attention, you can have a huge competitive advantage over your competitors.
How are you using social listening to improve your business?
