As social networks evolve, social listening has also developed accordingly to catch up with the need to understand users of marketers. How has social listening been applied to social media marketing over the years? Is Social Listening a Measurement Tool Anymore?
Along with the development of social networks, Social Listening is also growing in application capabilities. If in the past, Social Listening was only about collecting social media data, today data collection is only a part of Social Listening. Measuring buzz volume or sentiment is no longer the only function of Social Listening. In the context of this article, let's look at old questions through a new lens: What is social listening and what role does it play in social media marketing?
Social Listening is a form of market research whose object of analysis is the discussion of users on social networks. Typically, to solve a Social Listening problem, the researcher will go through the following steps:
In general, the analysis process of Social Listening is similar to traditional research. The difference is that traditional research can deepen the problem through interview and survey methods but is time-consuming and costly if done on a large scale. Meanwhile, Social Listening data, which is social media discussion, is “readily available,” shortening research time and reducing the lag between research results and industry reality. In addition, the user's discussion is not affected by the subjective opinion of the researcher, so it is possible to ensure the objectivity of the data.
Initially, social listening was seen by many marketers as a pure measurement tool, providing some basic indicators about the campaign or brand with competitors (number of discussions, number of people discussed, sentiment indicators, etc.). However, over time, the social network has expanded in size, users have become familiar with the Digital Transformation and therefore shared more than before. Trends coming from social media have become more and more common. Social Listening has also changed to meet the diverse research needs of marketers.
Brand Health Analysis: As one of the original applications of Social Listening, it helps brands track activity on social networks and compare with competitors in the same industry. Thereby, help the brand get an objective perspective on its current position in its related industry.
Campaign Analysis: Social Listening was once seen as a “post-campaign tool,” which only came to measure when a campaign was over. Today, more and more brands are using Social Listening for the pre-campaign phase, helping brands connect with users in real time. In fact, some campaigns have used Social Listening at the same time as the campaign to build content.
Special Occasion Analysis: The special occasion on the social media will be very different from the special occasion in reality. Let's take a simple example: If April Fool's Day is a day of lies, for social media users, it's a day for all people to confess their love. Social Listening will analyze and help marketers discover unique points about social media users on special occasions. With data collected in real time, Social Listening proves to be extremely useful when brands need to keep track of special occasions such as the New Year, or special occasions that do not have a specific start and end time (hot season, rainy season, milk tea time, sleepy time, etc.)
Crisis Management: The media crisis has always been a major concern for brands and is becoming increasingly complex. BuzzMetrics' consolidated report shows that the risk of a second outbreak during a crisis is increasing, as well as the duration of the crisis is getting longer. Users instead of sharing on personal pages have turned to community pages with the desire for their voices to spread more strongly. In this context, Social Listening helps to warn the brand about the risk of crisis and gives suggestions on how to handle it.
User Analysis: Social Listening helps marketers understand users from a variety of perspectives, be it their behavior and attitudes within a single industry (UnA Research), or analyzing customers by large user groups (Gen-Z, Millennials,...). With the increasing data coverage of Social Listening, every user attribute such as personality, lifestyle, style, interests can be thoroughly analyzed. From there, Social Listening indicates the characteristics of users belonging to an industry, or differences between groups of users from one another.
Trend Analysis: On average every month, the social network has more than 200 hot topics. Even so, not every hot topic can be leveraged to build a brand image. Social Listening helps marketers identify hot topics that are relevant to the brand on social networks, social slang that are popular so that brands can include in articles and become closer to users. With the development of A.I., brands can now track the development of hot topics of each major concern in real time.
There are many social listening platforms for marketers to choose SocialHeat is an example.
The platforms may vary in terms of data coverage and data processing/retrieval features, but will generally provide the following basic metrics for marketers:
Buzz Volume: Discussion volume, the most basic indicator in Social Listening reports, indicates how many discussions (posts, comments, or shares) have been made on a topic.
Share of Voice: The brand's discussion rate compared to competitors from the same industry. This is an indicator that helps determine which brands are of most interest on social networks
Audience Scale: The number of participants discussing a topic. Together with Buzz Volume, showcases a topic's ability to spread on social media.
Sentiment Score: Expresses the user's feelings towards a topic, whose value is in the range of [-1,1]. Moving closer to 1 indicates how positive the user is and vice versa
To learn more about metrics, marketers can refer to here
Market research, an integral part of any marketing campaign, is divided into two main types: Syndicated Research and Custom Research. Syndicated Research is especially important for new brands entering the merchandise industry. What is Syndicated Research?
Market research is a process of gathering information to gain a deeper understanding of users as well as the relationship between users and brands. Therefore, market research is an integral part of any marketing campaign. Basically, market research is divided into two main types: Syndicated Research and Custom Research. Each type has its own advantages, which will solve different problems of the brand. In the framework of this article, three questions will be answered: (1) What is Syndicated Research? (2) What is Customized Research? (3) Syndicated Research or Customized Research for the Brand Problem?
Syndicated research is a type of research conducted independently, whose findings can meet the needs of many brands. The subject of Syndicated Research is usually Major Topics, which is inclusive of an industry or a community of users. Syndicated Research does not follow the requirements of a specific customer, so the research results can be suitable for the entire market. Syndicated research will be more cost-effective compared to Customized Research, which only serves the needs of one customer. The results of Syndicated Research are often presented in the form of reports, which can be served as a valuable reference source to any brand, especially those looking to enter new markets. In addition, for brands that have not studied the industry in a long time, Syndicated Research is also a way to quickly update knowledge.
For example:The overview study of the washing machine market shows: More discounts do not mean higher purchase intention. A discount of 50% or more will cause users to begin to doubt the quality of the product. Instead, a discount that does not exceed 15% will promote the best purchase intention. Any brand belonging to the washing machine industry can take advantage of the results of this research for its promotional campaign, as this is the general trend of the market.
See also: Online distribution activities - What can social networks help?
Unlike Syndicated Research, Customized Research is the type of research that is done at the request of a specific customer. Research Topics and Questions are designed based on the brand's own concerns.The results of the research are in the ownership of the client. In the case of Syndicated Research, the results of the research will be owned by the entity conducting the research. Due to its focus on addressing the needs of a given brand, Customized Research has deeper analysis, and higher applicability, but the scope of application is also narrower than Syndicated Research.
For example: One brand of washing machines is aimed at older, married women. The brand's message is to save water. After a while, the brand noticed that the above message was not responded to by the user group. At this time, a study can be conducted to find out the cause and make recommendations for the brand. The results show: With the older group of women with families, they are often interested in the anti-wrinkle feature of the washing machine to save time on housework. This result should help improve the problem of this brand, but cannot be applied to other brands, due to the difference in the target user group.
See also: Washing Machine Goods Industry - Interesting Psychological Contradictions of Users
Syndicated Research and Customized Research both have their own strengths. With the ability to provide a comprehensive view of the market, Syndicated Research contributes to building the foundation of a campaign. Next, Customized Research can be conducted to provide an in-depth perspective based on the brand's situation, thereby making appropriate adjustments to the marketing plan. However, there are certain differences between Customized Research and Syndicated Research that make it difficult to replace each other. Brands will not be able to achieve the desired results if they use Syndicated Research to address narrow or specific topics. Conversely, brands waste resources if they use Customized Research for overviews that can be solved with Syndicated Research.
The Syndicated Report Hub online reporting library aggregates research proactively conducted by Buzzmetrics based on observations of common market needs. These studies do not serve a specific customer but will provide a panoramic view of users and the goods industry on the social network.
