A valuable benefit of social media for brands is the opportunity to gain insights into consumer feelings and thoughts. But, listening can be an overwhelming task if it involves multiple social media platforms and thousands of postings and mentions. This article in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review provides an excellent summary of social listening with ways each method can be used. The article even provides examples of social tools that can be used.
Discussion Questions:
- The article begins by stating companies will increase dramatically expenditures on native advertising and content marketing. Why will companies spend more on these two forms of promotion?
- Why is listening to social media conversations important?
- Think about your university. From the list of six methods explained in the article, identify two that could be used by your university. Explain how the method could be used and what your university could learn.
- Identify a restaurant that your patronize regularly. How could the restaurant use social listening to gain customer insights. Be specific.
Clow/Baack 