Knowing the difference between social listening vs social monitoring is key for businesses to stay ahead in the competitive digital landscape. Here, we explore the differences between these two crucial practices and their impact on brand reputation and strategy.
Introduction to Social Listening vs Social Monitoring
Before we dive into the differences, let us understand what social listening and social monitoring is all about. They are both important parts of social media management, but the data they provide has different uses.
First, let us Understand What is Social Listening
Social listening helps us to track online conversations to understand what customers are talking about regarding our brand, industry, or specific topics.
Why is social listening so important? It helps brands understand how customers feel, what they like, what they do not like, and what’s trending in this space. This information helps brands with their strategies.
In short, social listening is not just about listening; it is about understanding your customers and using that understanding to make your brand better!
Now, We Will Move on to Understand What is Social Monitoring?
Social monitoring helps brands manage their brand’s online reputation by constantly monitoring what people are taking about their brand on social media.
Why is social monitoring so important? It helps to address your brand’s image online, respond quickly to customers, and finds opportunities to grow.
In short, social monitoring isn’t just monitoring brand mentions; it is about proactively ensuring your brand looks good online! It is also about detecting any reputation crisis issues and mitigating fallouts.
How Brands Utilize Social Listening
- For Brand Perception and Insights: Social listening enables brands to gauge public opinion, identify influencers, and anticipate market shifts.
- Building the products and services of tomorrow: By analysing consumer feedback and preferences, brands can tailor their products and services to meet evolving market demands effectively.
- To Manage Challenges and Support Customers: Through real-time monitoring, brands can address customer complaints, manage crises, and maintain transparency in their communication.
How Brands Utilize Social Monitoring
- Tracking Brand Mentions and Sentiments: Social monitoring allows brands to monitor conversations about their products, services, and industry trends, enabling them to respond promptly to customer inquiries and feedback.
- Competitor Analysis: By analysing competitor activity and sentiment, brands can identify areas for improvement and capitalize on market gaps.
- Performance Metrics and ROI: By tracking social media activity, businesses can learn how well their marketing strategies work, how customers feel about their brand, and how to improve their ROI (Return on Investment) and plan their future campaigns.
While these two concepts may seem alike and confusing, they are both invaluable and distinct tools that help brands to understand and engage with their audience effectively. At AiPlex, we have our own social listening and monitoring tool that can help not only with social listening and monitoring, but also response management, sentiment analysis, brand rights enforcement, and a lot more. All ORM solutions are under one roof.
