Are people talking about you on Social Media? In this Vlog, Grant explains how you can monitor what everybody is saying about you, your company, your competitors and your industry, without causing yourself a headache.
In 1995, in a world before Google and before social media, Robert Kozinetz discovered the art of netnography; listening to Star Trek fans having conversations on chat forums.
Even back then, Kozinetz understood that the conversations taking place online had value.
Of course, today there are millions of conversations taking place about your business, your marketplace and your industry sector, which could be useful if it wasn’t so unstructured and all over the place.
No one expects you to go on Twitter and spend hours scrolling just in case you find a conversation of interest, but if you could make sense of all this data, it could really have an influence on your business.
There is a way of bringing structure to this data. By setting up keyword alerts on competitors, on your own brand, on key influencers, on industry associations or key customers and competitors, you can really start to understand what is going on in the marketplace.
Of course, not everything will be a value and there is a chance you may miss some key things. However, the things that do come into your inbox, will supply you with inordinate value in only 10 or 15 minutes a day, giving you insights into customers, into competitors into the marketplace in general, and informing the business decisions that you make.
Social media monitoring software and alert systems will allow you to choose the keywords that you want to follow. It might take a little bit of testing and measuring, but over time you can refine these to make sure the information that comes to you is really useful. Online listening can be a really key tool for your business and of course, if you want to impress a few people, tell them that you use netnography.
