“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” – Epictetus

In this era of social media, everyone is the star of their own show. This pattern applies to business as well; for all the focus on brand engagement, most brands do more talking than listening.

In the past, such an approach was inevitable. Advertisements, whether in newspapers or on TV,  allowed for communication in only one direction. Traditional market research helped a great deal, and still does, but remains limited in its ability to track the themes of everyday conversations among potential customers.

Social listening breaks through these limitations in very important ways. In brief, social listening is the process of tracking, monitoring, analyzing, and breaking down online exchanges from the target audience, either through keywords or hashtags.

By listening to online audiences, brands can gain up-to-the-minute insights about their potential customers. This kind of research may even reveal trending topics which could potentially shape future marketing campaigns – and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

As we will see, social listening is more than just an added convenience. It is actually integral to the healthy development of your brand. As a leading social media agency in Bangkok, we routinely use social listening for our clients – and your brand should start using it as well. Social listening lets you achieve 3 important goals:

1. Engage with your audience

Actively listening to your audience on social media platforms presents an opportunity to really understand their background, perspective, and their underlying messages. 

Without this context, engaging (such as replying to comments) could lead to less than ideal outcomes. Actually putting yourself in the shoes of your audience, and crafting a thoughtful response that touches their deeper motivations, can do a much better job of humanizing your brand and encouraging customer loyalty.

Another benefit of this approach is the ability to address a widespread concern, even before your customers ask you about it. Nike does an admirable job of handling such issues here.

2. Track your competitors  

Listening to your audience lets you put direct competitors on your radar as well, giving you valuable insights on their position in that specific market, all in real-time. This added perspective lets your business make timely adjustments, and potentially even anticipate new trends, instead of getting “ambushed” by your competitors.

It is true that continuously tracking potential customers as well as competitors can be a time-consuming process. Still, a digital marketing agency in Bangkok like ours can easily handle this task, letting your business stay and ahead of the competition.

3. Discover new trends and opportunities

Trending ideas, buzzwords, and concepts bubble in and out of the conversation every day, and businesses can capitalize on these if they jump in at the right time.

Social listening lets your brand engage constructively with topics that are trending across the social media world. Added analysis can even identify topics that are just about to become trendy, letting your brand stay innovative and on top of the marketplace.

In today’s fast-paced world, social listening is one of the most important tools to help your business evolve and rebrand. (Of course, our creative agency in Bangkok can also help with your rebranding efforts.)

Listen to improve

In a world where two-way communication is the norm, companies with good ears will have a much easier time retaining customers, evolving their brand, and growing their business. Yet a great deal of expertise, paired with a creative and responsive marketing team, is needed to truly get the most out of social listening.

If your organization is looking to strengthen its brand and social media performance, our social media agency in Bangkok can help. Contact us today, and we’ll help your brand move forward in your industry.