I’m speaking at DC Web Women‘s “Social Media Extravaganza” tonight and have chosen the topic of listening. Listening is a vital part of effective social media marketing and sometimes I don’t do enough of it. When I talk to clients, they are typically overly excited about jumping into the conversation and I often find myself encouraging them to take a step back. Before you talk, it’s important to listen. And part of being an effective communicator is being a good listener. So, today, let’s take a step back and listen.
We all have the friend that likes to talk. Yack, yack, yack. We try to break into the conversations to either be cut-off or rolled over completely. Don’t be that person.
In my life (not just in social media, but overall) I’ve found that it’s important to be a good listener. Whether you are lending an ear to someone’s problems, learning from a compelling seminar or watching your favorite movie, listening is how we learn, process and connect.
In social media, it’s important to “listen” to what others are saying not only about your business and brand, but about your industry as a whole. Fortunately, the magic of the Web has made it easy to listen to the chatter and pick out the most important pieces of information for you. Here are a few tools to make it easier:
Google Alerts – Google Alerts enables you to receive email alerts when there is a new post about your brand or industry on Google based upon keywords.
Twitter Search – Millions of conversations happen on Twitter every day. Twitter search will enable you to monitor any mention of your brand in a conversation based upon keywords.
Google Blog Search – Unlike the general Google search tool, the Blog Search enables you to monitor blog posts that are indexed through Google.
Keotag.com – Keotag.com is an aggregator that enables you to check a variety of directories (like Google, Technorati, Live, Yahoo, etc.) based upon keywords.
BackType – BackType enables you to search blog comments based on keywords. Often blog comments don’t make it into the mainstream search engine results.
BoardTracker - BoardTracker searches popular bulletin boards for posts based upon keywords.
Start by searching for your brand or your name to see if anyone is talking about you specifically. Then try searching on terms that are pertinent to your industry. This will help you assess what people are talking about industry wide.
Once you have a handle on the topics that are important to your customers, jump into the conversation offering your opinion, help and expertise. You’ll be more informed and your listeners will get more from the interaction.
