Become a part of the conversation! Your customers are speaking to you and they are using all of your channels to ensure you hear them. In this day and time most organizations have a social media presence which serves two-fold: one, it lets your audience know who you are at your core, and two, it provides an additional channel for your audience to communicate with you. Creating a social listening strategy is your way of engaging the conversation to enhance the relationship between your brand and your customers/clients.



Motista shared the results of a retail study which concluded, "Consumers with an emotional connection to a brand have a 306% higher lifetime value, stay with a brand for an average of 5.1 years vs. 3.4 years, and will recommend brands at a much higher rate (71% vs. 45%)." Companies are scrambling to maintain an authentic, emotional connection with their audience and social media provides several avenues for which they can make this happen.




The question then becomes, once you have established your social media presence and make an emotional connection with your audience, how do you ensure you are translating their feedback accurately?




Sproutsocial describes a social listening strategy as "...[the way you] analyze the conversations and trends happening not just around your brand, but around your industry as a whole, and using those insights to make better marketing decisions."