Steven Hughes
Companies all over the world have been harnessing the power of social media in order to build brand awareness and grow their businesses. They do this through relaying information about new products and services, or communicating with their customers by soliciting feedback or responding to issues/complaints. However, if these are the only ways your organization is using tools such as Twitter, Facebook, etc., you are overlooking a huge opportunity: social networking sites can also be used in order to gain valuable information on your current and future consumers.
Why?
Any marketing expert will tell you that understanding your audience is the key to effective sales. If your target market is girls between the ages of 12 and 15, and your product has a price tag of $ 300+, you’re going to have a major problem. Using tools in order to monitor your brand’s followers can help you gain valuable insights into your consumers. This information can be used in a number of ways, from developing new product lines to finding new venues for advertising.
How?
Now that you know some of the potential benefits of using this tool, how do you put it into practice? Essentially you want to monitor the activity of your current or potential customers as they use social networking sites, and then mine that information for gold in terms of what is most useful to you. One way to do this is to hone in on your company’s followers on social channels. Even if they’re not discussing your brand, or communicating with your company directly, they are still putting out crucial data about their values and interests. Take note of things that come up frequently across the board. You can also gain intelligence on the strength of your brand, how positively or negatively followers feel about it, and how influential those communications are.
Then What?
After you gain some insight into trends among consumers, test out some advertising methods. One of the best things about selling via these networks is that you can quickly and efficiently test keywords in order to identify what’s gaining traction, so don’t be afraid to get creative. Once you find keywords that generate sufficient results, you can begin to invest more in those avenues. In addition to testing marketing locations, you can also use this material on consumer commonalities to create new ad copy. For example, if you’ve found out that the people who buy your brand’s dog food are also interested in green initiatives, this can help you develop new and more effective advertising.
You don’t have to limit yourself to tracking only your brand’s followers or potential buyers. Check out the messages put out by anyone in the community who has some interest in your field, or is contributing to the conversation. By using these and other strategies in audience monitoring, you’ll begin to see improvements in your marketing goals across the board.
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