The world has never been noisier than it is today.
With so much being said, and shared across so
many channels, it is a major challenge for any
organization to accurately and consistently keep on
top of those conversations. It's no longer an option.
These conversations have the power to affect every
element of your business — from the value of your
stock to your ability to attract future workers in the
right numbers.
Fortunately, technology is available to help you pull
this wall of noise into individual conversation strands,
giving you the chance to listen to all the voices that
have stories to share about you and your business.
Organizations such as Brandwatch or Sprout Social
offer the capability to monitor your brand and
specific keywords across social media channels,
and report on important areas such as trending
themes, sentiment and share of voice against select
competitors. You can also leverage actionable
insight for recruitment and attraction teams.
Such information can be a genuine value-add for
colleagues across other areas of the organization,
right up to the C-suite. While an individual can
be disregarded as a lone dissenter, the ability
to generate trends around topics and recurring
commentary can be important and compelling. It
can — and should — be the catalyst for business change;
a sign that you are listening and prepared to act.
Using platforms such as Meltwater, you can extend
a search beyond social and into news media. These
innovations allow you to select parameters such as
specific channel, territory and time frame; export it all
into a highly visual dashboard; and share insights
across stakeholder groups regardless of their level
of understanding.
Why is this insight important? It can help you pick out
all the headlines (good or bad), but the real value is
being able to track which publications and journalists
are mentioning you and the subjects covered.
Spotting trends here can indicate how successful your
communications strategy is in translating the topics you
wish to be known for in your target communities. The
greater the overlap, the better the job you are doing.
listen & learn.
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