How Do You Listen?

Many people define listening as sitting quietly, while another person talks. Most are surprised to learn that listening is actually a 2-way, circular process. Effective PR experts understand the listening process, have mastered the techniques well, and employ effective listening skills in all of their communications…YES, even in SOCIAL MEDIA!

Each of us has a personal filter through which verbal information flows. Our filters are based on our unique life experiences, education, culture, religion/spirituality, language, work/career, etc. Many people will type the way that they talk so when you are communicating with someone via social media, you should remember to listen. Don’t be so quick to respond, mainly because there are times when a person hasn’t completed their thought or they posted something without editing it, and if you have started responding without the respected pause, you could ruin a relationship, business or otherwise!

When we fail to listen effectively, the process of communication breaks down, assumptions are made and feelings are hurt. You may lose business over something as simple as NOT taking the time to listen!    -Sweetlaw

Valuing your social media posts DEJ

One can add value to social media posts by making sure there is always a good sense of good customer service. It can only help get your message across clear and precise. Make sure the information is easily accessible for those viewing your page. Create a frequently asked questions portion, links, and contact information. Create multiple channels to help alleviate frustrations when searching for information.

Ben Davis with The philosophy of social customer service stated “Companies need to move from managing customers, to facilitating collaborative experiences and on-going dialogue that customer’s value. By doing this companies will create the ability to monitor what consumers do and say to one another on social platforms accessing unbiased feedback and behavioural data on a huge scale. This insight should revolutionise the way marketers think and what they do.” DJ

Kmart Gets Smart: Social Media Listening and Monitoring for the Win!

By now we’ve all seen Kmart’s “Ship My Pants,” ad that went viral (17 million views on YouTube) and then aired as an ad on TV.  Well, they’ve created yet another ad that’s become a viral hit:  “Big Gas Savings!”

Kmart really had nothing to lose by running ads like these—the store has been left in the dust by Target, and Walmart, especially, over the years. So ads like “Ship My Pants!” and “Big Gas Savings!” help to change the perception of Kmart as irrelevant; getting people talking about the store again is half the battle, the second half is to promote its goods. These ads accomplished both:

The company was looking to promote its integrated retailing approach, one where customers can seamlessly decide whether to have items shipped for free to their homes or to any store they choose. It’s a fairly dry topic–if very important for the retailer–and Kmart wanted to bring this to life in a memorable way.

How did Kmart do it? According to Bill Kiss, Kmart’s chief digital marketing officer, they employed social monitoring and listening to test the waters first online:  “[we] build some content and put it out there, and let America react…We’re very nimble and when we push something out there we watch very carefully how America reacts to it. We were tallying sentiment, which was overwhelmingly positive…We did that deliberately. We wanted to make sure that this wasn’t off-putting to our customers,” explained Kiss.

Kmart took a chance on a sensational ad, monitored the flow and patterns of data, and then listened to the reactions and feedback to see the ad was doing what they hoped it would do: shake up their brand and deliver the message of free shipping….and now big gas savings! Kmart employed a smart media strategy of monitoring and listening and thus are enjoying their first win in decades.

Having said that, I do think it might be wise to change up their ad campaigns now. The reason why these two ads were a success is because of the element of surprise. Both ads go against the grain of Kmart’s image. But over time, the jokes run thin…and…..ah well, who am I kidding?! Anyone care to guess what body part/bodily function will be punned in Kmart’s next ad?

Listening vs Monitoring??

Listening by Webster definition is to hear something with thoughtful attention : give consideration

Monitoring by Webster definition a device for observing a biological condition or function

As you can see one requires you to action while the other just has you looking and doing nothing. When working with social media you must be able to both of these really well. You must be able to observe any kind a trends that are happening and then decided if you are going to react to them or not. Listening it company feedback is important in the fact that the way you handle it can make or break you.

In short: Monitoring finds symptoms; listening finds causes.

If you find the cause then you can help your bottom line.

Listening and Monitoring: What’s the difference

According to the Webster dictionary, Listening, a verb, means to give one’s attention to a sound: “sit and listen to the radio”. Take notice of and act on what someone says; respond to advice or a request: “I told her over and over, but she wouldn’t listen”.

Where as, monitoring, Verb, to Observe and check the progress or quality of (something) over a period of time; keep under systematic review. Maintain regular surveillance over: “it was easy for the enemy to monitor his movements”.

So it looks like listening is active and monitoring is passive. In marketing, listening is paying attention to what customers are doing and acting upon it. – EJB

WHAT YOU WANT vs WHAT THEY SAY THEY WANT

ZT for PRACTICAL PR

Sometimes Art imitates Life-

More frequently Life imitates Art, particularly in our culture. The difference is intention.
This has been especially brought home to me, because I am a photographer who has produced commercial photography and photography as an art form. Intention is everything.

Intention directs  listening vs monitoring  on your social media. In Social Media, the listening is done with the eyes, and you have to read between the lines, Check your ego at the door, customer/client feedback is an opportunity to improve and grow.

Organization may be so focused on the mission statement or goal of the organization that  the needs of customers/clients are going unmet or unheard.

Comments are points of engagement that can be negative, neutral or positive; but, each one can have the possibility of becoming a positive point of engagement if you follow three steps:

1. Understand what the client/customer is trying to convey to your organization from their point-of-view.

2. Respond, if possible, within 24 hours of the comment.

3. Respond to both negative, neutral or positive comments, not just the negative ones. An old sales adage says’ it’s easier to keep the client that you have than look for new prospects‘. If someone actively engages your site, poke them back!

For social media: Stop, look and listen!

Thanks

Zan

Listening and Monitoring and Pespi

The most successful businesses use social media to listen to what their customers are saying about them and to what their customers think about their competitors.  They listen so they can learn more about their consumers’ aspirations, challenges and concerns.

 I sometimes get the feeling that businesses don’t know the difference between listening and monitoring. I see more often them yelling out their message especially on social media. I am turned off by this. Some businesses only use social media to sell their products or services. It gets really old.

 A better way is to listen and engage your audience. Create content about the business and then engage in the conversations going on around you.  Give people a reason to talk about the business.

Use sites that will reach your target audience. For example, Diet Pepsi’s primary customers are Gen X women.  So, they tend to focus their social media efforts on Pinterest.  Or, with their Brisk iced tea brand, they tend to go for more of an “edgy feel” so when Instagram first came out, they focused their efforts there.  They felt that the early users of Instagram aligned with the same people they were targeting as drinkers of Brisk. This is a good example of how Pespi demonstrated both listening and monitoring. – DH

Listening vs. Monitoring… -KH

My reaction when thinking about listening and monitoring social media is that listening is proactive and monitoring and reactive.

Monitoring has a sense of distrust to me. Sure enough, when I started exploring the issue online, I came across this article, confirming the reactive nature of monitoring. Monitoring sounds like it is just there to do damage control to protect your “good name.” It doesn’t sound like it has any sort of positive engagement to it. It also reminds me of George Orwell’s, 1984, in that, Big Brother is watching.

Listening on the other hand, means to me, that you are observing the social media world around you with an open mind. You pay attention to the moods and the trends of what people are posting and saying. It helps you reflect and if you decide to respond, you have crafted a thoughtful message versus a knee jerk reaction.

I think a lot of Americans struggle with listening. What could be considered American “culture,” is more about me, me, me and I am spending more time trying to come up with a response while you are still talking, then just focusing on the listening. Like we are natural monitors versus listeners. Now, we have moved on to social media and a whole new way of listening because it can also be instantaneous. We don’t have to stop and think. It isn’t like the old days where we wrote letters to our pen pals or relatives. Crafting a letter took time! Typing a response on a hot debate on Facebook doesn’t. It can often end up looking like this! And, we have all seen how those have completely been blown out of proportion and people “unfriended” and screen shots been taken and shared across the internet.

So not only do we have to listen with our ears, we also need to “listen” with our eyes. The only good thing I can think of with monitoring is to make sure no one is acting in an abusive, threatening manner to other posters or your staff. But, of course, you have already posted disclaimers that that that behavior will not be tolerated and will be deleted or passed along to authorities if deemed threatening enough. Right? Right!