Storified Guide: Social Listening for Customer Satisfaction

If you want your business to succeed, you have to take some action. Prosperity will remain a far-fetch goal if you don't put your mind, effort, and sweat into your business (sometimes blood and tears, too - although we'd rather keep this syntagm in the realm of dramatic effect). Do you think that a good work ethic, profitable idea, and storified microstore is enough to turn profits? Under the right circumstances, sure...All those factors are important when it comes to your ultimate triumph, but don't forget about the one demand that has to be on top of your priority list: customer satisfaction!

Do you make your customers happy? Really? Are you sure? There are many ways to go about finding that out, but today, the Storifyme team has a special treat in store: a revolutionary technique that you can use to find out what your customers really think about you.

What Is Social Listening?

If you're a pro swimmer in customer-centric waters, there's no way you missed this phrase. TL: DR sounds something like this: it's a practice that includes overseeing and appropriately responding to online conversations that concern you, your brand, and your product. Being observant and proactive is one of the best practices you can adopt when you want to start, improve, and/or keep your business on the right track. But, be careful not to confuse it with…

Social Monitoring Is Not Social Listening!

Monitoring is a mere act of observing all the hashtags relevant to your niche, mentions of your or competitors' brands, along with industry trends and other notable keywords. The act of social listening starts when you do something about all of that data you gathered while monitoring. While keeping an eye on all the conversations, across all the platforms lets you know what is going on, social listening goes deeper, and it's much more active.

If you're wondering how to do it correctly, where to start, just read on and "listen away".

How Does Social Listening Improve My Web Stories?

Using social listening in day to day actions and overall strategy and online and offline behavior is where you get the most use out of this practice. Even if you just want to place a storified ad somewhere on the interwebs, it's useful to know what and how people talk about you.

Why?

Think about it. If you have the details, you can easily find social platforms that people regularly use to discuss your brand and analyze their tone and mood behind the comments they make. Figure out what they love or hate by thoroughly investigating keywords, topics, competitors. Then, you'll know what, and how to post in to get desired results!

Become a Proactive Problem Solver!

Any customer feedback, whether good or bad is an opportunity to learn and improve your future content production (read better-storified articles and videos) and audience interaction. Be mindful though:  mere identification of an issue isn't good enough, you have to do something about it. Be proactive. Test things out.

If your first solution works, wonderful! If not, you'll know it's time to look at the second one, or third or fiftieth. Whichever number your problem-solving adventure ends with, you'll have at the very least an idea if you're moving in the right direction instead of guessing. Speaking of which...

Who Likes Unanswered Questions and Uneducated Guesses?

Not you, not us, not anybody! Assuming is a risky business in the online world. The line between intrigue and outrage is getting thinner by the day, and guessing while working on your social media strategy can truly harm you in the long run. When it comes to your product storytelling, your choices have to be informed, well-researched, and able to hold water, especially when putting out fires.

When reacting to negative posts, you have to respond as quickly as possible, without too much unnecessary deliberation but still remain tactful and always have an open ear! Data you gather while social listening will help you during such endeavors.

A Little Social Media Espionage Goes a Long Way

This practice is useful in more ways than one. While you're researching and contemplating your weak spots, don't forget to observe the chitchat surrounding your competition. Your rivals' mentions can teach you so much regarding trends and red flags that are relevant from a safe distance. Assessing their problems from afar and getting to the bottom of them before they become yours is a smart move to make. Identify and avoid repeating their mistakes.

If you notice that they are doing something better, or that they are getting more clicks on their storified landing page, find out why that is and use that knowledge to your advantage. See what makes them alluring to your target audience!

Have Influencers and Advocates Working Together with You!

Your whole company could and should be a part of this process. Customer service, content marketing, and product development should have open lines of communication and share information every step of the way. However, people "from within" can do only so much when it comes to outreach, no matter how proactive and informed they are. You have to get the right people "from outside" to spread your message, and those are people outside your company. Recognize who the influential people with the significant following relevant to your industry are and collaborate! They will help you on your way to brand awareness and recognition.

Stay in Touch and Up to Date!

Engage with customers, not just when they directly contact your customer service, but also when they comment, like, or share any of your web stories, too. Those are crucial moments that you can use to establish true and deep connections with those who love your brand. People love interacting with brands online but hate when you're constantly trying to sell them your stuff. Keeping that in mind, reach out, just to handle their issue or share your story. The sale will soon follow if you're utilizing everything you've learned and if you...

ACTUALLY, LISTEN

You'd be surprised how little you have to ask if you listen closely enough, in any segment of your life. Analyze the positive things, analyze the negative. Become aware of the kind of message you're sending, and how are people responding to it. Keep your eyes and ears open, and remember:

Sometimes, it's not all about storytelling. Sometimes, story listening is much more important.

‍