White paper

Monitoring social media

The study of results from monitoring tools supplies precious information on Internet users and the media they use to talk about brands. Listening to what is being said on social media will enable you to refine your strategy, to identify which media you should get involved with and with which communities and players you should talk about a given topic. It will also enable you to find out how your image is perceived and what your e-reputation is. This approach is all the more important because what is being said on-line continues to grow unabated and is becoming increasingly influential. An Internet user can have an impact on another user at any time by writing just a few lines. This is something that must be taken seriously given that 70% of Internet users trust the opinion of other Internet users when making a purchase!* Monitoring social media is a priority: listening to the market, taking its temperature, identifying customer needs, hearing their complaints, etc. The real difficulty starts with the acquisition, aggregation, association and analysis of these data. Most companies lack the technology and know-how needed to collect their data and use them effectively.

Your 10-point strategy

1. Listen to conversations
2. Become visible in the conversations
3. Set your goals
4. List media relevant to your business
5. Identify "influencers"
6. Develop a content strategy
7. Choose your tools
8. Create your content
9. Initiate conversations
10.Measure the results

*Nielsen study

"Analysis of social media provides a close-up look at the way in which a company, a brand, a topic… is perceived in the media."

Thibaut De Norre, Analyses & Communication Director, AuxiPress

The power of data
Companies that can make use of this type of data have real-time indicators that enable them to provide their customers with more effective information, to identify new target groups and to quickly adjust their strategy with a single purpose: customer satisfaction. The real goal of monitoring social media is to help brands remain relevant, to find new opportunities...and to turn them into profits. The challenge for companies today is no longer to find information; it is available everywhere and in phenomenal quantities. The challenge is to target information relevant to their particular needs and to analyse it to build strategies and define concrete action to be implemented.

The three steps to successful monitoring

LISTEN
Listening focuses on conversations, on dialogue, and on types of information that may be relevant to your company. This includes information about your company, your industry and your competitors. Listening makes it possible to channel all conversations that matter for your company, and to extract the information that will help you decide where, when and how to communicate with your community.

What?
Complaints, compliments, questions, opinions,
Requests, opportunities for conversations…
Everything related to your brand, your industry
and your competitors.

Where?
Social media are not limited to Twitter and
Facebook. They include everything related to
the "social" aspect of on-line communication: forums, blogs,
social networks, etc.

MEASURE
To know where you stand and to get where you want to go, you have to be able to map out your objectives and define the main performance indicators that will enable you to measure your progress and make full use of social media. Measuring is a business requirement. Social media are a business channel like any other. Your actions must be evaluated to ensure that they are paying off.  

What?
It's important to define both qualitative and quantitative KPIs to measure your actions and your strategy’s success.

• Business income and development (new leads, cost per lead, sales cycle speed, etc.)
• Activity and commitment (number of members, number of messages, topics, etc.)
• Cost reductions (time to problem resolution, % of problems solved on-line, etc.)
• Influence (brand loyalty, conversion rates, etc.)

COMMIT
Commitment is often considered the "Holy
Grail". It’s the result of good listening and good monitoring. It’s a sort of natural evolution that gains and retains the attention of customers and prospects thanks to real-time interaction in social media.

Why?
Because responding to issues, and negative comments
can help you improve your image and transform
potentially conflictual situations into positive
experiences.

Conclusions

A strategy that includes listening to social media can create strong bonds with customers and gain their loyalty. It can help to identify and attract new quality customers, to access a great deal of information that can be fed into a R&D programme, to reduce customer service and support costs, etc. When well-managed, it's an investment that can be both effective and profitable.