By now most brands have understood the importance of social media when it comes to creating a buzz, reaching customers and generally getting the word out about new products, services or other company updates. But there is another aspect of social media that is still under appreciated but could make a huge difference to your PR strategy and its success: social media monitoring.
Know What’s Going On
A key point of PR is knowing what people are saying about you and giving them positive things to talk about. When looking at what is being posted about your company on social media, look at both positive and negative feedback, see which topics are being shared most and try to identify common opinions. That way you can amplify the positive mentions you are getting as well as catch negative remarks, which will give you a chance to address and fix problems before they damage your reputation.
Collect Information For Your PR Campaign
When you are planning your PR campaign you are probably doing some research. Social media can help you a lot with this. It not only gives you a chance to do in-depth market research and get an idea of how your target audience feels about your company and the products or services it provides, but it also lets you look exactly at what your competitors are doing and whether it’s successful. That could end up being pretty inspiring for you. And don’t forget: examining your target audience on social media will give you a very good idea of what they want and need, where they look for it and what their online habits are. All this is information that is essential to creating a successful PR campaign.
Easily Monitor Your Company’s Presence
In the old days, you would have actually had to sit down with a stack of newspapers and look through each one to see where you were mentioned. Today most social media channels let you quickly search for certain keywords and actions involving your brand, giving you the chance to easily see how often you have been mentioned, by whom, why and when. If you want to get more into examining these details, there are many useful apps and even companies that offer to collect and evaluate data for you. That way you will know all the specifics of your social media presence and can use them to your advantage.
Engage the People Who Are Talking About You
Keeping a close eye on your social media will give you the chance to talk directly to a number of different people. You will be able to communicate with customers who are using your product and giving you feedback, answer questions from potential buyers and convince them to give you their business and address negative comments from users and offer them a suitable solution. This will build your reputation as a business that cares about both its customers and its prospects, and help you develop lasting relationships with them.
Find Great Influencers
You will also come across people that have a large following on social media themselves and are very happy with your products. Reaching out to them could open the door to a successful collaboration with an influencer other social media users trust, giving you greater exposure and boosting your own following and sales.
Putting It All Together
Social media monitoring can take time and energy, but the information you get out of it is well worth it. Knowing what people are saying about you, why they are saying it and using that information to improve your online presence and build an effective, well-rounded PR strategy will save you time and effort in the long run and can take you and your brand a long way.