Why Your Brand Needs to Listen on Social Media

Whether you like it or not, you can’t hide behind your logo any longer. Your customers are sharing their both their positive and their negative experiences with millions of people daily through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp and more. Just because you’re not participating in the conversations (because you can’t determine the ROI of social media) doesn’t mean that they aren’t happening.

Savvy brands understand that whether they are listening or not, their target audience is actively taking cues from their social networks for product recommendations.

Case in point: A few weeks ago, after reading several articles sharing the health benefits of standing vs. sitting all day, I decided to do some research on standing desks. After doing a quick Google search I found a couple of options, some of which came with a pretty hefty price tag. And in truth, I really like my writing desk and was really struggling with the idea of getting rid of it–wondering how I might fit both desks in my office.

What I really needed was feedback from people who made the transition from sitting all day to working at a standing desk so I sent out this tweet.

 Within minutes I received this tweet in response.

 

I recall seeing this among my Google search results but had skimmed past it. Curious, I navigated over to the Varidesk website, where I found an awesome video showcasing an adjustable desk that would sit right on top of my writing desk! It was the perfect solution!

The moment of truth: Of course Varidesk loves their adjustable desk (and a huge kudos to them for catching my tweet), but what about their customers?

A quick search revealed the following:

 

…and…

After scanning through a few more tweets, reading through some press releases–that included recent awards presented to Varidesk– I was convinced it was the perfect solution for me.

So, the moral of this story is obvious (but I’m going to spell it out anyway because I was impressed by the whole thing): If Varidesk was not actively monitoring mentions of key terms that relate to their product (stand-up desk), they would have missed an opportunity to connect. Connecting with me = sale.

The total time lapse between my initial tweet and the time I hit the BUY NOW button on the $300 purchase… 10 minutes. Not too shabby return on engagement.

So, how are you doing with your social listening? As part of your strategy, create a list of key terms to “listen” for and monitor mentions of those terms and phrases. You can use Google Alerts or Sprout Social (my fave) to stay in tune. If you’re not listening, you can be certain your competitors are.

Oh and by the way, I am totally in love with my new stand-up desk. It looks awesome in my office! It’s easy to adjust up and down–and it even has an app you can download to your computer that tells you when to stand up and when to sit down. So cool.