Since the mid1990’s, the Internet has had a tremendous impact on commerce and culture, completely revolutionising the way we interact in the world. Anyone can publicise their opinion online with an unprecedented reach – Scary right?
We, now commonly recognise the process of publicising our opinions online as Social media… and we’ve gone crazy for it!
Social media has matured into a cyber powerhouse: an influential platform where anyone online can create, share and exchange information. The information is delivered from virtual communities and networks, like Facebook and Twitter, where users are encouraged to create an online persona. Your very own digital alter ego – a profile that you can make as personal or impersonal as you like.
As of November 2014, there are around 1.4 billion active Facebook users, 332 million active LinkedIn accounts and around 284 million active Twitter profiles. (“Global social networks ranked by number of users 2014”, 2014)
By now you are probably wondering what the connection between a hearing aid and social media is all about? Well the link may be a little more obvious than you think. Everyday billions of people are posting content on social media streams, leaving behind golden nuggets of data, which are just lying there waiting to be discovered. Thus, if your hearing aid is tuned to the right frequency, you can listen out for and monitor invaluable “social noise” being created around your product, company or competitor.
Twitter and Facebook have made it incredibly easy for businesses to tap into and cash in on this “social noise.” So what is it? Whether it is a comment left on a business Facebook page, a Hashtag on Twitter or a photo on Instagram; social noise is the content driven conversations happening around the world where consumers are voicing their pleasures and displeasures.
Social media allows organisations an invaluable insight into customer behaviour. It has been well documented that having ability to understand your market inside out, is integral to running a successful business. So if you are able to pinpoint exactly what you are doing right and what mistakes you are making, lending an ear to social media becomes and incredibly important facet of your business.
If we deconstruct my analogy of the hearing aid, there is proof in the pudding. There are vendors out there that provide comprehensive solutions for social media analysis. Some of the recommended vendors are listed below:
Adobe Social, AT Internet (BuzzWatcher), BirdSong, BrandsEye, Brandwatch, Infegy EU, Marketwired, MutualMind, Onalytica, SDL Social Intelligence, Sentiment Metrics, Synthesio and Traackr.
Using software like this means you can capitalise on a multiple social media channels that will bring 3 big benefits to your business:
- Improved product or service.
- Stronger customer relationship.
- Enhanced brand reputation.
You need to ask yourself, does your business truly get the best out of your social media streams?
My advice? Switch on your hearing aid and make your social media more intelligible.
References:
Global social networks ranked by number of users 2014. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
