Social Listening Introduction Class

Jason Cruz

Social Products Lead MRM//McCann Philippines

About the lecturer

@jsncruz

The science of social listening

@jsncruz

Social listening in a nutshell

“[Social listening is] …listening to online conversations to monitor

possible or actual trends, in order to measure the potential impact of

these chatter.”

- Jason Cruz, MRM//McCann

@jsncruz

Difference from other Disciplines

Serves both positive and negative effects of

online conversations

Makes extensive use of third-party

measurement tools

Applicable at all stages of a marketing

campaign

@jsncruz

From promoting the start of a

campaign to the post-event

evaluation, social listening has an important role.

Social listening can help with message

amplification (positive) and crisis-effect

mitigation efforts (negative).

Tools define the quality (and often, quantity) of social

listening for a business. These are investments.

Top Uses for Social Listening

@jsncruz

Discover New Content Ideas for Marketing Campaigns

Build Relationships with Brand Fans and Advocates

Spot Online Conversations Early and Manage Crisis

Elements of social listening

@jsncruz

The three elements of social listening

“The three aspects of social listening are mining, monitoring, and

measuring.”

- Gibson Patterson, Razorfish (2013)

@jsncruz Source: slideshare.net/cadmef/social-listening-preso-may-2013-v2

mining

Mining is the act of actively searching for specific keywords and/or phrases online.

Sample word cloud generated from mining the keyword, “iPhone”.

Getting Started with Mining: •  Keywords and/or phrases are selected

ahead of time. •  For marketing campaigns, entire

phrases may be mined. •  Results are entirely dependent on what

are publicly available.

@jsncruz

Monitoring

Monitoring is the act of actively watching online conversations based on predetermined keywords and/or phrases to spot possible trends.

An example of a social monitoring team in action, the Dell Social Media Command Center.

The Progression of Social Monitoring: •  Evolved from simple observation

practices of Online Community Management.

•  Scales up in accordance with volume of data, and complexity of data generated and needed.

@jsncruz

measuring

Measuring is the act of calculating online conversation statistics to predict the possible impact of the online conversations being monitored.

Sample measurement report dashboard from popular listening tool radian6.

Making Sense of the Numbers: •  Measurement dashboards present

large amounts of data; measuring only those that contribute to a business or communications objective should be top priority.

@jsncruz

What Next?

@jsncruz

“Understanding what works, what might work, why it might work, and

under what circumstances is a major differentiator within the social

media professionals ranks.”

- Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

Source: convinceandconvert.com/community-management/6-skills-you-need-to-be-a-social-media-professional/

Action Steps & Analysis

@jsncruz

Analyzing Listening results

To determine the right course of action for social listening results, this action framework checklist should be considered:

@jsncruz

Mention Volume over time Source influence

Pickup Magnitude Direct Relevance

Action Checklist

Mention Volume over Time

MV/T is the absolute number of mentions of keywords and/or phrases, taking into consideration a specific and relevant timeframe to mine, monitor, and measure.

@jsncruz Source (image): kdvr.com

Why the Time Element? Fencing in data from a specific and relevant time frame reduces the risk of “contaminating” the social listening data with old (and likely) irrelevant results.

Source Influence

Source Influence is the actual and perceived clout of the mention source (or sources). This affects the potential impact of online conversations.

@jsncruz

Why Consider Source Influence? A source mention from a high-influence individual obviously has further reach and generates more impressions than low influence users (see red circle).

Source (image): twitter.com

Pickup Magnitude

PM is how much interest the keywords and/or phrases receive online, and how it crosses borders into the non-digital space (traditional media).

@jsncruz

Why is Pickup Important? Understanding how keywords and/or phrases are magnified outside of digital space will affect the strategy and execution of action plans.

Source (image): getrealphilippines.com

Direct Relevance

DR is the potential effect of online mentions in relation to how much impact it could have to a brand, business, group, or community.

@jsncruz Source (image): un.org

Why Measure Direct Relevance? Social listening results could have important and life-changing impact – but somewhere else, and does not affect one’s immediate surroundings or interests.

Tools of the trade

Third-party tools are popular for social listening because allow digital marketers to get large amounts of data efficiently and effectively.

@jsncruz Some of the most popular social listening tools currently available.

Social Listening in action // Mock Case

@jsncruz

Mock case Study – Soda Z

§  Briefing §  A news report on Soda Z allegedly

causing a man to die (after daily consumption of 10L of Soda Z for 5 years).

§  Total mentions: 1000 tweets; a Facebook post with the news report (shared 50 times); steadily picking up re-writes on blogs.

§  Parameters §  There is proof that the death was partially

caused by Soda Z side-effects. §  The news report was local. §  The actual case occurred in South Africa. §  The actual case happened in 2006. §  Timeframe from first mention to being

spotted was two (2) days. §  The most influential mention source has

350 followers, and on average tweets twice daily; average mention sharer has 120 followers/friends.

@jsncruz

Mock case Study – Soda Z

With the Action Checklist, an action plan for social listening can be formulated clearly for this case.

@jsncruz Source (image): blog.brightcove.com

Mock case Study – Soda Z

Mention volume over time. Flagged as “Potential Crisis” because of a large amount of interest on a topic in a relatively short period of time.

Mention Volume HIGH

Timeframe SHORT

Conclusion POTENTIAL CRISIS

@jsncruz

Mock case Study – Soda Z

Source Influence. Even with a high number of mentions, the perpetrators were generally not influential (even those who picked up were at a similar influence level).

Source Mentions LOW/MEDIUM

Individual Influence LOW

Conclusion NOTHING SERIOUS

@jsncruz

Mock case Study – Soda Z

Pickup Magnitude. High volume of social shares (increased awareness about a negative issue) and crossing over to traditional media (even more reach) extends news to more people.

SOCIAL SHARES HIGH

CROSSOVER YES

Conclusion POTENTIAL CRISIS

@jsncruz

Mock case Study – Soda Z

Direct Relevance. The news source happened a long time ago, and is not locally-relevant. This issue is flagged as “nothing serious” due to this.

Age of Information OLD

LOCAL CONTEXT LOW

Conclusion NOTHING SERIOUS

@jsncruz

Mock case Study – Soda Z

Analysis and Insights from Social Listening: 1.  The issue was definitely serious, given that it was picked up on both social

media and crossed-over to non-digital space in a short period of time. 2.  The low influence levels of the mention sources meant the keywords and/

or phrases could not travel very far. 3.  The fact that the news was quit old, and that it was not relevant to the local

online audience meant it did not have much impact to said audience.

@jsncruz

Verdict from Social Listening NOTHING SERIOUS

Social Listening in action // Real World

@jsncruz

The KITKAT – Facebook Tweet

@jsncruz

The KITKAT – Facebook Tweet

KITKAT’s timely tweet fulfilled every single parameter for action, due mostly to how social listening was conducted by the social team.

@jsncruz

Mention Volume over Time Source Influence Direct Relevance Pickup Magnitude

Numerous complaints in a

matter of minutes

Facebook users across all

demographics

Affected Facebook users around the

world

(After) Picked up by local and

international news

The KITKAT – Facebook Tweet

@jsncruz

Now world-famous, the KITKAT – Facebook tweet underlined the importance of social listening, as well as effective moment-marketing practices.

How businesses can use social listening

@jsncruz

Lessons Going Forward

Businesses can benefit greatly from the advantages offered by a strong and well-defined social listening system in place.

@jsncruz

Create (or hire) a dedicated social media management team

Make space for moment-marketing opportunities

Regularly update and define list of relevant keywords and/or phrases

Create “what if” scenarios and prepare action plans

LESSONS

Dedicated Social Team

The management of online, social activities – social media management, community management, social listening – must be given to a dedicated team.

@jsncruz Source (image): mashable.com

Social media cannot be treated as a “side activity” which can be handled as a second-role by employees. This practice takes away much-needed focus and attention to spot opportunities first and manage potential crisis incidents.

Moment-marketing space

While it’s good that businesses plan out social content, there must be a more flexible process to allow publication of “real-time” content.

@jsncruz Source (image): twitter.com

Moment-marketing is infamous for being difficult to pull off correctly. It’s a mix of timing, context, and picking battles well – it’s inefficient and ‘trying too hard’ to try and execute it all the time.

Know what to listen for

To listen to as many keywords and/or phrases as possible is inefficient and ineffective; selecting 5-10 of the most relevant give better data and results.

@jsncruz Source (image): blog.kissmetrics.com

Smart social listening is also about deciding what not to listen to. Sweeping terms are alright, but there should be more detailed, campaign-specific terms to listen for as well to generate better data and results.

Contingency plans

Social listening allows a brand or business to plan ahead of time. Therefore, it allows one to act before anyone else, or manage issues before they blow up.

@jsncruz Source (image): motherjones.com

Spotting content opportunities or potential crisis is useless if there are no action plans or processes in place. Social listening should work hand-in-hand with pre-determined action plans to either amplify (for opportunities) or mitigate (for crises) effects.

Questions? @jsncruz | jsncruz.com

jasoncruz2388@gmail.com

@jsncruz

Social Listening Thank you!