Listen eBook: 5 Social Audiences Brands Can't Afford to Ignore

1 LiSTEN E-Book | October 2015 | Cision | cision.com
5 Social Audiences Brands
Can't Afford To Ignore
LiSTEN

CONTENTS
Foreword
LiSTEN to Prospects - Neal Schaffer
LiSTEN to Customers - Jay Baer
LiSTEN to Competitors - Jeff Bullas
LiSTEN to Influencers - Mark Schaefer
LiSTEN to Employees - Scott Stratten
3
4
8
13
17
21

FOREWORD
A treasure trove of data awaits marketers, if they only
listen. Salesforce’s 2015 State of Marketing report
showed 89 percent of marketers found social media
listening effective to some degree. Despite this success,
only 37 percent of the 5,000 marketers surveyed actively
practiced social media listening.
The brands that seize this opportunity to listen and better
understand their prospects, customers, competitors,
influencers and employees will flourish. Those who ignore
it or delay entry will eventually fold.
In the following pages, Neal Schaffer, Jay Baer, Jeff
Bullas, Mark Schaefer and Scott Stratten show you how
to drive results by listening to prospects, customers,
competitors, influencers and employees.
- Peter Granat, CEO, Cision

LiSTEN TO PROSPECTS
By Neal Schaffer

HOW TO GENERATE LEADS
FROM SOCIAL CONVERSATIONS
Back in June of 2009, an engineer posted a seemingly random tweet:
That individual might not have had many followers on Twitter, and more than likely only a
fraction of them ever saw the tweet.
One of the two companies mentioned, though, was listening: Avaya. Avaya probably wasn’t
even following that individual. In a well-documented case study, Avaya went on to respond in a
professional way to that tweet and close a $250,000 deal with this gentleman 13 days later.

SOCIAL CONVERSATIONS AREN’T SO RANDOM
Many conversations aren’t as direct as that tweet that Avaya discovered. However, there are
countless social conversations where people and businesses have real problems and are
looking for solutions by asking their friends and followers questions.
The key to listening to social conversations, then, is to understand the unique set of keywords
that are potential triggers for lead generation. These include:
●  Your company name
●  Your product or service brand name (if different)
●  Your competitor’s company name
●  Your competitor’s product or service brand name (if different)
●  Keywords that describe your product or service
●  Common misspellings of any of the above

THE KEY TO ESTABLISHING RELATIONSHIPS
WITH POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS:
SENDING SOCIAL SIGNALS
At this juncture, it’s important to remember that social media was made for people, not
businesses. Your company will always be at a disadvantage in terms of engaging with social
media users. That’s why it is critical that you take advantage of Social Signals to help establish
rapport even before you begin a conversation with a potential customer.
Your attempt to directly contact a social media user out of the blue after spotting a relevant
conversation will often be seen as a cold call. By sending any one of the following Social Signals,
using engagement that is possible on Twitter as an example, you can see how you can begin
to build rapport with a social media user one notification at a time before you even directly reach
out to them:
 Follow the user
 Favorite a user's tweet
 Retweet a user
 Add the user to a list

LiSTEN TO CUSTOMERS
By Jay Baer

LOVE YOUR HATERS: FINDING VALUE
IN CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS
Online feedback from your customers is an enormous opportunity to make your business better.
After all, very few people complain without a reason to do so. It’s important to recognize that
these are people who actually take time - their time - to let you know what they think. This gives
you a chance to take action that not only could mollify them but also fix the underlying cause
of the problem, thus eliminating complaints from the next batch of customers.
Photo credit: These are Things (Illustrator) "Haters Gonna Hate" http://thesearethings.com/

HATERS ARE THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE
Listening to customers is more important than it’s ever been because their feedback is
manifestly public where it’s historically been private. Today, complainers - haters - are the
canaries in the coal mine. They are the early warning detection system for your business.
Haters are not your problem. Ignoring them is.
The real problem for your business is the people that have a poor experience but are
not passionate enough about you and your company to take the time to mention it in
a form or fashion that you can find and act upon. They are the “meh” in the middle,
and they kill businesses.

HATERS ARE THE UNELECTED
REPRESENTATIVES OF YOUR CUSTOMERS
It’s estimated that 95 percent of unhappy customers never take the time to complain to the
business. So, that 5 percent of your unhappy customers who do care enough to complain are
giving you a roadmap for how to fix whatever ails your business.
In this way, the haters are the vocal representatives of your entire customer base. And this is
why it’s so critical to proactively find online customer feedback, wherever it occurs.

BETTER YOUR BUSINESS
WITH CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
Once you find customer feedback online, do NOT ignore it. An enormous study I conducted with
Edison Research found that answering complaints increases customer advocacy in every case,
while ignoring complaints decreases advocacy. As author and consultant Dave Kerpen says, “A
non-reply is a reply. It’s a reply that says ‘we don’t care about you as a customer.’”
Rather than trying to reduce the number of complaints and eliminate haters, you should
encourage complaints and make customer feedback mechanisms as plentiful and
simple as possible.

LiSTEN TO COMPETITORS
By Jeff Bullas

HOW TO SPY ON YOUR COMPETITION
& STEAL THEIR SECRETS
Competition for attention and business has never been fiercer…ever. The global digital economy
has produced an avalanche of content and the battle for mind and market share is no longer
local. It’s a big web world and growing at an exponential pace.
Your competitor is no longer the shop down the street or even a contender in your home
state or country.
They are stealing your lunch from the other side of the world. So where do you start and
what are the steps?

THE INSIDE STORY ON HOW TO SPY
ON COMPETITORS (& INNOVATORS)
Step 1: Google Your Competitors
If you want to see who are seen as the best both by data and peer review, then typing a search
term, such as “Top Content Marketers,” will be revealing.
Once you have found them, go and start checking out their digital assets. Find out how they
drive traffic and get online attention.
Step 2. Check Out The Innovators
See how disruptors market online. How do they drive traffic, create engaging content, make
content get shared and capture leads?
You can find out what they do behind the scenes if you look for case studies (do a search for
“case studies for company X”) that take a deep dive into their innovative tactics.
Step 3: Crawl Their Social Networks
Social networks will provide the most revealing insights as they are the most public and
transparent to competitor and innovator online activity.

WHY SHOULD YOU BOTHER
SPYING & STEALING SECRETS?
The real value in spying and checking out the competitors and innovators is not just to copy
or add to industry sameness. That makes you blend with the crowd. Blandness is boring. You
want to innovate and stand out. Take the information you have gleaned and imagine, create and
innovate. The real opportunity in using that information is twofold:
●  Model best practices
●  Gain insights from the global digital innovators and take your
business to a whole new level

LiSTEN TO INFLUENCERS
By Mark Schaefer

BORROWING TRUST: THE SURPRISING NEW
MARKETING ROLE OF CITIZEN INFLUENCERS
Digital marketing success is fueled by creating great content and building a targeted audience,
but there’s a third piece missing from that equation -- ignition.
Your content has no value unless it moves, unless people see it, engage with it and actively
share it.This chart demonstrates the power of shared content…even when it is coming
from strangers!

THREE TYPES OF INFLUENCERS
 The celebrity: These celebrities have vast audiences and may not even have a deep
connection to the products they’re promoting. And the cost? Well, for most businesses,
it’s simply out of reach.
 The niche influencer: The niche influencer is the web star most sought-after today by
agencies and marketers. These influencers are powerful, self-made industry leaders
consistently creating content to establish their authority and expertise.
 Organic advocates: The people who truly love your product need no convincing or cajoling.
They already love you and can’t get enough of whatever you’re doing. These are the people
who have always been at the heart of word-of-mouth marketing success.

FOUR BENEFITS OF BORROWED TRUST
 Awareness: If you can establish a long-term connection with an influencer that results in a
strong relationship and true advocacy, there is probably no other more effective way to ignite
massive awareness for your ideas and products.
 Fast traction: Getting your message out through a trusted influencer can potentially give
your business a jolt in a hurry.
 Social proof: Having your brand associated with a well-known authority can help augment
your reputation instantly. If they’re trusted, then you’re trusted.
 Crisis management: Having relationships with industry authorities can help shut down a
problem in a crisis.

LiSTEN TO EMPLOYEES
By Scott Stratten

WHY EMPLOYEE OPINIONS ARE THEIR OWN…
A REFLECTION OF YOUR BRAND
In the age of social media, brands are quick to try to distance themselves from employees
on social media. Numerous companies, in conjunction with PR and HR, make it mandatory
that if you are to have a social media profile, it needs to be clear that you are not an official
spokesperson of the company.
The statement “All tweets are my own and not a reflection of my employer” has become the
default go-to in policies. This is dangerous in two ways:

Employees feel a false sense of freedom of brand speech

It tells them they aren’t really a part of the company
Empowering employees to speak and share on social channels can greatly benefit your
company in numerous ways. Even just listening for your brand mentions can dig up surprises.

CATCH THEM IN THE ACT OF DOING GOOD
Beki Hall Scarbrough needed to build a ramp for her dog to help with a future hip replacement
rehabilitation. After choosing Home Depot over Lowe’s (because they’re dog friendly), she was
amazed by what happened next.
“I made it all of 20 feet in the door and there were five employees, including the store manager
Michael Kline, all discussing how to help my dog - while handing the dog treat after treat from
their apron pockets. Ramp specifications, the pitch, materials, width, weight. Every detail. After
about 10 minutes the assistant manager asks if I’ll be home next
Thursday and gets my phone number.
Fully expecting to be called with an estimate for materials and labor,
the phone rings to confirm we will be home. Thursday morning
bright and early three HD employees show up, materials in hand and
proceed to build a ramp for my dog. No charge at all.”
Employees are doing good things for your brand right now, they need
to know it makes a difference.

LiSTEN FOR OPPORTUNITIES
TO GO ABOVE BEYOND
Quality customer service builds brand loyalty, but what about service that goes above and
beyond? Devan Dannelly saw the snow day coming. Like most people, he had no urge to shovel
his driveway so he could get to his soon-to-be cancelled classes at Eastern Kentucky University.
As a joke, he sent a tweet to the University President, Michael Benson:
And President Benson replied:

Lo and behold, here was the result: To the best reply of them all:
People will always talk, social media didn’t invent that. Sure, with social media, the talk is both
public and permanent, but that doesn’t mean a brand should lock down their employees and
monitor them for infractions. Let them talk. Educate them on the ins and outs, the good and
bad of social media accounts and let the world look at your brand in a better light.

WANT MORE ABOUT THE POWER OF
SOCIAL MEDIA LISTENING?
Click here to get your free copy
of the full LiSTEN e-book!

Listen eBook: 5 Social Audiences Brands Can't Afford to Ignore

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Listen eBook: 5 Social Audiences Brands Can't Afford to Ignore