Update – we launched Respond a social listening tool and customer service tool
Respond displays your community’s tweets in a real-time tweet inbox. The list of new messages—both tweets and DMs—runs down the left column. Each particular message opens into the panel on the right.
This intuitive layout gives the Twitter stream an inbox feel where you can reply, archive, keep track of conversations, and—excitedly—reach inbox zero!
We’d love for you to experience the real-time support experience with Respond. Click above to get started right away.
Ok, back to the blogpost!
—
Our latest weekly #bufferchat on Twitter was Wednesday, July 9, where we focused on social media monitoring and welcomed Shannon Byrne, Content and PR Manager for Mention, as our special guest.
Check out the full Storify recap to discover a whole host of awesome people you should follow on Twitter.
How important is listening?
We started off the conversation by asking about the importance of social media monitoring in participant’s online strategies.
The resounding response was that listening is a key part of learning and connecting with your community.
A1a: As a media monitoring app, it’s critical for @mention to listen to our customers so we know how to better our product #bufferchat
Participating in the social conversation enhances not only the content but the perception about you as well. #BufferChat — Art Gelwicks (@ArtGelwicks) July 9, 2014
A1: Totally necessary. SM is a multi-directional conversation. Full engagement requires full awareness of those conversations. #bufferchat — Mike Singletary (@MikeSingletary) July 9, 2014
Listening and monitoring tools
Participants responded with a variety of tools they use to monitor conversations amongst their community. Here are just a few of the apps mentioned!
How do you best decide what keywords to listen to? Here’s what some of our participants said:
A3: 1. By monitoring terms closely tied to our product 2. IDing relevant influencers 3. Tracking questions from customers #bufferchat — Shannon Byrne (@ShannnonB) July 9, 2014
A3 got to do your research everywhere blog posts, FB,Twitter, LinkedIn publishing, mainstream media outlets, influencers #bufferchat — Kim Kaiser (@kimkaisermba) July 9, 2014
A3. Monitor more than your handle & a hashtag! Links Common Phrases Competition Ambassadors Location or GPS data #bufferchat — Brian Fanzo (@iSocialFanz) July 9, 2014
How do you best jump into the conversation?
A4: 1. Introduce yourself 2. Be witty 3. Be helpful 4. Don’t be pushy 5. When in doubt, use a GIF #bufferchat — Shannon Byrne (@ShannnonB) July 9, 2014
A4. Best strategy for jumping in a conversation is to watch it and look for social cues to enter. Just like real life. #BufferChat — Bridget Willard (@YouTooCanBeGuru) July 9, 2014
A4. Be yourself! As a brand, don’t be too stiff in your convos. Offer the help you can & take interest in who you’re helping. #bufferchat — Lolly (@lollyjean) July 9, 2014
A4: 1. “Knock the door before entering.” – Don’t intervene a conversation. 2. Contribute with context in mind. 3. Humor helps! #bufferchat — Neeraj Thakur (@NeerajT4) July 9, 2014
What have you learned from social media monitoring?
Listening leads to learning, and here are just a few of the things our participants have learned from listening:
social listening is the lifeblood of our marketing strat. We tailor everything to what we learn about our cmnty.” Shannon
“By listening, we learned what topics our audience cares about, when & why they engage…” Amelia
“Either you control your message or someone else will do it for you.” Art
Listening has also allowed us to adjust our strategy based on our audience’s engagement.” Divya
People just want to be heard & understood…” Miss K
If you’re true to the audience, it reflects in your messages and their responses…” Ankita
“
We don’t know everything & people don’t always want what you’d expect…” Sparket Media
People want to be talked to, not talked at.” Miss Grant
A very special thank you to Shannon from Mention for joining us for this incredible chat!
Join us every Wednesday at 9 am Pacific, noon Eastern, 4 p.m. GMT for #bufferchat!
To keep connected with #bufferchat in between the chats, check out our Google+ Community! Topics and questions will be shared on the Google+ community before each chat.
What social media monitoring tools do you prefer? What thoughts above resonated with you? Do you have any tips about social listening? Let us know in the comments!
P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy our Buffer Blog newsletter. Receive each new post delivered right to your inbox, plus our can’t-miss weekly email of the Internet’s best reads. Sign up here.
Brought to you by
Try Buffer for free
140,000+ small businesses like yours use Buffer to build their brand on social media every month