Previously in this blog I have discussed what some first steps to addressing social media can be for on-line marketers. My key message was listen and learn. Don’t advertise.
One very important part of understanding social media is engaging in the conversation on-line i.e. active listening. Most marketers will find it difficult to monitor and tap into the vast array of discussions going on. Let alone trying to transform a myriad of opinions into something more concrete like general brand momentum etc.
In my agency discussions I have come across firms that offer “listening technologies”, whatever that means. I guess you access some kind of tool where you can see condensed real-time information (excerpts of dialogues, blogs etc) on the search words of your choice. In the absence of a budget for this, I did come across “Company Buzz” on Linkedin. Company buzz is a very handy widget that gives you a first stab at listening in – find below a screen shot of the widget.
I added some search words and I am now checking out whether or not this is any good. But I guess as long as it is free it provides a great learning opportunity before going on to more sophisticated solutions.
Enjoyed your post
Really interesting – I didn’t know this existed on LinkedIn.