The Art of Social Media Part Deux: Listen First and Never Stop Listening - a guest blog by intern Simon Abbott

In his book Likeable Social Media, social media guru Dave Kerpen says that listening is the single most important skill in social media and one that is easily forgotten. He goes on to say that Communication is 50% listening and 50% talking yet for many years, talking has always taken precedence. Now, for the first time in history, through social media, we can listen to what other people have to say.

Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are engagement media and also listening networks. Before you can join a conversation, how can you possibly know what to talk about before you listen?

If you are new to listening, there are lots of free ways to listen to what people are saying online. Try these:

• Google Alerts

• Technorati blog search

• Twitter search

• Facebook search

• YouTube search

• TweetBeep

By going to any one of these and typing a keyword or phrase into the search function, you will see what people are saying using that keyword in real time.

For more advanced listeners, there are paid enterprise software solutions such as Vocus and Radian6 but these are for larger companies rather than individuals.

Per Frank Reed, managing editor for social media blog Marketing Pilgrim, you should be careful what and who you listen to in social media. Here are some rules he advocates:

• Be discerning. Not every social media user is important. Use filters and time to weed out the crazies.

• Be selective. Who do you engage with? Decide who is worthy of your time based on how they impact you and your work. Pare it down even more after deciding who you listen to and respond to.

• Be smart. Don’t engage everyone. There is a fine line between recognition and engagement. Sometimes a simple nod of recognition to an unreasonable user is enough.

• Be careful. Not everything you read on the internet is true. This holds for both your supporters and detractors. Not everyone is who they claim to be.

• Be succinct. Say enough and move on.

• Be Teflon. Try not to take everything personally. People can be mean and they can be idiots. Let it slide. If they want to be miserable, it’s not your problem.

IBM social business executive Sandy Carter says that in social media, listening acts as a guide through the ever-changing world of the blogosphere. So how do you go about listening? She lists 4 steps to create a social media strategy.

1. Determine your target audience. Once you have determined whom to target, you have to understand where to engage them online. A common misperception is that all social networks are the same. According to Anderson Analytics, Generation Z (13-14 year old) social network users are more likely to use MySpace than Facebook. Only 9% used Twitter and none were active on Linkedin. So if you’re targeting Generation Z on Twitter, you’re listening in the wrong place.


2. Indentify the influencers. A research report from Meteor Solutions found that the type of people who follow or friend you are more important than the numbers. An average of 1% of a site’s audience generates 20% of its traffic by sharing content and links. A Forrester Research report by Senior VP Idea Development Josh Bernoff showed that about 6% of users generate 80% of the impressions and about 13% of online adults generate 80% of the influence posts. Through these kinds of analytics you can determine who are sharing content and links and how they feel about it.


3. Know the keywords and trends. Determine the topics that are important to you and your business and identify them as potential keywords. Then, through listening, establish if that is what your audience is interested in. For instance, “cost cutting” would seem like a viable term for any business, but as a result of listening, it turns out that “cost reduction” is the preferred term. Keywords should reflect what’s important in your business.


4. Form a social business strategy. Your social business strategy should address your goals and the approach you will take. Relevancy and reputation management should be part of these goals. How often does your name come up? In what context? By what audience? You can influence this by listening to what your audience cares about and relating to their needs.

Social media analytics starts with listening and listening is not just a discipline. It is a strategy to address the mass of data we all face every day. It offers a means for evaluating this information so you can improve your business. Do you have a listening strategy?