Social media marketing is not only about posting content regularly, as this approach does not help you generate new leads. You must listen to your audience’s needs. 

How would you provide your potential customers with customized solutions without understanding their problems? 

That is why social listening is an excellent tactic to gain fresh leads through social platforms.

It is also an art that you must master. By applying this technique, you can clearly understand the current market’s needs.

Note – Get to know how social listening can help in e-commerce. 

How does Social Listening Work for Lead Generation?

Social listening helps you generate leads in various ways. 

Tools for social listening let you check the content that has received the highest response. Besides, you can spot the conversations of your customers on social media and learn whether they are talking about your brand. 

So, the data will be useful for increasing engagement and generating leads. 

Social listening tools are also effective as they identify how your competitors’ products/services can be valuable to your potential customers. 

Moreover, you can take advantage of these tools to look for new partners, including industry leaders and small communities. You can engage with them through relevant discussions and try to find leads from online communities. 

You can improve your customer experience standards with your social listening strategy. Advanced tools enable you to know when your customers have made queries and tagged your brand name. You can give them an instant response to solve problems.

So, use social listening tools strategically to find your leads. And if you do not know about social listening and konnect Insight so read this article.

10 Ways Social Listening Can Help in Lead Generation
Find the best ways to use social listening to generate leads. 

Messaging Ideal Customers 

The importance of messaging is undeniable in the marketing world. Social media users define your brand depending on what words you have used in the message.

However, your message should reach the right people on social platforms. If it targets the wrong audience, you will get no value. Social listening enables you to identify the ideal customers for your business.

Customers’ expectations and behaviors are never static. So, constant listening to their needs is highly significant.  

Hashtags and keywords are vital when you send your messages to the target group of audiences. Social listening enables you to detect them and helps you determine the marketing messages more effectively. Using social media analytics tools, you can determine the top-performing messages on social platforms.

Besides, social listening insights is valuable for refining messaging techniques. 

Why? 

It is because the data is 

• Organic and accurate – It comes directly from competitors and customers
• Timely and up-to-date – Obtained from social platforms
• Sourced from leads and potential customers

The main elements relevant to your social media messaging are-

• The way you deliver your messages
• The way you communicate your values, insights, and voice to customers

Discovering Influencers 

Innovative social media listening tools can be great for finding influencers on social platforms. You can encounter someone with brand affinity on social platforms.

There are a few steps for identifying the right social media influencer:

• Hunt for brand ambassadors – Some of us believe that brand ambassadors are those who get paid for talking about the brand. But, in reality, an influencer or brand ambassador may also be an unpaid person. He likes to buy products from a particular brand because it fits them. 
• Detect brand mentions – Take advantage of tools for finding brand mentions. Some tools also enable you to set alerts when someone has used the branded keywords, products, or brand name. While searching for brand mentions, you will also learn about your customers’ reactions.

If a social media user frequently mentions your brand name, you can check out his profile. So, profiles with several followers who make relevant conversations can become your influencer. 

• Choose influencers outside your brand affinity – Some users who do not mention your brand can also become your influencer. Find out whether they have used your competitors’ names. It means they may find interest in the type of products/services you provide.

Both nano and micro-influencers are available on social platforms. Check the size of their follower base and work with the best influencer. 

Researching New Opportunities 

With social listening, you can find new markets and lucrative business opportunities. The best tools enable you to identify blogs, social media networks, and news websites. Though you can identify some brand mentions in real-time mode, it takes time. That is why you may rely on tools for data collection.

If you can understand your ideal customers’ anticipations and the theme of their conversations, it will be easy to find a new avenue. 

Social listening also enables you to check the competition. When your competitors lose ground in some areas, there is a chance of grabbing a position. 

Finding new geographical markets is possible with social listening techniques. Your business may have the potential to cater to customers outside of the local area. 

So, you can identify the location of social media users who are talking about your brand.

For instance, you have developed an app in the USA. But, it has gained popularity in India. So, you can take the initiative to expand your market in India. 

Learn how to Engage Your Audience 

To engage the right audience, you need to listen to their words about relevant products and services. 

Social media listening tools make it easy to monitor their conversations. By interpreting this data, you can understand the underlying sentiment.

It streamlines the process of engaging with the audience. Automated software gives you a detailed insight into your customers’ emotions.

Find Conversations About Your Brand and Engage 

Which social media users have mentioned your brand or your products/services? You can determine it by implementing a social listening strategy. Convert those users into leads with regular nurturing. 

But how should you calculate social media mentions? 

It is the volume of brand mentions on social networking channels over a particular period (a month or quarter).

Keep your eyes on relevant social media discussions. It is the best way to stay tuned to the latest topics discussed by your target audience.

However, you can also use social listening tools to track your brand mentions across various platforms. 

Besides, it is useful to gather feedback and identify your potential leads. What’s more, if you can track what consumers are talking about, you will have a good idea of the most effective marketing strategy. 

Brand mention is important, not just for finding potential customers and generating leads. It is a signal of how your marketing efforts have developed brand awareness. So, more brand mentions mean higher brand awareness on the social platform.

Get more information about how social listening improves customer experience.

Improve Customer Experience (UX) 

Social media users express their opinions about different brands. If you look into their minds through social listening, you can respond to them quickly. Do not let your potential customers feel frustrated. By satisfying them with your faster response, you can convert them into leads and customers.

However, customers prefer a customized response to a standard one. In this context, you should know the difference between social listening and social monitoring. 

If you respond to a single customer and solve one issue at a time, it is called social monitoring. On the other hand, when you solve multiple problems simultaneously, you have to “listen.” It means that you should have a bigger picture in front of your eyes.

Social listening helps you identify various aspects related to the customer experience.

• Potential problems of your target social media users
• Address pain points, find solutions, and look for opportunities.
• Know the product features and solutions desirable to customers.
• Questions asked by customers give you a chance to respond with relevant answers. You can push them to the sales funnel by publishing the best content on social platforms.
• Learn about the things (related to your solutions, services, and products) not liked by your customers.
• Understand the brand perception of your customers so that you can align the right values with them.
• The current stage of your customers in the purchasing process for more effective communication.

Discover New Places Where Your Audience Hangs Out 

Social media is a vast world. How do you know where your potential customers are hanging out? 

You have to identify the communities that may attract them.

Social listening tools enable you to uncover the right platform where you can locate those communities. It will be easy for you to learn about the types of content desirable to your target social media users. This is how you can provide them with the best experience.  

The types of audiences and segments attracted by social platforms are dynamic. For instance, Facebook was originally a good networking site for students. But, now, it is open to everyone over 13 years of age. 

As social listening tools help you analyze social listening trends on every social platform, you can easily track your audience on the right platform.

The same is true in the case of Instagram. It is known for its visually-oriented nature. Users can upload pictures and videos and use geotags for them. Thus, you may use your social listening tools to identify the type of visual content your target audience prefers.

Prospect Hunting 

Social prospecting, or social listening, is a way to track different brands, phrases, and words across social platforms. 

So, you can trace your potential customers based on the report provided by the analytic tool.

A simple search for keywords enables you to locate a handful of potential customers who would benefit from your services/products. It works for all social media platforms. 

However, the approach may be slightly different for every social media platform.

For Twitter, a few keyword variations and tweets let you reach the target users’ profiles. You may reply to tweets, start a friendly conversation, and convert the user into a lead.

In the case of Facebook, you may choose the same keywords but apply them differently. By sifting through search results, you can find relevant pages and people talking about your products/services.

To make this process easier, it is better to take advantage of social listening tools. Some potential customers may not mention your brand name. 

But, advanced tracking tools identify their conversations and determine whether they can become your leads. 

Monitor Your Competitors 

Competitor monitoring is vital for every online marketing campaign. To accomplish it easily, you can depend on social listening tools.

The first step is to set up the tool for real-time brand mentions. Review the statistical data provided by the tool.

It will help you compare the number of times consumers have mentioned your competitors’ brand names. You will understand the market share and brand recognition of your strongest competitors.

Dive into every detail of their brand mentions. It lets you gather real-user feedback on your competitors’ products and services. 

Advanced tools also give you a view of the topics discussed by your rivals and their customers. So, you will learn about the types of stories and content that are most appealing to your customers. 

Social listening reports give you a clear view of user data organized by various metrics.

Competitor analysis seems to be overwhelming. But, with the use of an automated tool, you can analyze the data easily.

Monitor Your Competitor’s (Unhappy) Customers 

A sound strategy for social listening would benefit you in different ways. You can identify whether your competitors have achieved success or experienced failure. Even if you have a strong competitor, not everything about its product/service is perfect. You can take advantage of this situation.

Social listening tools help you track keywords and phrases that denote the frustrations and problems of your customers.

When their customers are unhappy with a particular product or service, you can try to provide a solution. So, it is the smartest way to turn them into your leads.

For instance, you have set up your social listening tool to display keywords that include “can’t” or “won’t.” 

After identifying the dissatisfied customer’s problems, you can take the right step. Let them know how the features and services of your product benefit them. Show the reasons why your products/services are a better choice for them.

Thus, start detecting your competitors’ weaknesses and troubleshooting their customers’ issues with your product. Your competitors’ unhappy customers can become your happy and loyal ones.

Conclusion

Social listening tools have an incredible power to understand the thoughts of your potential customers and identify leads. If you pay attention to social platforms, you will have a better sense of your customers’ needs. With social listening, you can develop relationships with your leads and engage with them. This will help you get multiple opportunities to nurture your leads to ensure conversion.