Your guide to setting up a social media listening dashboard by Informed Owl DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?

Transcription

1 Your guide to setting up a social media listening dashboard by Informed Owl DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?

2 Are your ears burning? People are talking about you online. Listen. Imagine you re standing in line at the grocery store. You hear two people in front of you talking about your company. You d want to listen in, right? This grocery store scenario is happening right now online. And if you re not listening and perhaps more importantly, responding you re missing out. This paper explains four steps to setting up a social media listening dashboard with free digital tools that allow you to listen to your audience s online conversations.

3 WHY IS LISTENING IMPORTANT? A clear understanding of your target audience and their social media behaviors is vital to a successful social media strategy. To understand your audience, you need to listen to them. Today s consumers want and expect businesses to listen to their opinions and, when appropriate, respond. They want feedback through advice and recommendations. They want to do business with those that care what they have to say. The goal of a listening platform is to discover opportunities in online conversations. Online listening can help you: Manage your reputation by being aware of what people are saying about you and responding, when appropriate Improve your programs and services Identify problems and misunderstandings associated with your business Keep an eye on your competitors Stay informed of industry news Identify people/groups online who may support or be interested in your business/industry Grow your influence Predict your company s outlook, using data and trends Follow the steps outlined in this paper, and you ll be well on your way to effectively participating in online conversations.

4 Step 1: Sign up for a Google account. You will use this account to log in to your dashboard (a platform that will combine online mentions of your company in one, easy-to-use place). If multiple employees will be using the dashboard, consider making this a general account that everyone can log in to. If you are the only one using the dashboard, you can use your personal Google account.

5 STEP 2: CREATE A LIST OF KEYWORDS. Keywords, or specific words and phrases people use when searching the Internet, will help you find online conversations you should pay attention to. Since you ve set up a Google account, you can use the Google Keyword Planner tool to search for keywords relevant to your business. Here are some examples of keywords you may want to consider: Organization name (and any abbreviations and/or common misspellings) Names of key people (and any common misspellings) Programs or services you offer Colleagues and competitors Industry and occupational terms Note that If you have a common business name, or often go by initials, you may want to add a city or industry keyword. For example, the business Main Street Cafe would want to include a quaifier, such as location. One of its keywords could be main street cafe wichita.

6 Step 3: Sign up for an RSS reader. With an RSS reader, an online tool that updates with new content from websites you choose. Think of it as your own personal website that collects only the information you want to read. This means you don t have to go to go to multiple sites to search for relevant information; you simply save websites or your search queries in the reader and the relevant information will be delivered to you. You will use this on the next step. Our team likes Feedly and recommends you sign up for this reader. Feedly integrates content from the RSS feeds of your favorite websites into a user-friendly magazine-like experience. It also provides seamless integration with social networks. Feedly will be your home base for your listening dashboard.

7 STEP 4: GATHER CONTENT. Now, start gathering content to put into your dashboard. We recommend the following: Google Alerts, Google Blog Search, and Social Mention.

8 a) Google Alerts Sends you newly published online content that relates to your keywords from news, websites, blogs, discussion groups and more. 1. Type your keyword into the search query box. Select Deliver to Feed. Click Create Alert. 2. Right click the orange RSS feed button under the Deliver to column. Select Copy Link Location.

9 3. Paste the URL into your Feedly dashboard. 4. After you paste it, click the result under the Discover Feeds. Then click Follow. You will have then added the Google Alert RSS to your Feedly dashboard.

10 b) Google Blog Search Provides fresh, relevant search results from millions of blogs. 1. Type your keyword into the search bar. 2. Right click the orange RSS feed button under the Deliver to column. Select Copy Link Location.

11 3. Paste the URL into your Feedly dashboard. 4. After you paste it, click the result under the Discover Feeds. Then click Follow. You will have then added the Google Blog RSS to your Feedly dashboard.

12 c) Social Mention Displays search results from a host of different social media platforms. 1. Type your keyword into the search box. 2. Right click the orange RSS feed button under the Deliver to column. Select Copy Link Location.

13 3. Paste the URL into your Feedly dashboard. 4. After you paste it, click the result under the Discover Feeds. Then click Follow. You will have then added the Social Mention RSS to your Feedly dashboard. That s it! Now you can visit your Feedly page to see the latest search results for your keywords.

14 ADVANCED SEARCH We recommend searching for your business name, such as Main Street Café. But you might also want to see what people are talking about more broadly in your industry. Often times, searching for a generic industry term or business name can bring thousands of results. To get fewer, but more-targeted results, you can use specific symbols/qualifiers known as Boolean search operators. Here are some of the most common Boolean operators: Quotes return results with that exact phrase. Example: nail salon OR returns matches with at least one of the terms, as well as matches with both terms. Example: nail salon OR spa AND returns only matches with both terms. Example: nail salon AND spa Minus sign returns only results without the word following the sign. Example: nail salon -spa Boolean Search is especially useful for geographic (or geo) targeting your searches based on location. If you re a small business, you probably don t need to geo-target around your brand name. But you may want to use a location term with more-generic keywords.

15 For example, say you are a car wash in Houston, Texas. A good search phrase may be: car wash AND Houston. The quotes around car wash tell Social Mention that you want those words to be next to each other in the post. The AND houston indicates that houston must also appear somewhere in post, in addition to car wash.

16 PAID LISTENING TOOLS We ve outlined several free online listening tools, but you also have the option of investing in a paid listening tool. Paid listening tools offer more functionality, such push alerts, sentiment analysis, more-accurate measurement, the ability to identify top authors and themes, and the option to give multiple people access. If your budget allows, we recommend checking out the following social media monitoring and engagement tools: 1. Viral Heat Sends a daily of all new mentions discovered in the past 24 hours Pricing available upon request 2. Salesforce Marketing Cloud (formerly Radian6) Provides great real-time monitoring and the ability to respond within the platform Pricing available upon request 3. Brand Watch Provides a comprehensive dashboard of results, including great charts and graphs to help you pick out trends and insights Pricing starts around $800/month

17 KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES Perhaps more important than setting up your listening dashboard is what you do after you ve created it. You wouldn t buy a plant without nurturing it with water and sun, would you? Same goes with social media listening. Here are some tips to keep up with your social media listening: Whenever you identify a new keyword, add it to your Feedly dashboard through Google Alerts, Google Blogs and Social Mention RSS feeds. Consider making Feedly your home page, or setting an Outlook or phone reminder to check your dashboard a few times a week. Subscribe to the Informed Owl blog to get updates on social media listening tools.

18 YOUR GUIDE TO SETTING UP A SOCIAL MEDIA LISTENING DASHBOARD by Informed Owl In the end, online advertising is like a lot of things. You learn by doing. And with Eagle Owl guides likes ours, you re certain to catch more than your limit. Besides, the shore lunch is to die for. Informed Owl certified Internet Marketing Professionals can help you reach your audience InformedOwl.com Informed Owl is an Internet marketing services company serving up smart, results-driven online marketing solutions and services the trusted online resource for cutting-edge marketing insights and expertise. Through strategic relationships with top-tier service providers, our teams offer local business owners a full line of interactive marketing solutions and services in more than 20 mid-metro and community media markets.