Social Media Listening
Social media gives businesses a great opportunity to engage personally with their customers. It is similar to the local grocer who knew customers by name. Listening requires a company to plan and be prepared to respond. When listening and engagement isn’t part of marketing mix then it creates missed opportunities to engage customers. Here is a short list on social media listening tools.
Here are few Social Media Listening Tools

1) Twitter Search. Twitter is a great tool to find out in real time what people are saying. You can simply do a search at any time and get real mentions of your company.
2) Facbook Search. You can find comments that people are making about your brand.
3) Google Alerts. You can search for keywords that relate to your brand, products, or service. You can get monthly, daily, or hourly updates.
4) Yahoo Pipes. Yahoo Pipes also aggregates information with websites and with keywords you specify. You can also make your searches viewable by others and have them indexed by search engines.
5) Youtube. You can do a search for your brand, product, or services. Just know that it may not be what you are expecting.
6) Search Forums. Industry related forums is great place to get involved and find out what people are saying.

Interested in learn more about listening in social? Read Jeremiah Owyang’s Evolution: The Eight Stages of Listening.

Have tool you use or recommend? Have any comments on companies you find do this well? Share your thoughts.