Podcast Summary: The Digital Marketing Podcast
Episode: Social Media Listening Tools and Strategy
Hosts: Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers
Date: September 24, 2017
Episode Overview
This episode explores how social media listening fits into a comprehensive social media strategy, highlighting leading tools (from free to enterprise-level) that enable businesses to monitor, analyze, and respond to social conversations. Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers review how expectations for these tools have evolved, the strategic value of insights offered, practical tool selection advice, and discuss sentiment analysis, influencer identification, and pitfalls to avoid.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Role of Social Media Listening in Strategy
(00:20 – 02:55)
- Social listening isn't just for the social team—it provides strategic insights useful across the entire business.
- Daniel: "You can use social listening to understand the reaction to what you're doing...monitor your results...and use it for crisis management as well." (00:28)
- Insights include understanding market topics, detecting brand advocates/influencers, and identifying threats or opportunities.
- Ciaran: "Everybody at every level in a good organization that's customer-centric should be really, really interested in what people are saying about you." (01:45)
- Poor integration (siloing) can lead to missed problems or opportunities.
2. Evolution of Social Listening Tools
(03:51 – 06:33)
- Early tools (e.g., Social Mention, Viral Heat) offered basic, mostly free features and covered only a couple of channels.
- Today’s expectation: multi-channel monitoring, deep analysis, and broad historical data.
- Technical and cost barriers make robust, free tools rare—most comprehensive services are now paid due to data volume and processing complexity.
- Free tools are limited, typically offering recent data and monitoring only one or two platforms.
3. Enterprise & Advanced Tools:
Brandwatch
(08:35 – 12:21)
- Highly comprehensive, for big brands or serious research.
- Features: advanced sentiment analysis, customizable dashboards, logo-based image monitoring, support for multiple languages, and coverage across ca. 90 million websites.
- Daniel: "Brandwatch is very good at sentiment analysis...it’s pretty good at analyzing language and saying, is this good or bad?...You can build complicated sets of rules, dashboards, word clouds, and influencer reports." (08:44)
- Price: premiums in the hundreds or low thousands per month—not suited for small businesses.
Radian6 (now Salesforce Social Studio)
(06:33 – 07:30)
- Integrated with CRM systems, used at the enterprise level; provides strategic insights business-wide, but expensive and more than smaller organizations need.
4. Influencer Identification Tools
Klear (klear.com)
(12:21 – 14:43)
- Great for hunting social influencers by topic or geography.
- Daniel: "You can search on a topic and it will tell you the top influencers in that particular area...the paid version gives you loads more insights." (12:33)
- Free version available, but limited to top influencers—paid versions are affordable (hundreds, not thousands).
- Ciaran: "Influencers with slightly less influence often offer more genuine engagement and are easier to build relationships with." (14:03)
5. Affordable Tools for SMEs
(15:05 – 18:30)
Brand24
- Affordable ($49/month), visually intuitive interface, covers multiple channels, strong filters, and includes a generous mention allowance.
- Free 14-day trial available, but effective filtering setup is key to avoid irrelevant results.
- Ciaran: “You need to put the effort into setting up your filters effectively...you get a load of trash sent through otherwise.” (15:05)
Media Toolkit
- Free version available, then paid upgrades; covers up to three subjects.
- Notable for flexible, precise filtering (AND/IF/NOT logic), daily mention reports, and standout human customer support.
- Ciaran: “They just wanted to make sure I was okay with it all...in today’s age of automated emails, that really made them stand out.” (19:34)
6. Key Considerations When Selecting Tools
(17:31 – 18:30)
- Always review: Platform coverage, historical data access, need for geo-targeting, and relevance to your key social channels.
- High-end tools have full “firehose” access (e.g., all Twitter data), others do not—consider ROI and necessity.
7. The Importance and Traps of Sentiment Analysis
(22:21 – 24:20)
- Sentiment analysis can misinterpret irony, context, or trending hashtags (e.g., "Blame Nick Clegg" case).
- Manual review is recommended; subjective, cultural, or humor-driven mentions can be misclassified by algorithms.
- Daniel: “You kind of need a learning process. Some of them allow you to say, yes, I agree, or no, I disagree with how you’ve interpreted this...” (23:19)
8. Hashtag Intelligence & Monitoring
Hashtagify
(24:20 – 27:19)
- Discovers trending hashtags and relationships between them.
- Useful for content planners, but caution advised: Always vet hashtags for context to avoid reputational issues.
- Daniel: “There is no central repository. You do not own a hashtag. People can hijack them.” (26:04)
- Real-world example: Unintended association when using a hijacked hashtag.
9. Lightweight, Budget-Friendly Tools
Mention.com
(27:32 – 28:21)
- Monitors major platforms, simple to use, and well-priced from $30/month.
- Good for straightforward mention tracking—don’t overcomplicate if your needs are basic.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
Daniel, on integrating social listening into the wider business:
“Don’t underestimate the importance of some of these tools…social listening can shape the entire business—not just content planning, but the brand positioning and more.” (03:51) -
Ciaran, on influencer marketing:
"The engagement with very big influencers is actually very shallow. Look for grounded people with reach, not just the top stars." (14:03) -
On sentiment analysis pitfalls:
Daniel: "BBC were reporting negative sentiment based purely on a hashtag without understanding people were joking...so you need a learning process and human review." (22:21) -
On hashtag risks:
Daniel: "There is no central repository. You do not own a hashtag. People can hijack them...be sure to check the context before jumping in." (26:04)
Tool Summary Table
| Tool | Purpose | Price Point | Standout Feature | |------------------|---------------------------------------|------------------|-----------------------------------------| | Brandwatch | Enterprise listening/analytics | $$$$ | Comprehensive sentiment & logo analysis | | Klear | Influencer discovery | $-$$ | Influencer mapping w/ free version | | Brand24 | SME monitoring & visualization | $ | Intuitive interface & filters | | Media Toolkit | SME monitoring, flexible filters | Free/$ | AND/IF/NOT filtering; human support | | Hashtagify | Hashtag intelligence | Free/$ | Popularity visualization | | Mention.com | Lightweight mention monitoring | $ | Simplicity & price |
(Price key: $ = <$100/mo, $$ = hundreds, $$$$ = enterprise-level)
Timestamps for Important Segments
- [00:20] – Social listening’s strategic value, not just for social teams
- [03:51] – Evolution of tools over the last 6-7 years
- [08:35] – Brandwatch review and advanced features
- [12:21] – Klear for influencer discovery
- [15:05] – Affordable tools (Brand24, Media Toolkit) and practical setup
- [17:31] – Assessing needs: platforms, geo, depth
- [22:21] – Sentiment analysis: common algorithm failures
- [24:20] – Hashtagify and hashtag pitfalls
- [27:32] – Mention.com and when simple tracking suffices
Recommendations & Action Steps
- Pick the right tool for your needs and budget: Don’t overspend for unnecessary features. Trial several tools to see what fits.
- Invest time in setup: Good results require effort in defining filters and keywords to reduce irrelevant data.
- Use insights beyond social teams: Share findings with product, support, and leadership for bigger business improvements.
- Always review sentiment and context: Don’t rely solely on algorithms; manual review is essential, especially for reported “negative” mentions or trending hashtags.
- Be cautious with hashtags: Investigate meaning and adoption before using.
Final Thought
Daniel: “Pick the ones you need, work out why you’re actually going to use it and build it into your social media management process.” (28:59)
For more episodes, detailed tool links, or to contact the hosts, visit TargetInternet.com.