Imagine having a premonition that your brand is about to encounter a major public relations crisis or maybe your brand will soon have a big opportunity. Well, that’s exactly what social listening does — it’s like having a radar for your brand’s reputation. Social listening is not just a hunch; it gives you real-time data and actual feedback from your audience, so you can catch issues early and stay ahead of the game.
In the past, brands would respond to media coverage, customer feedback, or a crisis only when it became unavoidable. But in the age of social media, public sentiment can shift in an instant. Social listening has given PR teams the power to move from a defensive position to a proactive one. Not to be confused with social monitoring, here’s how social listening is different!
Social Monitoring: A coffee shop tracks mentions of its new seasonal pumpkin spice latte on Instagram. Whenever someone posts about it, the coffee shop may see the post, but their primary goal is just to keep track of how often the product is being mentioned.
Social Listening: The same coffee shop tracks mentions of its pumpkin spice latte across social media platforms, but this time, it aggregates the data to analyse the overall sentiment. By reviewing how people feel about the product—whether the comments are positive, negative, or neutral—the coffee shop uses this information to refine its marketing approach. For example, if customers seem to love the latte’s flavour but complain about its price, the coffee shop might consider a promotional discount to address the feedback.
The magician's tools
With tools like Hootsuite, Brandwatch, or Sprout Social, PR teams can monitor mentions of their brand, industry, and even competitors 24/7. These tools don’t just track mentions — they provide insights into sentiment (is the conversation positive or negative?), trends (what’s gaining traction?), and influencers (who is driving the conversation?).
The Aces of Social Listening
Pepsi
In 2017, Pepsi launched an advertisement featuring Kendall Jenner that was quickly met with widespread backlash. The commercial depicted Jenner resolving a tense protest by offering a police officer a Pepsi, which critics felt trivialised serious social justice movements, particularly Black Lives Matter.
The backlash was intense, and social media erupted with criticism, accusing the brand of appropriating social justice causes for commercial gain. Pepsi promptly took down the ad and issued an apology. The brand admitted that the ad was "tone-deaf" and promised to be more thoughtful about its approach to sensitive social issues. Pepsi’s quick response, fuelled by social listening, prevented the situation from spiralling into a long-lasting PR disaster.
Although the ad generated significant negative attention, Pepsi’s decision to pull the campaign and apologise swiftly showed that they were listening to their audience.
Duolingo
Did you complete today's streak? Forget me at your own risk.
Duolingo is known for its quirky communication, just like the message above. Duolingo is successfully using social listening to enhance its user engagement, improve its product, and stay relevant. It monitors user feedback across social media and app reviews to identify pain points and make quick adjustments, such as modifying the app’s feature set or addressing complaints.
Duolingo also engages directly with users on social media, using humour and personalised content to build a loyal community. By listening to cultural trends, user sentiment, and feedback, Duolingo tailors its campaigns, refines its app, and makes users feel heard, keeping them engaged and satisfied. This proactive approach helps the brand grow and maintain strong relationships with its users.
The Future of Social Listening in PR
Looking into the future, visual listening (monitoring images and videos on social media) is gaining traction. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok are largely visual, and being able to track how users engage with images, memes, and videos will be crucial for PR teams looking to stay relevant.
Social listening is no longer a “nice-to-have” tool for PR professionals—it’s a must-have. It helps brands anticipate problems, seize opportunities, and create campaigns that resonate with their audience. With the continued growth of social media and online engagement, the future of PR will be defined by how well brands listen to and act on the conversations happening around them.
Psst! This blog was created after a lot of thought by a real person. #NoGenerativeAI
Comments