Are you an adept social listener? A typical consumer of social media most likely doesn’t need to possess the skill set of social listening as much as an influencer does. So it’s important as an influencer to have an understanding of what social listening is and how to best put it into practice.
First of all, what is social listening you ask? Social listening is gathering information and analyzing what is being said about a brand, or in this case influencer, across social media platforms. This can include looking over conversations about them, analyzing reviews, asking for direct feedback, etc. And why should you as an influencer want to have this as a skill? Because it’ll help you better understand your audience and connect with them. So we’ve jotted down a few ways you can hone in on your social listening skills in order to best serve your audience.
Diversify who you follow
We all follow people who are similar to us on social media. We want our feeds to be filled with people and things that bring us joy, so of course the easiest way to control that is to follow what you want to see. But have you thought about following people who are different from you? Maybe they have a different style than you or have different opinions. It can be a little uncomfortable at first, but it’s a great way to see what else goes on outside of the bubble that you’re in. Maybe you love minimalist fashion. Try following someone who dresses more maximalist. Not because you necessarily want to dress more like them, but because you could learn something from them. Giving you knowledge beyond your own expertise.
Stay in the know with trends
Being an adept social listener means being up-to-date and in-the-know with any and all trends. It could be a trending song for Reels or a fun Tik Tok idea. You need to know how to observe these trends and collect information in order to bring them to life for your own audience. This isn’t to say you need to execute every single trend that happens. But it is important to understand them and why they work well.
Ask your audience directly
There’s no need to have to guess for all of the information you’re looking for. The easiest way to compile information for social listening purposes is to simply ask for it. Put out polls and have your audience vote or have them answer in question boxes! An example of this would be creating polls asking what your audience wants to see more of, what they want to see less of, what their favorite content style of yours is, etc. The purpose of social listening is to gain a solid understanding of your audience and their thoughts about you, but nobody said it has to be a guessing game.
Read comments and DMs
This one might be harder to hear, we know how overwhelming it can be. But sometimes it can be good to read comments and go through your DMs. You know when you’re putting out good content and the majority of your comments and DMs will reflect that. It’s the same way people write reviews for products and companies read the reviews. Think of your comments and DMs as reviews for you. You are bound to come across some that are down right mean and unnecessary, but you might also come across something from some who misses when you used to show makeup tutorials or from someone else who wishes you’d share more home decor tips. You never know, a little bit of constructive feedback could be exactly what you need to relight a spark that may be burnt out.
Pay attention to your colleagues
In the same way that diversifying who you follow can teach you something, so can paying attention to those who are similar to you. Odds are a lot of people who follow you, likely follow many of the same people. So getting a feel for who else your followers follow can be helpful since they’re likely coming to you for similar content. A brand would call this following competitors, but we don’t believe in competitors in the influencer world. We believe the only competition to you is yourself. See who else is doing something similar to you and observe how their followers perceive them to get an outside perspective on how you may be perceived!
Happy listening!
