Social Media 101: Start By Listening

You’re ready to start using social media as part of your business’ marketing strategy, but where do you begin?

Start by listening to “what other people are saying about your market, about your industry, about your geography, maybe even about your company and its products and services,” advises marketing and leadership consultant David Meerman Scott in this video for the Monster Resource Center.

“Many times when people ask me about getting started with social media, they immediately want to jump in and start their own blog, or they immediately want to jump in and start a Twitter feed or create some YouTube videos,” Scott said. “And that’s great! I love that enthusiasm, that’s really cool. But what’s more important in the beginning, before you talk, you should listen.”

Look at blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and any other sites that may be relevant to your industry.

You want to be sure to examine what both your customers and your competitors are saying online. What your customers are saying will give you insight into their likes and dislikes — and maybe even their opinions about your business. What your competitors are saying will give you information on industry trends and ideas for how you might want to approach your own social media strategy.

The easiest way to monitor everyone everywhere on the Internet is through Google Alerts, Scott says. Set up alerts for your company’s name, your competitors’ names and keywords that are relevant to your industry. Then when those topics are mentioned on the Internet, you will receive an e-mail and can go check out what’s been said. That gives you a chance to see what’s happening and start to get involved in the conversation by leaving comments.

“So the idea here is that you develop your kind of voice by finding what other people are saying, then leaving comments on what they’ve said, before you start your own blog or your own Twitter feed or your own YouTube videos,” Scott explains.

You will also learn where your customers and competitors are active on the Internet — which is where you will want to be when you get started. And you’ll learn who you want to follow and connect with once you establish accounts of your own.

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