Listen. That’s right - just listen

Audi TVC - Listening.

2016 GLOBAL AUDI BRAND TV SPOT :60 DIRECTOR : DAVID HOLM DP : JUSTIN HENNING AGENCY : THJNK

Listen. All you’re hearing is the cool clear burbling brook of customer engagement. Do things just right and you’ll soon be drinking from a sustainable flow of priceless customer information from which you can always find sustenance.

Now that I have your attention – just listen. Listen long enough and if you have got everything just right, starting with listening, then your Integrated social marketing strategy has every chance of seeing that burbling brook of customer engagement become, a roar from a maintainable dream stream of success flowing through your client's community.

Don’t take my word for it. Consider luxury car manufacturer Audi. When the pandemic saw new car sales plummet, Audi didn’t just hold on, its sales grew.

Consider this, in 2020, Australian car sales dropped 20 % between January and August. By contrast, Audi car sales grew by a respectful 1.4%. While the luxury brands success was undoubtedly due to a potpourri of factors, one key element was listening, social media – brand listening.

Listening

Listening works because the traditional model of push marketing either on traditional platforms of digital platforms works. That’s according to Forbs Magazine. The magazine argued that, “today’s customers are digitally empowered through mobile and social technologies, and they are better informed than ever before.”

Image from https://www.piqsels.com/en/public-domain-photo-jjtrh

Listening works

Listening works because the traditional model of push marketing either on traditional platforms of digital platforms works. That’s according to Forbs Magazine. The magazine argued that, “today’s customers are digitally empowered through mobile and social technologies, and they are better informed than ever before.”

Perhaps more importantly, the article underscored the idea that marketing relationships are now customer-controlled.

That’s because marketing is about community, listening to, starting conversations with and responding to communities. Lindsay Tjepkema, CEO of Casted, told Hootsuite that content marketing, viral or otherwise always start with conversations. That means marketing to communities, and that means all marketing, is as much about finding out how to encourage that audience to engage with you as it is about engaging with an audience.

Listen and you receive

• · According to Forbs listening is critical because;-

• · Customers are they best source of real-time data.

• · Positive feedback can be shared.

• · Listening grows customer retention especially if you act on what you “heard.”

• · Responses to customer quotes encourages them to spend more

• · Listening to customers potentially turns them into brand ambassadors

• · Employee feedback on social channels produces suggestions that are gold

Overall, building your capacity to listen sets you above your competition.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Authentic and genuine

According to Hootsuite, audiences are about being authentic and social media marketing strategies must revolve around a hub of authenticity. That authenticity starts from listening.

As Tjepkema suggests, marketers will increasingly create human-centric experiences drawn from conversations with people, communities, and people within industry. All up, that means marketing strategies are about providing genuine interactions.

Digital marketing leading the way

Keep this in mind, digital marketing spend will continue to grow. According to Contentful’s Bridget Perry, anyone missing this digital journey by not listening will see competitors leave them behind.

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What do you think comes after listening?

What technologies do you use to “listen” to your market?

How do you establish audience conversations on social media?

And how do those conversations impact on your Social Media strategy?