8 business opportunities you just missed (if you’re not listening)

A lot of businesses I speak to raise a common issue with social media: “If I start participating online, doesn’t that open my business up to customers complaining or saying negative things about us?”. My response is always: “How do you know they’re not saying negative things about your business right now?”. Crickets. Me: “What listening tools are you using to monitor what people are saying about you and your competitors right now?”. Crickets. “Just because you’re not participating…and worse, not listening, doesn’t mean that people aren’t talking about your business. It just means you don’t know about it AND that you can’t leverage those conversations into opportunities for your business.”

Social media consists of millions of conversations taking place online. We talk about what we love, what we hate, what we’re experiencing. We ask people for advice and we provide advice. If you’re not listening, you’re likely missing out. Here are 10 examples…

1. Prospects

In less than 3 minutes you can monitor conversations related to your business. A while back, I posted How to use Twitter to search for customers (you can do the same thing in LinkedIn or even across a wide net of social media sites, blogs & forums). It’s a simple way to follow conversations about a topic, industry or keywords. Why let your competitors find these prospects first?

2. Recommendations

Third party recommendations are one of the most powerful forms of marketing. If you’ve done a great job for a client, they may be endorsing your products or services to others. Why let a recommendation go un-thanked? Also, a good number of recommendations aren’t followed through. Instead of leaving it up to the other party to follow up with you, you can follow up with them…but only if you’re listening.

3. Loyal Customers

Not all businesses can track their best customers – usually because they’re high volume or quick sale merchants. Tools like Foursquare tell businesses which customers who ‘check in’ to their establishment visit the most. Smart businesses are thanking these loyal customers by publicly recognizing them and rewarding them with free gifts, exclusives and other VIP perks.

4. Blog or Publication Mentions

I’m in the process of coaching one of my clients on social media. As part of his ‘homework’, I asked him to comment on 3 questions posted on linked in, blogs or other industry-related sites. He provided his opinion on a question posted on Brandchannel.com. Because I was monitoring my client’s name using Google Alerts, I came across a writeup from Brandchannel.com that summarized the best responses to their question. My client’s was one of three. His opinions made it to one of the most prestigious industry publications in the branding & marketing industry. Without monitoring, he would never have known.

5. Issues

Is it really a bad thing to hear that people have issues with your products or services? Sure people complaining about you isn’t great. If enough people do it, it means there’s a problem. But it’s what you do with that information that can be one of the best things for your business. You can pretend it’s not happening or you can listen & try to solve the problem. Comcast did the latter and, as a result, elevated their reputation.

6. Photos & Videos

What do you do when you attend an event? Beyond the drinking and revelry, there’s usually a lot of picture taking. This is an amazing resource for planners who use pictures and video to tell their story. Listening to conversations about your event can turn up some amazing photographs. I’ve bore witness to an incredible number of great photos being shared on Facebook for an event called Engage!10 (but more on that later…hint, hint). How great for the planner to see perspectives on their event from the guests. It also gives planners the opportunity to approach guests to ask if they can use photos for promotional material, website, award entries, you name it.

7. Competitive Insights

Knowing what your competitors are doing is a great advantage in business. Monitor their brand name and you could unlock insights on new clients, organizational changes, new hires and get a feel for how they’re marketing themselves.

8. Industry News

Often times we look to industry publications for news…and they can be a brilliant and credible source. But the reality with print is that editorial lead times are pretty long. Listening through social media allows you to capture real time news, as it happens.

…Give me a few more minutes and I’ll double this list. Bottom line – just start listening. A few minutes of time will net you more information on your business, your competitors, your industry and your target than you’ve ever had before.

Stay tuned for Step by Step instructions on how to listen.