Learn Something New 
Chances are your Mama told said something like this “Listen and Learn” ! She was right and although she might have been carrying a switch, the ramifications of not listening to mama were not nearly as severe as not listening to the Customer. Customers are demanding and impulsive. They are no longer isolated and passive, waiting for you to tell them what you want them to know, they go online and learn from videos, reviews, and campaigns that may have reached hundreds or even millions. These customer conversations have profound impacts, both positive and negative, on companies.
Listen by Monitoring
Key conversations to listen for include any mention of your brand or specific product, customer compliments, complaints, or problems with your business, as well as comments that reflect your marketing campaigns. Also monitor topics related to your business category and the key issues that you solve for your customers (for example, Digital Marketing) to know what is going on at the point of need or the Zero Moment of Truth. There are many sophisticated tools that do this if you have the budget and the expertise to interpret the results.
Listen for Customer Service
Many companies actually use social media as the first tier response to emergency situations and customer complaints. NES, the electric service, does a great job of responding to my tweets when power outages render only my iphone operable. Most companies use email as the preferred method of communication but with varying degrees of success based on the strategy they use to deploy this service.
Listen for Insights
It’s important to respond to obvious comments and customers but it is also important to be ready to capture ideas, respond, and act on insights. Listening for insights always you to not only satisfy the customer but Wow them as well. As with all insights the secret is in understanding the implication in the stated obvious.
Listen for Market Research
Today, any company should start by listening to its customer networks before spending money to hire a focus group. Think of Listening activity as a massive and freely available Focus group. What would make your product better, listen the customer will tell you. What makes a loyal customer leave, listen and you will hear. What is missing in the market place, listen and you will hear.
Listen to the Data
The great love hate relationship we have with data is magnified exponentially with the available tools online. Google Analytics is the foundation of that data and can provide you with incredible golden nuggets or a pile of useless numbers. In the hands of a skilled analyst, this data can place you head and shoulders above competitors.
