Why Businesses need to Listen to What is said on Social Media

The Importance of Social Listening:

 

Social media provides businesses with a great opportunity to connect with customers and hear what they have to say about your brand. This is all well and good; however some companies fail to actually listen to what their customers have to say. If you are going to give your customers an open forum for them to express their thoughts on your brand, then you need to monitor the conversation.

 

 

Listening to Complaints:

If people are voicing their dislike for a current product, or their dissatisfaction with the customer service they received, then you need to address this and resolve the situation quickly. There is no point in merely deleting negative posts, this angers customers and only adds fuel to the flame. Think of who posted the negative comment as an angry customer causing a fuss in a shop, however this time they can be heard by potentially thousands of people.

Negative posts on social media have a distinct way of gaining traction online. One negative post can have a domino effect, causing a string of negative posts based on previous incidents. A customer who has poor previous experience with a brand may see a post criticising this brand and this may entice them to post about their bad experience with the brand. To stop this effect it is important to respond to complaints quickly and respectively, but don’t aggravate the situation!

Listening to What Your Customers Want:

 When making changes to products or services, it is good to keep the customer in mind. Social media can be a great tool for testing some new ideas. This can be done in a friendly and casual way like ‘any suggestions for what flavour our new ice cream should be?’ Posts like this can start the conversation with your customers whilst giving you an insight as to what they actually want in comparison to what you think they want.

A great example of a company who listened to their social media fans is Cadbury. In 2003 they took their much loved Wispa bar of the shelves. However by 2007 the bar had gained quite a cult status by those who remembered the bar fondly. This brought about various social media campaigns including a Facebook campaign entitled ‘Bring Back Wispa’. This group gained a large following and eventually Cadbury listened and jumped on the band wagon, which led to a hugely successful re-launch.

Conclusion:

Listening to what your customers have to say is vital to developing strong relationships with your customers. Through social media customers can be heard by many, so it is important that you hear them also.

Listening to what your customers have to say is not only an action which is of benefit to them, more importantly it is a benefit to your business. Through listening to what they have to say, your business can gain great insights as to what your customers think about your products and services. Listening to your customers through social media can also lead to product innovation as no one knows what your customer wants more than your actual customer.

At Webresults we offer a wide range of digital marketing services including the management of social media pages. For more information on how we can help your business get the most out of social media please contact us.

How Facebook’s Edgerank Algorithm can Help Your Business

Facebook’s Updated Edgerank formula:

 

Facebook have been using variations of the Edgerank algorithm to determine what posts each of its users want to see at any given time. Facebook have been improving their Edgerank formula for quite some time now. The old formula used to involve three variables;

• Affinity Score
• Weight
• Time

Affinity Score: The affinity score of a post is measured by looking at explicit actions that users take, such as the strength of the action, how close the person who took the action was to you and how long ago they took the action.

Weight: Every action carried out on Facebook creates an edge, where each edge creates a potential story. Each category of edges has a pre-determined weight. (However. clicks do not create an edge).

Time: As a story gets older, it loses relevancy and drops points on Edgerank’s running score.

When a user logs into Facebook, their newsfeed is filled with posts that have the highest Edgerank score at that moment in time.

Facebook’s new formula however claims to take in over 100,000 different factors when determining the rank of a post. However, all these factors will still come through the 3 core categories of Affinity, Weight and Time.

Facebook have recently announced their “story bumping” update which will raise stories they feel are of major relevance to a particular user, despite its time decay.

In updating this new formula, Facebook surveyed their users to get a better understanding of what they want to see. They showed examples of posts to users accompanied by questions such as;

• Is this timely and relevant content?
• Is this content from a source you would trust?
• Would you share it with friends or recommend it to others?
• Is the content genuinely interesting to you or is it trying to gain News Feed distribution? (e.g. asking for people to like the content)
• Would you call this a low quality post or meme?
• Would you complain about seeing this content in your News Feed?

With a basic understanding of how Edgerank works, businesses can better plan what kind of content to post and when to post it.

Taking the example of a small café, looking to get your message across through Facebook. You need to consider these Edgerank factors when creating your post. Affinity score and time are the two factors which you can have an impact on and are somewhat easier to manipulate.

Consider your Affinity score by acknowledging those who frequently interact with your posts. Write posts that would appeal to them as they are the people most likely to like and share your post. Having your post liked and shared boosts the amount of people who see the post.

Take the timing of your post into consideration when posting an item on Facebook. If your small cafe is posting a status about how your delicious double espresso is the ideal way to start your day, then don’t post it at 8pm when nobody is thinking about coffee and the long morning that awaits them! Post statuses when people are open to your brand (In this case; the morning), this will gain more likes and shares to boost your post’s viewers.

If you have any questions regarding Edgerank or any other Facebook function, please contact us.

Facebook Starts Removing Likes

Do you buy your “likes”?  Facebook is clamping down on this kind of behaviour, read our article for more information on how to avoid getting hit.

To read the full article, visit Facebook Starts Removing Likes.

For more information on social media marketing and web marketing, contact us.  For more information on this topic, click here.

Is Your Social Media Marketing Targeting Your Facebook Audience Correctly?

Are you sure that the content and information you are sharing on Facebook is targeting the correct audience?  For info on Facebook’s new audience targeting tool, read our article!

To read the full article, visit Is Your Social Media Marketing Targeting Your Facebook Audience Correctly?

For more information on Social Media Marketing and web marketing, contact us.  For more information on this topic, click here.

Mobile Marketing and Social Media, Are You Onboard?

Smartphone sales are increasing every day, are you marketing online and on mobile? Do you know what mobile marketing can do for your business?

Mobile phones are everywhere. If you are in a public place you will no doubt see dozens of them. These people are not always on a call, but they may be on the internet. Find out more about Mobile Marketing and what it can do for your business by reading the full article!

To find out more about mobile marketing and web marketing, contact us. For more information on this topic, click here.

 

SEO Vs Social Media, Which Is Better For Your Businesses Marketing?

Confused about whether you should be using SEO or Social Media to promote your business online?  Read our article on the advantages and disadvantages to get a better understanding of which may work for your business!

To read the full article, visit SEO Vs Social Media, Which Is Better For Your Businesses Marketing?

To find out more about SEO and Social Media, contact us.  For more information on both topics and for downloadable resources on more topics, click here.

A Quick Guide to Social Media Marketing

Have you started using social media to promote your business? Are you unsure of how to use it properly/effectively for online advertising? Our article on Social Media for beginners may be just what you need to understand how and why it is a great tool for your business.

You can read more about Social Media Marketing at A Quick Guide to Social Media Marketing.

If you would like more information on social media marketing and web marketing, contact us.  For more information on this topic, click here.

A Guide to Making Facebook Marketing Work for Your Business

Are you getting the most out of Facebook for your business? Is Facebook driving business to your website? For more information read this article on Facebook marketing. Forrester have put together a guide to Facebook Marketing which you can download free of charge.

Read more about successful Facebook marketing on our website: A Guide to Making Facebook Marketing Work for Your Business

For more information about our Social Media Management Services, call us on 01-2071872 or contact us.

How to deal with upset Facebook Fans

So you have received a less than complimentary Facebook post from a user. What do you do next? Acknowledge it, do not shy away from  it, it will benefit you in the long run if you address it head on. The next steps are key to retaining the upset customer and potentially the business of other fans / customers on your Facebook page too.

Tips for Facebook Ad Success

Facebook Ads have become a popular and cost-effective way to promote business online and has proved particularly beneficial for small businesses. Recent research demonstrates that the majority of small business who have used Facebook Ads as part of their online marketing strategy, 65% said they would use it again. The main reasons for this being its ease of use and flexibility.

For those who did not find it beneficial or feel other mediums can bew more effective, listed below are 5 tips to help ensure that you achieve success from your Facebook Campaign: