With the rise of social media, listening is more vital to business than ever. When done correctly, it—LISTENING—can deliver tremendous and surprising outcomes. That’s why you need this book. Whether you work in a small boutique, a bank, a PR or ad agency, or are a private consultant, this book provides a simple, actionable guide to what it takes to set up a social media listening program that enables you to:

• Monitor conversations around your brand and industry.
• Seek out opportunities and threats.
• Respond to customers around the issues that matter to you.
• Drive insights for creative marketing and product development.
• Evaluate what content is resonating with your audience and measure program success. You should especially read this book if:
• You want to gain a better understanding around who your customers and potential customers really are and what they care about.
• You work with a brand or organization and struggle to understand what people are really saying about you in social media.
• You work on new product development within your organization.
• You support customer service for your organization.
• You are a small business owner looking to connect with customers online.
• Your boss has ever asked you to prove the value of your marketing initiatives.
• You are trying to create better content or creative initiatives for your organization, media outlet, or personal blog.
• You work closely with social media for your organization already and need an additional resource to hone your skills.
• You are a student who is interested in pursuing a career in marketing, organizational public relations, advertising, or digital communications. Stick with the program in this book, and you’ll be able to confidently navigate new opportunities and identify threats through social media listening and analysis in no time.

Chapter 1  Ensuring Better Marketing and Organizational-Public Relationships (PR)

Essential Terms for Chapter 1

What The Social Current Adds to Marketing and PR

From Persuasion to Conversation

The Social Current: Powering New Marketing and Excellent Organization-Public Relationships (PR)

Producing Authentic Organizations

Just the Beginning

Making Your Practice Perfect

Chapter 2  Monitoring, Insights and Measurement: What We Learn from Social Media

Essential Terms for Chapter 2

Finding the Perfect Tomato for Pasta Sauce: A Brief Primer on Purposes and Styles of Research

Three Key Areas of Listening in on Social Media Conversations

Gaining Feedback on Advertising to Improve Media Buys and Assist in Message Development

So, What Are You Waiting For?

Making Your Practice Perfect

Chapter 3  Setting Objectives for Social Media Listening

Essential Term for Chapter 3

Getting Started

Four Actions for Building a Great Social Media Listening Program: The ID2 Approach

Ease Your Way into Listening

The ID2 Approach for Our Five Organizations

Next Steps: Determine Where to Listen

Making Your Practice Perfect

Chapter 4  Selecting the Best Social Media Monitoring Tools for Your Organization

Essential Terms for Chapter 4

Buying Factors

Evaluating the Right Listening Tools for Your Organization

Filling in the Gaps: Free Social Search and Analytics Tools

Human Versus the Machine: A Word on Automated Analysis

Set Your Non-Negotiables

Next Steps: Set Up Search Keywords

Case Study 4.1

Making Your Practice Perfect

Chapter 5  Setting Up Your Search Keywords

Essential Terms for Chapter 5

What is Boolean Search?

Setting up Search Terms to Find Conversations Around a Brand, Industry or Concept

Tracking Competitors and Industry

Keywords

Sample Keyword Lists

Next Steps: Set up Alert Keywords and Subcategories toTrack Opportunities and Threats

Case Study 5.1

Making Your Practice Perfect

Chapter 6  Social Media Analysis 82

Essential Terms for Chapter 6

The Pitfalls of Automated Analysis

The Pitfalls of Human Analysis

Finding the Balance Between the Human and the Machine

Creating a Representative Sample Set of Social Media Posts

Creating a Random Sample Set

Getting Started with Content Analysis

Tagging Social Articles for Context

Tagging Social Articles for Sentiment

Tagging Sentiment by Topic

Tagging Sentiment for Coupon Posts

Diving Back into the Data

Tying Social Analysis to Other Research and Data Points

SWOT Analysis

Program Measurement

Benchmarking and Ongoing Reporting

Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Tying Goals to Specific Metrics

Begin by Analyzing and Optimizing Your Own Content

Strategic Listening Versus Tactical Listening

Case Study 6.1

Making Your Practice Perfect

Chapter 7  Finding Potential Influencers for Your Organization or Industry

Essential Term for Chapter 7

Identifying Potential Influencers

Identifying Relevant Blogs

Think Outside the Box

Qualifying Outlets for Relevance

Content Relevance

Why Research Matters

Case Study 7.1

Cases Study 7.2

Making Your Practice Perfect

Chapter 8  Presenting Your Findings

Essential Term for Chapter 8

Data Can Lie

Case Study 8.1

Chapter 9  Using Benchmark Reporting to Identify Potential Opportunities and Threats

Essential Terms for Chapter 9

Tracking Potential Customer Service Issues

Don’t Sound the Alarm Bells Right Away

Extra Point: Free Tools for Small

Business Monitoring

Case Study 9.1

Case Study 9.2

Case Study 9.3

Making Your Practice Perfect

Social media ROI is no longer a question that cannot be answered—online marketing professionals must do themselves a huge favor and read this book. I've known Allie for years and have been astounded by her knowledge in the social analytics field and her drive to help others better understand her competitive industry. Whether you're a digital consultant or the CMO of a Fortune 500 brand, you will gain actionable, valuable knowledge that you can begin implementing at your company right away.

Jun Loayza
Chief Revenue Officer
VoiceBunny

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This book is a practical manual for success at social media monitoring and analysis. At Olson, we create a different measurement scorecard for every client and every client program. The days of just measuring impressions are long gone, so we work with clients to determine what business objectives are most important and specific KPIs for each platform—then build a scorecard around that. For example, some companies are very interested in knowing how many fans and followers an account has, while others care more about seeing key messages repeated by influencers. The authors have given you the means for success in social media.

Leah Jones
Vice President, Social & Emerging Media
OLSON

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Social intelligence gathering is a necessity for businesses and a must-have marketing skill for digital professionals who want impact for their brands. This concise tutorial shows how to effectively use social conversations to create precise insights about consumer behavior. You’ll benefit from the examples of social monitoring and research techniques and your company will benefit when you apply the learnings to your brand. Brand strategists, digital analysts, marketing managers, PR professionals and even the self-proclaimed “social media gurus” should keep this resource nearby.

Jon Gunnells
Social Media Manager
Little Caesars