We have all heard the expression “𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐞.”
Let’s just say, I’ve met a lot of lemons in my consumer marketing journey. Everyone has taught me a lesson.
🍋 In fact, the lemons have taught me how to look at them from a different perspective…
Let’s invite the lemons to the party. The digital age and the growth of social media have welcomed a new type of data that is perhaps even more important to building and scaling a brand than the numbers…words. Yes, words matter. Because words have meaning.
The “word data” can come in the form of a Facebook post, a hashtag, a DM from a customer, a Yelp review, or a tweet. Regardless of how it gets into the universe, the reality is that this is free immediate market research.
💡 And remember, in our prior post about Communities – when you communicate with one, you communicate with many since birds of a feather flock together.
Reaching out to your audience and striking up conversations with them via in-person or social media helps you understand their thoughts, preferences, and experiences with products and services. You will hear their opinions (might be some lemons in there) and suggestions on how to improve your content. Even if the feedback and insights taste sour like lemons, handled carefully and thoughtfully you just might end up with premium lemonade!
A recent article in 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐞𝐬 points to seven tactics companies can use to create real actionable insights from real-time social data:
𝟏.) 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 (𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥)
𝟐.) 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭?)
𝟑.) 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 “𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞” 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭
𝟒.) 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 (𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬)
𝟓.) 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬
𝟔.) 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 “𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬” 𝐚𝐧𝐝 “𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬” (𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥)
Are you ready to make some lemonade?