An introduction-level guide on social listening. This class will take you through the a) three elements of social listening; b) the four "action checklist" items to find out what sort of action to take after a social listening activity; and c) what it takes to make social listening work for you and your business. Please share on Twitter, LinkedIn, and/or Facebook if you found it useful! Free to use, with attribution for non-commercial purposes, no derivatives permitted.

1. Social Listening
Introduction Class
Jason Cruz
Social Products Lead
MRM//McCann Philippines

2. About the lecturer
@jsncruz

3. The science of social
listening
@jsncruz

4. Social listening in a nutshell
“[Social listening is] …listening to
online conversations to monitor
possible or actual trends, in order to
measure the potential impact of
these chatter.”
- Jason Cruz, MRM//McCann
@jsncruz

5. Difference from other Disciplines
Serves both positive
and negative effects of
online conversations
Makes extensive use of
third-party
measurement tools
Applicable at all
stages of a marketing
campaign
@jsncruz
From promoting
the start of a
campaign to the
post-event
evaluation, social
listening has an
important role.
Social listening can
help with message
amplification
(positive) and
crisis-effect
mitigation efforts
(negative).
Tools define the
quality (and often,
quantity) of social
listening for a
business. These
are investments.

6. Top Uses for Social Listening
@jsncruz
Discover New Content Ideas
for Marketing Campaigns
Build Relationships with Brand
Fans and Advocates
Spot Online Conversations
Early and Manage Crisis

7. Elements of social
listening
@jsncruz

8. The three elements of social listening
“The three aspects of social listening
are mining, monitoring, and
measuring.”
- Gibson Patterson, Razorfish (2013)
@jsncruzSource: slideshare.net/cadmef/social-listening-preso-may-2013-v2

9. mining
Mining is the act of actively searching for specific keywords and/or phrases
online.
Sample word cloud generated from mining the
keyword, “iPhone”.
Getting Started with Mining:
• Keywords and/or phrases are selected
ahead of time.
• For marketing campaigns, entire
phrases may be mined.
• Results are entirely dependent on what
are publicly available.
@jsncruz

10. Monitoring
Monitoring is the act of actively watching online conversations based on
predetermined keywords and/or phrases to spot possible trends.
An example of a social monitoring team in
action, the Dell Social Media Command Center.
The Progression of Social Monitoring:
• Evolved from simple observation
practices of Online Community
Management.
• Scales up in accordance with volume of
data, and complexity of data generated
and needed.
@jsncruz

11. measuring
Measuring is the act of calculating online conversation statistics to predict the
possible impact of the online conversations being monitored.
Sample measurement report dashboard from
popular listening tool radian6.
Making Sense of the Numbers:
• Measurement dashboards present
large amounts of data; measuring only
those that contribute to a business or
communications objective should be
top priority.
@jsncruz

12. What Next?
@jsncruz
“Understanding what works, what
might work, why it might work, and
under what circumstances is a
major differentiator within the social
media professionals ranks.”
- Jay Baer, Convince & Convert
Source: convinceandconvert.com/community-management/6-skills-you-need-to-be-a-social-media-professional/

13. Action Steps & Analysis
@jsncruz

14. Analyzing Listening results
To determine the right course of action for social listening results, this action
framework checklist should be considered:
@jsncruz
Mention Volume over time Source influence
Pickup Magnitude Direct Relevance
Action Checklist

15. Mention Volume over Time
MV/T is the absolute number of mentions of keywords and/or phrases, taking
into consideration a specific and relevant timeframe to mine, monitor, and
measure.
@jsncruzSource (image): kdvr.com
Why the Time Element?
Fencing in data from a specific and
relevant time frame reduces the risk of
“contaminating” the social listening data
with old (and likely) irrelevant results.

16. Source Influence
Source Influence is the actual and perceived clout of the mention source (or
sources). This affects the potential impact of online conversations.
@jsncruz
Why Consider Source Influence?
A source mention from a high-influence
individual obviously has further reach and
generates more impressions than low
influence users (see red circle).
Source (image): twitter.com

17. Pickup Magnitude
PM is how much interest the keywords and/or phrases receive online, and
how it crosses borders into the non-digital space (traditional media).
@jsncruz
Why is Pickup Important?
Understanding how keywords and/or
phrases are magnified outside of digital
space will affect the strategy and execution
of action plans.
Source (image): getrealphilippines.com

18. Direct Relevance
DR is the potential effect of online mentions in relation to how much impact it
could have to a brand, business, group, or community.
@jsncruzSource (image): un.org
Why Measure Direct Relevance?
Social listening results could have
important and life-changing impact – but
somewhere else, and does not affect one’s
immediate surroundings or interests.

19. Tools of the trade
Third-party tools are popular for social listening because allow digital
marketers to get large amounts of data efficiently and effectively.
@jsncruzSome of the most popular social listening tools currently available.

20. Social Listening in action
// Mock Case
@jsncruz

21. Mock case Study – Soda Z
§ Briefing
§ A news report on Soda Z allegedly
causing a man to die (after daily
consumption of 10L of Soda Z for 5 years).
§ Total mentions: 1000 tweets; a Facebook
post with the news report (shared 50
times); steadily picking up re-writes on
blogs.
§ Parameters
§ There is proof that the death was partially
caused by Soda Z side-effects.
§ The news report was local.
§ The actual case occurred in South Africa.
§ The actual case happened in 2006.
§ Timeframe from first mention to being
spotted was two (2) days.
§ The most influential mention source has
350 followers, and on average tweets
twice daily; average mention sharer has
120 followers/friends.
@jsncruz

22. Mock case Study – Soda Z
With the Action Checklist, an action plan for social listening can be formulated
clearly for this case.
@jsncruzSource (image): blog.brightcove.com

23. Mock case Study – Soda Z
Mention volume over time.
Flagged as “Potential Crisis” because of a large amount of interest on a topic in a relatively short
period of time.
Mention Volume
HIGH
Timeframe
SHORT
Conclusion
POTENTIAL CRISIS
@jsncruz

24. Mock case Study – Soda Z
Source Influence.
Even with a high number of mentions, the perpetrators were generally not influential (even those
who picked up were at a similar influence level).
Source Mentions
LOW/MEDIUM
Individual Influence
LOW
Conclusion
NOTHING SERIOUS
@jsncruz

25. Mock case Study – Soda Z
Pickup Magnitude.
High volume of social shares (increased awareness about a negative issue) and crossing over to
traditional media (even more reach) extends news to more people.
SOCIAL SHARES
HIGH
CROSSOVER
YES
Conclusion
POTENTIAL CRISIS
@jsncruz

26. Mock case Study – Soda Z
Direct Relevance.
The news source happened a long time ago, and is not locally-relevant. This issue is flagged as
“nothing serious” due to this.
Age of Information
OLD
LOCAL CONTEXT
LOW
Conclusion
NOTHING SERIOUS
@jsncruz

27. Mock case Study – Soda Z
Analysis and Insights from Social Listening:
1. The issue was definitely serious, given that it was picked up on both social
media and crossed-over to non-digital space in a short period of time.
2. The low influence levels of the mention sources meant the keywords and/
or phrases could not travel very far.
3. The fact that the news was quit old, and that it was not relevant to the local
online audience meant it did not have much impact to said audience.
@jsncruz
Verdict from Social Listening
NOTHING SERIOUS

28. Social Listening in action
// Real World
@jsncruz

29. The KITKAT – Facebook Tweet
@jsncruz

30. The KITKAT – Facebook Tweet
KITKAT’s timely tweet fulfilled every single parameter for action, due mostly to
how social listening was conducted by the social team.
@jsncruz
Mention Volume
over Time
Source Influence Direct RelevancePickup Magnitude
Numerous
complaints in a
matter of minutes
Facebook users
across all
demographics
Affected Facebook
users around the
world
(After) Picked up by
local and
international news

31. The KITKAT – Facebook Tweet
@jsncruz
Now world-famous, the KITKAT – Facebook tweet underlined the importance
of social listening, as well as effective moment-marketing practices.

32. How businesses can use
social listening
@jsncruz

33. Lessons Going Forward
Businesses can benefit greatly from the advantages offered by a strong and
well-defined social listening system in place.
@jsncruz
Create (or hire) a dedicated social
media management team
Make space for moment-marketing
opportunities
Regularly update and define list of
relevant keywords and/or phrases
Create “what if” scenarios and
prepare action plans
LESSONS

34. Dedicated Social Team
The management of online, social activities – social media management,
community management, social listening – must be given to a dedicated team.
@jsncruzSource (image): mashable.com
Social media cannot be treated as a “side
activity” which can be handled as a
second-role by employees. This practice
takes away much-needed focus and
attention to spot opportunities first and
manage potential crisis incidents.

35. Moment-marketing space
While it’s good that businesses plan out social content, there must be a more
flexible process to allow publication of “real-time” content.
@jsncruzSource (image): twitter.com
Moment-marketing is infamous for being
difficult to pull off correctly. It’s a mix of
timing, context, and picking battles well –
it’s inefficient and ‘trying too hard’ to try
and execute it all the time.

36. Know what to listen for
To listen to as many keywords and/or phrases as possible is inefficient and
ineffective; selecting 5-10 of the most relevant give better data and results.
@jsncruzSource (image): blog.kissmetrics.com
Smart social listening is also about
deciding what not to listen to. Sweeping
terms are alright, but there should be
more detailed, campaign-specific terms to
listen for as well to generate better data
and results.

37. Contingency plans
Social listening allows a brand or business to plan ahead of time. Therefore, it
allows one to act before anyone else, or manage issues before they blow up.
@jsncruzSource (image): motherjones.com
Spotting content opportunities or potential
crisis is useless if there are no action
plans or processes in place. Social
listening should work hand-in-hand with
pre-determined action plans to either
amplify (for opportunities) or mitigate (for
crises) effects.

38. Questions?
@jsncruz | jsncruz.com
jasoncruz2388@gmail.com
@jsncruz

39. Social Listening
Thank you!