Listen First!: Turning Social Media Conversations into Business Advantage

Listen First!: Turning Social Media Conversations into Business Advantage

Released April 2011
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9780470935514

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Book description

"This superb book synthesizes the industry's best thinking on the massive upside of listening. Listen First! is an invaluable resource for marketing executives and will help organizations create real competitive advantage."

—Dave Hudson, CEO, NM Incite, a joint venture of McKinsey and Nielsen

"Listening is a business imperative . . . especially in a world of empowered consumers. Brands are getting built and nurtured in a very different way. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to succeed in this new world order."

—Stan Sthanunathan, Vice President, Marketing Strategy & Insights, Coca-Cola

"One by one, the best marketing companies are putting 'listening to consumers' on their strategic agenda. Following each announcement, we hear . . . silence, as staff groups try to grapple with the new directive. Listen First! is a timely, unhyped, and pragmatic field guide for those exploring the world of listening."

—Ted McConnell, EVP Digital, Advertising Research Foundation; former head of Digital Marketing Innovation, Procter & Gamble

"How many of you have an effective listening strategy? To help guide you in the listening maze, identify new business opportunities, and select the right partners for the development and implementation of an effective listening strategy, this book is a must and an enjoyable read!"

—Prof. Yoram (Jerry) Wind, The Lauder Professor, The Wharton School

"We started J&D's with a single idea – to make everything taste like bacon. All we needed now were customers. So we decided to go where the conversations were, and we've been listening ever since. We use social media to connect with our customers, promote our advancements in bacon-o-vation, and ask for their feedback on new product development. If you're an entrepreneur or run a small business, this book will give you lots of examples and terrific and practical ideas for creatively listening to your customers and growing it."

—Justin Esch, cofounder, J&D's Foods

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Foreword
  5. Introduction
  6. Part I: Steps to Effective Listening
    1. ARF's Definition of Listening
    2. Two Types of Research Using Social Media Listening
    3. Benefits of Listening Research
    4. Managing Listening Research
    5. Summary
    6. Chapter 1: Organize for Listening and Define Objectives, Key Measures, and Conversations
      1. Organize for Listening
      2. Set Objectives in Relation to Business Goals
      3. Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
      4. Determine the “Research Subjects”: The Conversations, Sources, and Voices Best Suited for the Listening Program
      5. Summary
    7. Chapter 2: Evaluate and Select Listening Solutions
      1. Five Types of Listening Solutions
      2. Summary
    8. Chapter 3: Field, Analyze and Report, and Evaluate Listening Research
      1. Field the Research
      2. Analyze and Report
      3. Evaluate the Listening Initiative
      4. Summary
  7. Part II: Listening-Led Marketing and Advertising: Applying Listening Insights to Achieve Key Business Objectives
    1. Chapter 4: Understand the Consumer's Mind-set
      1. Start with the Big Picture
      2. Winning Plays That Reveal Consumer Mind-sets
      3. Search: Gateway to Discovering Consumers’ Mind-sets
      4. Home In to Understand Category Mind-sets
      5. Explore Widely to Understand Consumers and the Context of Their Lives
      6. Summary
    2. Chapter 5: Discover New Customers
      1. Winning Plays for Discovering New Customers
      2. Listen to the Story in People's Behavior
      3. Track Voices in the Conversations
      4. Look at Customer Data with Fresh Eyes
      5. Listen to Light Purchasers
      6. Summary
    3. Chapter 6: Drive New Product Development and Innovation
      1. Winning Plays for Innovation and New Product Development
      2. Search Social Media Profiles to Gauge Market Interest
      3. Develop New Product Ideas from Mind-sets
      4. Co-Create New Products: Design to Consumer-Generated Requirements
      5. Fine-Tune New Products, Services, or Features
      6. Summary
    4. Chapter 7: Create Messages That Resonate
      1. Winning Plays That Create Resonant Messages
      2. Search Social Media for Resonant Topics
      3. Discover and Use Customer Language in Messaging
      4. Combine Ideas to Address Consumer Perception
      5. Monitor Buzz after Ad Exposure to Adjust Messaging
      6. Summary
    5. Chapter 8: Improve Products and Services
      1. Winning Plays That Help Improve Products and Services
      2. Keep Site Content Fresh and Relevant
      3. Add User-Desired Features into the Core Brand
      4. Tune Marketing to Meet Consumer Interests
      5. Evolve Products and Services
      6. Summary
    6. Chapter 9: Increase Sales
      1. Winning Plays to Increase Sales
      2. Develop and Implement a Listening-Led Sales Strategy
      3. Stimulate Product Trial for New and In-Market Products
      4. Adjust to Real-Time Feedback for Product Rollouts
      5. Engage Customers Around Their Passions
      6. Track Buzz and Influence the Influencers
      7. Summary
    7. Chapter 10: Sense Change to Compete in the Present
      1. Winning Plays to Sense Change and Compete in the Present
      2. Build on Consumer Excitement
      3. Champion New Uses
      4. Listening in a Brand's Backyard
      5. Listening in the Consumer's Backyard
      6. Selectively Add Product Features
      7. Create Line Extensions
      8. Expand Business Line
      9. Increase Loyalty
      10. Summary
    8. Chapter 11: Rebrand and Reposition Products and Services
      1. Winning Plays for Rebranding and Repositioning Products and Services
      2. Express Positioning in ”People's Words”
      3. Frame Products in the Context of Issues Important to People
      4. Attract New Customers While Keeping Core Customers
      5. Summary
    9. Chapter 12: Manage Reputation
      1. Winning Plays to Manage Reputation
      2. Discover Product Threats
      3. Listen to All Relevant Social Media Sources, Not Just Some
      4. Understand Which Voices Are Driving Comments
      5. Listen to Customer Dissatisfaction
      6. Share Listening Insights with Business Partners
      7. Convert Negative Sentiment
      8. Engage in Social and Environmental Issues
      9. Summary
    10. Chapter 13: Compete Strategically
      1. Winning Plays to Compete Strategically
      2. Identify Leverageable Competitive Strengths
      3. Understand Product Positioning in Customer Terms
      4. Keep Company Product Positioning and Customer's Product Positioning in Alignment
      5. Interpret Competitor Risk in Customer Terms
      6. Handle Challenges to the Core Brand
      7. Summary
    11. Chapter 14: Provide Customer Care and Increase Customer Satisfaction
      1. Winning Plays for Customer Care and Customer Satisfaction
      2. Listen, Assist, and Engage in Near-Real Time
      3. Engage Openly, Respectfully, Ethically, and Civilly
      4. Manage Customer Expectations
      5. Make Sure Solutions Satisfy Customers
      6. Summary
  8. Part III: Listening-Led Marketing and Media Innovations
    1. Chapter 15: Social TV Measurement
      1. Social TV Ratings
      2. Emerging Plays for Social TV Ratings
      3. Summary
    2. Chapter 16: Listening-Based Targeting
      1. Behavioral Listening
      2. Gender, Multicultural, and LGBT Listening
      3. Offline Conversation Listening
      4. Listen for Language in Context
      5. Emerging Plays for Listening-Based Targeting Strategies
      6. Summary
    3. Chapter 17: Achieve Share of Market Goals
      1. Emerging Plays for Achieving Market Share
      2. Summary
    4. Chapter 18: Listening-Based Sales Prediction
      1. Post Volumes
      2. Tweets and Status Updates
      3. Search Trends
      4. Online Advocacy
      5. Product Reviews
      6. Emerging Plays to Predict Changes in Sales
      7. Summary
  9. Part IV: Listening's New Frontiers
    1. Chapter 19: Listen to New Signals
    2. Chapter 20: Focus on Culture
    3. Chapter 21: Change the Research Paradigm
    4. Chapter 22: Rethink Marketing, Media, and Advertising
    5. Chapter 23: Become a Listening Organization
  10. Appendix: Vendor Profiles A Resource Guide
    1. Search Engines
    2. Social Media Monitoring
    3. Text Analysis
    4. Communities
    5. Full-Service Listening Vendors
  11. Advertising Research Foundation
  12. Acknowledgments
  13. References
  14. Glossary
  15. Index

Product information

  • Title: Listen First!: Turning Social Media Conversations into Business Advantage
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: April 2011
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9780470935514