Methods for Utilizing Social Listening: Turning the Voices Flooding SNS into Valuable Marketing Assets (Part 2)

• Methods for Utilizing Social Listening: Turning the Voices Flooding SNS into Valuable Marketing Data (Part 1)

Social listening, which is being adopted across various fields to leverage users' raw voices for marketing and company operations, is a method that collects social media posts and analyzes user characteristics. While anyone can view posts, how can they be correctly analyzed and effectively utilized? We interviewed Marie Omura, who handles social listening operations at Dentsu Digital Inc.'s Social Media Division.

In Part 2, we'll cover the tools used for social listening and trends across industries and products, illustrated with concrete examples.

The tools used for social listening and the analysis process vary depending on the objective

Q.In the first part, you mentioned viewing the vast amount of social media posts from a professional perspective after defining the approach. That makes the tools used important, right? What kinds of tools do you use, and how?

Omura: There are various social listening tools, but broadly speaking, I think they fall into two categories. Those specialized solely for listening, and those that also include marketing functions, allowing everything to be done in one place. Furthermore, among the tools specialized for listening, there are those that can capture all data and those that sample only a portion of the data.

With tools that capture full-volume data, for example, if you set keywords like product names or company names, you can obtain comprehensive data on how many posts related to those keywords were made within a certain period, how many people they reached, and what kind of comments were made. When conducting thorough analysis of target users, known as "n1 analysis," tools that capture full-volume data might be preferable since they gather more data on those users.

On the other hand, for big moments like "COVID-19" or "the Olympics," where you just want a rough grasp of overall trends, full data might not be necessary. In fact, a tool that samples around 10% of the data might be better for quickly getting a general sense of the trend. This is how we decide which tool to use based on what we're analyzing.

However, many companies seem to fall into the trap of simply implementing a tool, creating a dashboard, and stopping there, then struggling with what exactly to look at within the tool. We tell such companies, "With this tool, you can perform this kind of analysis because it has these specific features," and we believe this is a point where we earn their appreciation.

Q. So, how do you conduct social listening using the tool? For example, if you're doing social listening for a specific campaign, you collect data, analyze it, and then make some kind of evaluation based on the results. Roughly how quickly can this entire process be completed?

Omura: It depends on the content, but for basic analyses, we can generally complete it within about two weeks. For longer campaigns, we sometimes include interim reports midway to provide initial insights.

For example, in 2020, when the novel coronavirus was just starting to spread, we had a project listening to how people were talking about it on social media. Initially, a specific topic dominated the conversation, making it seem like the only relevant one. However, we judged that reporting solely on this would be of limited value (not leading to actionable insights) and might lack discovery. So, midway through, we began monitoring other topics that hadn't initially gained much traction. This allowed us to pinpoint "what information consumers were seeking about the novel coronavirus" and ultimately track "how consumer needs evolved over time." This approach—first conducting a broad listening exercise to identify topic trends, then shifting the angle—is one possible pattern. It's crucial to constantly return to what the client wants to see while also adjusting the analysis direction as you track consumer discourse. With "asking" methods, where pre-prepared questions are posed to consumers, such quick pivots are difficult. Social listening, however, can cover this. This real-time capability is precisely one of social listening's strengths.

The key lies in how effectively you capture user behavior and reactions, which vary significantly by product.

Q. Are there tendencies where analysis is difficult or good results are hard to achieve depending on the industry, product, or campaign?

Omura: Yes, I think social listening has clear strengths and weaknesses depending on the product. There are topics people find hard to post about on social media themselves. For example, personal posts about so-called "complex products" like hair growth tonics are rare. For products where user voices rarely surface, analysis is difficult, so asking might be more suitable. On the other hand, social listening is in high demand for beverage makers, fast food, cosmetics, etc. These are low-priced products many people encounter daily, and they tend to generate a lot of social media buzz.

Q. I think social listening is a rewarding job for grasping societal trends. When do you feel a sense of accomplishment in your work, Mr. Omura?

Omura: If I had to give one example, it would be a project I'm currently working on for a certain restaurant chain. We evaluate their campaigns and analyze data to boost engagement with posts from their official account. For instance, even in a coupon campaign, saying "100 people will win ¥1,000 worth" versus "50 people will win ¥2,000 worth" results in completely different user reactions, despite the client spending the same amount. By carefully observing these reactions and continuously refining our approach through PDCA cycles, we see engagement steadily rise and follower counts grow rapidly. Witnessing this firsthand is truly rewarding. Building this trust with clients can even lead to discussions about leveraging social listening data for product development.

Nowadays, how products sell is changing. Topics increasingly start on SNS rather than TV, so clients are actively seeking to incorporate SNS feedback. We strategize together, considering trends, which platforms are best for gathering data, and the current market landscape. It really makes me appreciate the vast potential of what social listening can achieve.

Social listening can be leveraged not only for understanding customer demographics and building a fan base, but also for developing new products by capturing trends. Marketing using social media has become indispensable for creating products and services that consumers truly desire.

With SNS usage surging during the pandemic, now is the perfect time to consider leveraging social media insights for your future business.