The State of Social Listening in 2022 Survey Report
According to a survey conducted by Meltwater, a social and media intelligence firm, almost 61% of businesses now have a social listening system in place and are monitoring for keyword mentions, and 82% of those businesses see the high value of social listening as a key planning resource. Among the various topics that can be monitored through social listening, brand sentiment and reputation management are the top priorities, especially since social platforms are so often where brands can be called out by disgruntled consumers expecting immediate responses.
Why are more brands not using social listening? According to the survey, brands find it difficult to be effective with social listening, citing an excess of time and employee bandwidth that they feel cannot be dedicated to the task. So in spite of their high value, many brands find social listening practices to be cost- and time-prohibitive in most cases. Among the channels that are monitored by businesses, Twitter gets the top ranking, followed by Facebook and then Instagram. Twitter is at the top likely because of the real-time and fully public nature of the platform as well as the use of hashtags, which makes the conversations more easily “mined.”
Facebook and Instagram have native listening tools but are not easily accessible, which is unfortunate because the platforms have much higher reach and brand adaptation than Twitter in most industries. Runner-up platforms TikTok and Snapchat are developing a range of listening tools, which will likely make them more valuable platforms to brands, since TikTok boasts over a billion users and 90% of the US Gen Z population can be reached using Snapchat. Social listening is a treasure trove of insights for brands and marketers, and usage is only expected to grow in the coming decade.
Meta Shares New “Culture Codes” to Improve Brand Promotions
Social media continues to evolve alongside changes in trends, shifts in user participation and engagement, and updates to the platforms themselves. People are looking to establish more human connections online, and brands would be wise to take this into account. How can brands coexist on these platforms without becoming an unwelcome disruption? How can they position their content to sit natively alongside desired content in a way that is authentic for the brand?
Meta recently published six “culture codes” that give brands pointers for adjusting to these changes: “Culture is driven by people, and that culture has its own language—relatable, unpolished and above all, human. Creativity here feels like it’s made by people, for people. When brands understand prevailing culture codes, they communicate as peers, establishing relatability and trust through a shared language.”
Here are Meta’s six culture codes:
- Have real people tell real stories, inviting employees or customers to deliver your message.
- Use the language of the platform to signal your place in feed and, therefore, in culture.
- Harness the power of creators to establish trust and relatability.
- Take viewers behind the scenes to be part of the process.
- Use lo-fi editing techniques that feel handmade and human.
- Use humor to dissolve boundaries between brand and audience.
Physical and Digital Retail Spaces
Retail Dive surveyed 211 retail leaders in Q4 of 2021 on the obstacles they faced with business operations, and among the top seven findings, several point to consumer behavioral shifts and the increased need of cohesive brand expression to address these obstacles. Reaching consumers and driving them toward conversion is an obstacle faced by many brands; the survey found that 57% of executives have increased their social media posting frequency in the past year, and 39% reported they have employed promotions to enhance the customer experience.
As the pandemic has catapulted the need for online shopping, hybrid ordering/pickup arrangements, and other convenience-oriented shopping experiences, it comes as no surprise that 53% of retail executives plan to invest in website updates, implementing online ordering solutions and supporting changes to their business in the next year. Also in 2022 the two most mentioned plans among retail executives were partnerships with brands and special in-store promotions to drive foot traffic for select customers.