How To
Social Media Listening: Power or Peril?
Natasha Ighodaro, Digital Strategy Director, Newslab at J. Walter Thompson Worldwide in Dubai is one of the keynote speakers at the Marketing Kingdom Cairo 4, scheduled to take place from 17-18 October at the Royal Maxim Kempinski in Cairo.
For more info about her session visit Marketing Kingdom Cairo 4 Agenda
In an era of #InstagramvsReality and #FakeNews, how can brands harness the power of social media listening to generate actionable intelligence?
Social media listening – the process of tracking public online conversations to uncover insights – has been around for a long time. But how much are you using social media intelligence to inform your marketing activities, or even, shape your business?
Gathered correctly, social listening intelligence is incredibly powerful. With the right programme, you can create better connections with your consumers, connections which will drive action and sales. You can resolve issues before they become crises. You can get ahead of the curve when it comes the next big trend. You can even inspire product innovation. Many brands around the world, from banks to FMCGs, are doing this very well.
But equally, when you look at what people share on social media (e.g. we’re more likely to publicly share negative than positive brand experiences), and how the usage of social media itself is societally skewed, it’s very easy to draw the wrong conclusions from data.
A simple example of this would be the graph on the left showing the percentage breakdown of positive comments found online about a chocolate bar across different age groups. So, does the data mean that the chocolate is favored by18-35-year olds? Or does it mean that you’re less likely to talk about your love of chocolate bars on social media when you hit 35? Or does it simply reflect the general demographic breakdown of social media users, in which case the data becomes less significant?
Draw your own conclusions, but in the meantime, here are five tips to help you harness the power of social listening intelligence and avoid some common pitfalls:
1. Do obsessively track your brand and your competitors
Brand reputation management and competitive intelligence are two areas wherein social media listening is critical, and highly useful. Today, all brands and companies, big and small, should be tracking brand mentions (in real time), as well as keeping tabs on their closest rivals. Monitoring your own brand allows you to stay a guardian of your brand reputation and track consumer satisfaction, whilst competitive monitoring is important for assessing share of voice and identifying new opportunities. Paid tools such as Netbase or local tool CrowdAnalyzer are great if you have a budget, but there are also free tools that you can use to start you off, such as Google Alerts, SocialMention or HowSociable.
2. Do find your own influencers
The influencer scene is becoming increasingly commoditized and as a result, the impact of some ‘influencers’ is decreasing. One of my favourite functionalities of listening tools like Netbase is their influencer identification capability. These tools can quantitatively show you which people are driving the most reach and impact for any subject that you’re tracking, i.e. your brand, your category or even a competitive brand. Thus, listening tools can provide a good alternative way of surfacing new potential influencers to collaborate with for your brand or business.
3. Don’t use one data set in isolation
If you’re aiming to draw definitive conclusions or insights, it’s always best to combine multiple data sets. If we take for example the chocolate bar data above, a simple index would have been helpful to understand whether specific age groups are over- or under-indexing based on social media user demographics.
4. Don’t confuse “real time data” with “actionable insights”
Whilst social media listening tools can help you derive real-time data, this should never be confused with real-time actionable insights. Normally, tools can provide quick quantitative data, such as the number of mentions of a brand or hashtag. However, good qualitative analysis of those brand mentions will take a bit longer, and although a lot of tools provide sentiment analysis, passion indexes and word clouds, there always must be a level of manual analysis and synthesis involved.
As a rule of thumb, don’t expect to get actionable consumer insights in real time, or even in 24 hours. You might do, but it’s good to allow enough time to find gold dust.
5. Do scale up your programme to see real business impact
At the end of the day, the brands that get the most out of their social intelligence programmes, put the most in. The more social and data talents that you have in your team, the faster and the better your intelligence will be. Even with the most sophisticated AI, and contrary to popular belief, there is no silver bullet or magic button for generating instant intelligence from social listening, but with the right people, the right tools, and the right approach, social intelligence can positively impact almost every facet of your business.
A URL Shortener is a technique in which a URL may be made shorter and still redirect to the original long page.
Most URL Shorteners are free and easy to use but come with limitations.
Google shut down its Google URL Shortener in 2018 with continued support until March 30, 2019. However, all existing links will continue to redirect to the intended destination.
Top URL Shortener Services on the Internet
1. Bitly.com
Bitly offers a free and enterprise version of its URL shortening service. No signup necessary, but creating an account allows you to manage links quickly and change the short link characters if you wish.
According to this Quora answer, the enterprise version of Bitly costs around $995/month.
Pro Tip: add + after the short link to access analytics of any bitly link. bitly.com/link+
2. TinyURL
A simple shortener that requires no sign-up and allows users to customize the keyword. The service is free to use, but there is no analytics.
3. Short.io
The best shorten link provider so far, it has so many useful features such as google analytics integration, bulk import, broken links detection, built-in analytics with so many details, link cloaking, and more.
Cost: affordable compared to similar solutions.
4. Rebrandly
Rebrandly is one of the popular URL shortener services in the market. It’s the most complete and reliable link management platform. Their solution provides the easiest way to create, measure, and manage short URLs with a custom domain name.
You can buy your domain name using Rebrandly, tag your URLs using UTM tagging, allow social media pixels to optimize for conversions, and more.
It’s expensive compared to other solutions.
5. eg.gd
eg.gd is a new URL shortener service that offers the same as rebrandly but for free. It was launched last year when bit.ly service was blocked in Egypt.
In the course of my professional endeavors, I consistently inquire about the origins of information, the methods by which our audience discovers us, and the roots of potential leads. These inquiries, among others, are integral to unraveling the complexities of the marketing funnel.
A commonplace challenge encountered by numerous marketers on a daily basis revolves around a pivotal question: which blog post proves most effective in generating leads and conversions?
If you have a blog on Webflow that includes a lead gen form or a newsletter form in all blog posts, when you receive an email from one of the forms – of course, you have to find out the URL of the respective page. This way, you can detect the top converting posts.
I’ve been searching for a solution here and there and finally found it. So, I thought to share it here.
How to automatically include the current URL in the webflow form?
- Add an embed code before the submit button of your lead generation form or any other form type – make it hidden, and insert the following code into it then save.
- The javascript code you need to make this work:
<script type="text/javascript"> window.onload=function()
{document.getElementById('pageurl').value = window.location.href;} </script>
<input type="hidden" id="pageurl" name="pageurl" value="pageurl" />
3. Once published, any new form submission will have a new column called “pageurl” so you can detect the source page of this submission.
Follow us for more Webflow hacks.
In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, staying ahead of the curve is paramount. One essential factor that often flies under the radar is Google’s E-A-T principle, which stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This principle, now upgraded to E-E-A-T to include Experience, plays a pivotal role in enhancing website credibility and user experience.
In this article, we’ll delve into how understanding and implementing E-E-A-T can significantly influence your search engine rankings.
Unearthing the Essence of Google E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T is an acronym that encapsulates the qualities Google values when assessing the quality of online content. While it might not be explicitly mentioned in Google’s 200 known ranking factors, it holds undeniable significance in the eyes of quality raters and SEO professionals alike.
Expertise: Mastering Your Domain
Expertise is the cornerstone of E-E-A-T. It revolves around showcasing your in-depth knowledge and proficiency in your niche. To demonstrate your expertise effectively, consider these strategies:
1. Comprehensive Subject Mastery: Your content should reflect a deep understanding of your subject matter, leaving no room for ambiguity.
2. Credentials and Qualifications: Display relevant qualifications and credentials to bolster your credibility.
3. Proven Track Record: Highlight your past accomplishments and successes, as they can instill trust in your audience.
4. Research and Data: Stay updated with the latest research and trends in your field and back your content with accurate data.
5. Niche Specialization: Focus on a specific niche to establish yourself as an expert in that area.
6. Active Contribution: Contribute to your field by publishing content, and research papers, speaking at relevant events, or joining professional organizations.
Experience: Real-World Application Matters
Experience complements expertise by emphasizing practical, real-world application. To convey your experience effectively, consider these tactics:
1. Practical Application: Apply your knowledge in real-world scenarios and showcase your problem-solving skills.
2. Case Studies: Present real-world examples and results to illustrate your expertise in action.
3. Success Stories: Share stories of achievements or satisfied clients to instill confidence in your abilities.
4. Portfolio Display: For creative fields, such as design, art, or writing, showcase your previous work to demonstrate your experience.
5. Knowledge Demonstration: Stay updated with industry best practices, trends, and new developments, and share your insights through blog posts, articles, or speaking engagements.
6. Customer Testimonials: Positive testimonials from satisfied customers provide social proof of your expertise.
Authoritativeness: Building a Trustworthy Reputation
Authoritativeness centers on establishing your website as a reliable source of information within your niche. To enhance your authoritativeness, consider the following strategies:
1. Backlinks and Citations: Earn backlinks from authoritative websites in your industry, a strong signal of your website’s trustworthiness.
2. Awards and Recognition: Credible recognition, such as awards and certifications, contributes to your reputation.
3. Thought Leadership: Demonstrate authority through original research or innovative ideas, and engage in industry discussions.
4. Collaboration with Experts: Collaborate with recognized experts in your field through co-authored articles or speaking engagements.
5. Strong Social Media Presence: Engage with your audience on social media platforms to establish yourself as an authoritative figure.
6. Consistent, Relevant Content: Create high-quality content consistently to build credibility with users and search engines.
Trustworthiness: The Bedrock of Credibility
Trustworthiness is the final piece of the E-E-A-T puzzle, focusing on the credibility of your website’s information. To foster trustworthiness, adhere to these guidelines:
1. Transparency: Be transparent about your brand, contact details, business operations, and the purpose of your content.
2. Provide Accurate Information: Ensure your content is factually correct and up-to-date, and avoid misleading practices.
3. Ethical Practices: Follow ethical guidelines, respect user privacy, handle sensitive data responsibly, and comply with relevant laws.
4. User Experience and Security: Create a positive user experience and prioritize website security with HTTPS connections.
5. Customer Testimonials and Reviews: Genuine testimonials from satisfied customers bolster your website’s trustworthiness.
6. Customer Support: Offer prompt and helpful customer support to engage with your audience effectively.
7. Disclosure of Affiliations: Clearly disclose any affiliations or sponsorships that might impact your content.
While Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines may not explicitly mention E-E-A-T, adhering to these principles can significantly improve your website’s credibility and user experience. Remember, achieving higher SERP rankings requires a holistic approach, and understanding and implementing E-E-A-T is a valuable piece of the puzzle.
If you need expert guidance, consider enlisting the support of professional SEO services to help you navigate this ever-changing landscape.
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