Of course, the main point of social media is engagement, and marketers have been using it to engage their customers for years. But now, users want that engagement to be faster and faster. 70% of Twitter users expect a response from brands they reach out to, and 53% of them want that response in less than an hour, according to Search Engine Watch. Unfortunately, 7 out of 8 social messages to companies went unanswered within 72 hours. This isn’t acceptable! If you’re not responding to people via social media, they take that personally, which means losing potential customers and referrals.
In order to catch these questions and comments and respond to them in a timely manner, you need to employ the right listening tools. When it comes to social media, one of the biggest mistakes that marketers make is to talk but not listen. While social media is a great tool to get your messages and content out, it’s also essential that you are listening to what others are saying. There are a variety of different programs available for free and at cost depending on the needs and size of your company. Currently, we like to use Hootsuite, but there are a lot of options out there. These programs alert you when there are comments or mentions on any of your social media accounts, so that you can respond as soon as possible.
Social media moves fast, and if you can’t keep up, you’ll get left behind.