Question

What's the difference between social listening and social monitoring?

a. Social listening centralizes conversations about your brand so that you can join them, while social monitoring measures reputation from higher-level perspective
b. Social listening involves answering and responding to specifically support questions, while social monitoring is for the purpose of marketing intelligence and research
c. Social listening can only be done natively within each social media site, whereas social monitoring requires technology to aggregate sentiment from various places
d. Social listening is done by your sales team to find new opportunities, while social monitoring is done by your marketing team to learn what competitors are doing

Answer 1

Social monitoring is tracking and responding to direct mentions and conversations related to a brand, while social listening analyzes the overall sentiments and trends to inform business strategy.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question you've asked pertains to the difference between social listening and social monitoring, which are two strategies used by organizations to understand and engage with their audience on social media. While they are often used interchangeably, they have distinct purposes.

Social monitoring is the process of tracking social media channels for any mentions and conversations related to a brand, including direct mentions, customer feedback, or discussions regarding specific keywords, topics, competitors, or industries. It tends to be more reactive, focusing on responding to direct inquiries, complaints, and maintaining the brand's presence in ongoing conversations.

On the other hand, social listening goes deeper than just monitoring and collecting data; it involves analyzing the aggregate of conversations and sentiments expressed online to make strategic decisions. This includes understanding how the brand is perceived over time, identifying emerging trends in consumer behavior, and engaging in long-term planning. It's about extracting insights from the data to inform overall business strategy, rather than just responding to individual mentions.