Social media research tool in public relations
Knowing how to listen to the public is decisive for the action of the Relationship Officer, but making the effort to understand their concerns is a sine qua non condition of this active listening.
At present, most organizations, realizing that their internal and external audiences have a need for information, have undertaken the task of interacting with them through social networks, providing them with important institutional information so that they can know and identify with the company with greater ease and credibility. However, any organization that interacts on Social Networks and intends to grow and generate trust among its audiences, must not only provide information, but also necessarily must listen to the opinions, comments, concerns and other expressions that the public emit about the company. In this way, the research process of the different audiences is facilitated and optimized, using Social Networks as a direct tool.
There is no doubt that information is synonymous with power and whoever controls the information has a lot of ground gained in all settings and contexts. Now, Social Networks have become the most truthful source of information for companies, since that is where clients, users, followers converge and communicate, in short all the public in action, but also, also (and very important), potential audiences, so the relevance of the activity of informing is closely linked to the action of listening and understanding.
Implementing a research policy that executes the observation of the needs, tastes and trends of the community of followers, facilitates the possibilities of fully satisfying internal and external audiences such as users, clients, followers, suppliers, stakeholders, among others., in the new product or service campaigns that an organization launches, thereby obtaining a greater market share and a greater identification and sense of belonging of the public towards the organization that would generate the positioning, prestige, respect and empowerment of the company and its corporate image.
As has already been said in the previous paragraphs, listening on Social Networks is important, but it is just as important to understand what is heard, so be aware of the mentions or comments made by the public on Social Networks about the products or services offered by a company and putting all the means to understand what is heard, is the only way to effectively manage the information obtained. This activity is called Active Listening.
The consequence of effective active listening is that the actions that are carried out are carried out based on the concerns of the public, this generates greater trust, identity and belonging in the company and, in turn, more followers of the brand, greater knowledge of the company, improvement of the business image and greater empathy, since the client feels part of it when observing that their proposals, suggestions or ideas are taken into account or, in the case of complaints or disagreements, they are attended. And all this, in an investigative process of Public Relations, is nothing more than the constant practice of the stage of control, evaluation and correction of the public relations programs applied in organizations.
Many times organizations, out of fear of criticism from people or other institutions, prefer not to implement Social Networks, because they consider that criticism is destructive for the company. However, this paradigm must be modified and begin to accept criticism and understand it from a positive perspective in which its real functionality is to serve as a motivation for change and improvement. Then it is understood that the phenomenon of criticism always positive and constructive.
Now, it is a mistake not to act out of fear and stop advancing at the pace that marks the future of the world, since if a criticism is generated due to a bad performance of the company, it would be best if this was where it can be controlled and also The necessary and timely corrective measures can be taken to correct it. The opposite scenario would generate an unstoppable wave of impressive dimensions capable of causing great damage to the company. Criticism should not be viewed as a problem but rather as an opportunity to improve and, with a good attitude on the part of the organization, negative attitudes can be changed into positive ones and attract and increase new followers, new audiences. Therefore, it is advisable to become aware that regardless of the fact that you do not want to listen or try to avoid criticism, it does not mean that it does not exist,what is certain is that the consequences always come.
On the other hand, actively listening to the media and Social Networks enables the organization to obtain invaluable information that allows, always, to substantially improve the company's products or services and the corporate image through communicational processes inherent in Relationships. Publics that would otherwise negatively impact the organization by ignoring the deficiencies that may be mentioned in a review.
Now, listening on Social Networks is fine but, but it is not the only task, it is important to know how to listen in an active and positive way, as mentioned before, make an exhaustive analysis of the information received and promote the necessary changes to correct the defects offering solutions or enhance the virtues to improve even more if possible. If done effectively, the organization will have gained followers in the media and Social Networks.
In many organizations, awareness about this activity is observed and they place a social communicator with skills to listen and obtain relevant information in front. Others, however, are limited in this action and apparently carry out Social Media actions listening to their audiences in all areas. However, most of the time this task is entrusted to inexperienced people or who do not know how to collect relevant information or interact with the public. For this reason, the correct thing that companies should do is to hire the services of a relationship officer since, due to his training, he is an expert in organizational communication and will know perfectly how to listen and understand the public, empathize with them, and of course,Take advantage of the information obtained for the mutual benefit between the organization and the public.
In summary, it is very important to listen to the public on Social Networks and in all the media in which they express themselves about the organization and its products or services, but you have to know how to listen actively and positively and make an effort to understand your needs and concerns. Once negative aspects have been detected, the necessary actions are taken to correct them, to generate trust, identity and belonging to the organization. In addition, it allows us to nourish reliable information, find out the opinions of different audiences, find out more about their tastes and preferences and have a clear idea of the priorities that must be implemented in the company to satisfy more and better audiences.It is necessary and important to know what the public think and how they think and to know in advance the market trends and to focus all efforts on satisfying the public, achieving an important advantage in the face of competitors and market share.
Finally, currently, people largely use Social Networks as a relevant means of communication and not listening to them in their own environment, in their natural habitat is a mistake that can be very costly. What is not measured cannot be controlled and, not controlling what they comment on the brand of the company or the company itself, whether positive or negative, will depend on doing the active listening activity well, in order to take corrective measures. necessary.
So what are you waiting for to interact with your audiences through Social Networks and the media and take advantage of the opportunities they offer the organization?
