Image source: Geoff Livingston via Flickr
More companies monitor social media for mentions of their corporate names, products and other keywords. Many companies in a range of industries, especially the early adopters, have enjoyed significant benefits. Here are three examples of companies that have benefited from social media listening.
Barclays
Within days after launching its mobile banking app, PinkIt, Barclays made significant changes in the app as a result of real-time social media listening. While the app was generally well received, sentiment analysis revealed that a small proportion of mentions were negative.
Customers under age 18 couldn’t use the app and their parents couldn’t transfer money to them. Barclays realized that even such a seemingly small shortcoming could seriously damage an app’s reputation, limit consumer usage and satisfaction, and possibly cause a PR kerfuffle. However, alerted by social media listening, Barclays quickly corrected the problem by providing 16 and 17 year-olds access to the app.
Social media listening also revealed valuable positive mentions. Customers appreciated the ability to check their bank balances through the app. Barclays thought that would only be a minor feature, but the positive feedback prompted it to develop new apps specifically for checking balances.
Moneygram
Moneygram, a money transfer company, opened its MoneyGram Command Center at its Dallas headquarters to monitor and analyze online comments in real time in order to gain better insight into customer needs and market dynamics. The command center revealed what customers were saying, enabling Moneygram to make more informed and proactive business decisions.
“We can monitor social channels, identify trends, collect data, and, most importantly, we will learn more about our customers and how we can best serve their needs,” said Juan Agualimpia, chief marketing officer at MoneyGram.
By monitoring its share of voice and comparing the past month to the past week, analysts at MoneyGram learned to identify important shifts in conversations and quickly respond. When MoneyGram launched its ‘Max’s World Adventures’ campaign – a fun, character-driven campaign aimed at children – it noticed a distinct jump in its share of voice that week compared to its usual share of voice. It then scrutinized data to for a deeper, valuable understanding of consumer reactions.
Dell Software
With social media monitoring, Dell Software uncovered negative feedback about its XPS 13 laptop with hours after it launched the product. Its social media analytics pinpointed the problem. A product manager had mistakenly priced the notebook higher than that of a Windows notebook.
“The price should not have been higher than that of a Windows notebook, and that’s why a lot of developers were angry. They thought that we were trying to price it higher than traditional notebooks,” Shree Dandekar, Dell’s senior director of business intelligence and analytics, told Dana Gardner’s Briefings Direct blog. “So, the ability to monitor product launches in real time and fix issues in real time, related with product launches, is pretty powerful.”
Bottom Line: Social media listening is increasingly widespread among marketers, and companies realize that social media monitoring can provide a range of substantial benefits. The examples highlight specific benefits.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
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