There are currently 4.9 billion active social media users worldwide – more than half of the global adult population and a 13% increase from last year.
Of those users, 54% now follow brands or companies on social media platforms. This represents a 12.5% increase from 2018. While the same study found that 53% use social media to research products before purchasing.
Meanwhile, data from Facebook IQ, claims 90% of all Instagram users follow at least one business, with 83% saying it helps them discover new products and services. It’s not just for research either.
Social media is where consumers forge bonds with brands and where loyalty grows. 63% of consumers that follow a brand on social media are more likely to buy from them.
Having a robust social media strategy is therefore a must. But it goes far beyond that. To win on social – and elsewhere – organisations must maintain a clear understanding of how consumers are interacting with, following and talking about brands on social media.
This is precisely why social media monitoring continues to grow. 73% of businesses now use social media monitoring tools – a 12.3% increase from 2019.
But what does the future hold for social media monitoring tools? Let’s take a look:
Predictions On The Future Of Social Media Monitoring Tools
1) The Continuing Rise of AI in Social Media Monitoring
Artificial intelligence (AI) has made a significant impact on social media monitoring. Like all forms of market and competitor intelligence, it has enabled once slow, manual processes to be automated and accelerated.
AI-powered tools can now gather and analyse vast amounts of data in real time. With the growing availability of machine learning and natural language processing technology, these tools are likely to become even more powerful in the future.
It will be able to identify patterns and trends faster, enabling organisations to gain a deeper understanding of their customers and competitors. This will speed up strategic decision-making and allow them to protect themselves from market threats while capitalising on big opportunities.
2) Combining AI with Human Expert Analysts
While AI is becoming increasingly powerful, it can’t – for now at least – replicate the scrutiny and instinct of human analysts that understand the nuances of the market.
While AI gives you far greater depth and breadth of reach with your monitoring activities, the big issue that many organisations find is what to do with the data that’s captured. Research by Forbes reveals that 51% of marketers say that data silos prevent them from effectively analysing data. While Salesforce’s research identified that 61% of marketing leaders believe their data is too complex to make sense of.
Combining AI with human expert analysis means curating the large swathes of data into something more relevant and actionable. That saves considerable time for marketing, sales and product teams that want to use competitor intelligence to improve their strategies.
In the context of social media, human analysts are also – again, for now at least – far more capable of recognising tone and context behind a social media post.
3) Combining Social Media Monitoring With Other Forms of Competitor Tracking
According to Forbes, companies that actively use competitor intelligence are 2.6 times more likely to be a market leader. The rise in automated competitor intelligence tools and platforms mean that for any organisation, the ability to know and understand what’s happening in the market is greater than ever.
Social media monitoring is vital because of the sheer volume of its user base and the way they’re using it. But it offers insight into just one part of the market. For example, companies are unlikely to announce subtle changes to their pricing model via social media, yet it could be something that has a big impact on your revenue. It also won’t pick up changes to brand messaging or negative news the organisation would rather keep quiet.
By combining social media monitoring with other forms of competitor intelligence, you can build up a more complete picture of the market. This picture may be useful to more people and departments within your organisation, leading to smarter decision-making and better outcomes.
4) Social Media Monitoring Will Empower More Departments
Social media monitoring is often associated with marketing and customer service. For marketing, it offers an insight into consumer sentiment and competitor tactics that are yielding the desirable outcomes. They can use it to benchmark their own approach and respond faster to threats and opportunities.
For customer service, social media offers a way to engage customers quickly and meaningfully. That could be in responding to complaints, joining the conversation or prompting for insights. Social media monitoring gets them closer to the action, tracking trends and insights that can highlight strengths and weaknesses.
But that’s not the end of its usefulness. According to a survey by CMO Survey, almost 60%of respondents reported that their organisations use social media data to inform decisions across multiple departments. This includes marketing, customer service, product development, and operations.
The evolution of social media monitoring tools means intelligence is now easier to share with heads of department. With WatchMyCompetitor, for example, alerts can be shared in people’s existing workflows thanks to integrations with platforms such as Teams, Slack and Power BI.
With intelligence arriving analysed and curated, rather than raw and in large volumes, organisations will have a flow of relevant, timely and usable intelligence at their disposal. This will allow them to transition more easily to an intelligence-driven culture, affecting all departments not just marketing and customer service.
5) Social Media Monitoring Will Empower More Departments
Social media monitoring is often associated with marketing and customer service. For marketing, it offers an insight into consumer sentiment and competitor tactics that are yielding the desirable outcomes. They can use it to benchmark their own approach and respond faster to threats and opportunities.
For customer service, social media offers a way to engage customers quickly and meaningfully. That could be in responding to complaints, joining the conversation or prompting for insights. Social media monitoring gets them closer to the action, tracking trends and insights that can highlight strengths and weaknesses.
But that’s not the end of its usefulness. According to a survey by CMO Survey, almost 60% of respondents reported that their organisations use social media data to inform decisions across multiple departments. This includes marketing, customer service, product development, and operations.
The evolution of social media monitoring tools means intelligence is now easier to share with heads of department. With WatchMyCompetitor, for example, alerts can be shared in people’s existing workflows thanks to integrations with platforms such as Teams, Slack and Power BI.
With intelligence arriving analysed and curated, rather than raw and in large volumes, organisations will have a flow of relevant, timely and usable intelligence at their disposal. This will allow them to transition more easily to an intelligence-driven culture, affecting all departments not just marketing and customer service.
5) More Focus on Speed of Analysis to Make Insights More Valuable
A survey by Talkwalker found that 57% of marketing professionals identified real-time analysis as a top priority for their social media monitoring tools. The faster an organisation can understand and use intelligence, the more valuable it becomes.
The future of social media monitoring tools will be a focus on greater speed, funnelling quality intelligence into organisations not everything everywhere all at once. Real-time will become increasingly sought after versus periodic reports that, while insightful, are less useful.
According to a report by Forbes, “businesses that are able to act on insights quickly are more likely to see significant improvements in business outcomes.”
Concluding Thoughts
In conclusion, social media monitoring tools will play an increasingly important role in modern business strategies. By leveraging AI and human expertise, integrating data from multiple sources, and supporting a broad range of business functions, social media monitoring tools will enable organisations to make more informed decisions and stay ahead of the competition.
Social Media Monitoring FAQs
a) What is social media monitoring?
Social media monitoring, also known as social listening, is the process of tracking, monitoring, and analysing social media platforms to gather insights and intelligence about a brand, product, or service. Social media monitoring tools use data analysis and machine learning algorithms to collect and analyse social media data in real-time, providing organisations with actionable insights that can help them make informed decisions.
b) When and how did social media monitoring begin?
Social media monitoring has been around since the early days of social media. Companies initially started monitoring social media to track their brand mentions and to see what people were saying about them. However, as social media grew, so did the complexity of social media monitoring. With the rise of big data, social media monitoring has become more sophisticated, with tools that can analyse large volumes of data in real-time.
c) How and why have organisations been using social media monitoring?
Organisations use social media monitoring for a variety of reasons, including brand management, reputation management, crisis management, customer service, and market research. Social media monitoring tools allow organisations to track their brand mentions, analyse sentiment, monitor competitors, identify trends, and measure the effectiveness of their social media campaigns.
d) What’s the difference between social media monitoring and competitor intelligence?
Social media monitoring and competitor intelligence are two different processes, although they may overlap. Social media monitoring focuses on tracking and analysing social media activity related to a brand, product, or service, while competitor intelligence focuses on gathering information about competitors’ products, marketing strategies, and sales performance across a variety of sources, not just social media.
While social media monitoring may provide insights into competitor activity, competitor intelligence tools provide a more comprehensive view of the competition.
