What is the Difference Between Social Listening and Social Monitoring?

We know what you're asking yourself: Don't these two terms mean the same thing? The answer to that question is almost, but not exactly. When you dig into the subject of monitoring and listening, you'll find important functional and conceptual distinctions between the concepts. Understanding these differences will make sure you're getting the outcome you want, no matter which option you choose.

Difference #1 - Responding vs. Long-Term Strategy

If we look at the terms themselves, they both include ‘social,’ so we can assume that they’re the same in this regard. Therefore, the biggest difference comes with listening and monitoring. When using social monitoring, the idea is to watch conversations about the brand and your products. It's important to note, though, that you’re watching them with the intent to respond or take action.

By responding to comments about your brand, you make customers feel as though their voice is actually heard (something they don’t always feel!). As well as answering questions and encouraging people to choose you over competitors (indirectly), you can respond to positive comments while addressing negative concerns and reviews. With all three combined, you improve the customer (or potential employee) experience and make your brand one that people want to either join or stick with.

Social listening, on the other hand, is all about understanding what people are saying about not just your brand and products but also competitors and the wider industry. The more you understand, the more you can implement these learnings through better products, ads that resonate, and content. This is big picture thinking that may not lead to immediate action but should inform your high-level goals and strategy.

Some will argue that you can implement what you learn through social monitoring too, and this is true—but it’s only one piece of a much larger puzzle that includes things like Wikipedia, Glassdoor, news, and more.

In short, the goal with monitoring is focused on the brand’s reputation and responding to comments to build a connection with the community. Meanwhile, the purpose of listening is to learn and improve the long-term strategy of the company.

Difference #2 - Areas of Interest

With social monitoring, the focus is on social mentions and conversations that are specifically about YOUR brand and products. Since social listening places emphasis on long-term strategy, the focus is broader and can be thought to include the following:

●       Industry trends

●       Competitor performance

●       Brand

●       Ad campaigns

●       Products

●       Categories

●       Occasions & events

●       Changes in key state and federal politics and legislation

Ultimately, most of the topics above are irrelevant for social monitoring since the goal is to respond. You don’t often want to respond to conversations about your competitors, and knowledge of industry trends, while helpful, can be a lot of noise for a goal focused solely on digital customer service.

Difference #3 - Social vs. Non-Social

Although social listening is the term for this practice, don’t get confused by the use of the word ‘social’ here. While social media is prominent in this area, you can also listen to conversations on review websites, news websites, and various other platforms. This is why we also like to call this service “digital listening” in order to capture the extent to which our efforts capture every mention across the web. Remember, you’re listening to more than just brand-related conversations with social listening, and the tools and firms you employ in support of this should pay attention to industry news articles, public records, online mentions, and much more.

Summary

Are you performing social listening when you thought you were doing social monitoring? Perhaps it’s the other way around. Either way, it’s important to distinguish between the two. Why? Because they both offer lots of value in different ways.

Social monitoring makes your audience feel heard and can transform negative experiences into positive ones. What’s more, you could encourage customers to buy again and recommend your service with a simple message.

Social listening is designed to inform the long-term strategy—it can improve product development, ad campaigns, content strategies, and more.

While the two overlap in some areas, knowing these differences and how to prioritize them will enhance your marketing strategy this year!

Curious what we’d recommend focusing on for your brand? Reach out to shout@luminodigital.com for a free consultation!