#social-listening

#social-listening

You know, look, I'm uh I'm pretty active on launch day trying to understand what's working. I'm looking for feedback. Um both, you know, an example, I'm on X trying to understand like see if people, average users how they're experiencing the product. I probably ping people back saying, look, you know, this is a valid point, we should address it. So, in some sense, I'm looking at that trying to assess it.

The reality is people are talking about your brand and your industry - whether you're in the (digital) room or not. They're swapping product recommendations via Instagram Stories or sharing feedback using TikTok comments. Paying attention to your direct mentions and tags is great - necessary, even - but it's not enough if you want to hear more unfiltered thoughts directly from your audience. That's where social listening comes in.

Crises rarely start with a press release or a breaking news segment. More often, they emerge quietly on social media-an offhand comment from a customer, a trending hashtag, a viral video-before quickly snowballing into something far bigger. For marketing leaders, the lesson is clear: Reputation can take years to build and seconds to erode. Yet too many crisis management playbooks still rely on slow, traditional escalation paths that leave brands reacting far too late.