Brain Waves Blog

Monitoring and listening seem like the same thing, right? It can be hard to understand the difference between these two activities. You’ve probably even used the words interchangeably. We’re here to tell you there are critical differences between them; differences that prove monitoring alone is not enough. Once you start listening, you’ll realize the moments and opportunities you missed when you thought you were listening. 

Have you ever heard the saying “How do you eat an elephant?” 

One of the most challenging parts of being a social media manager is dealing with the negativity—the complaints, the problems, the criticisms.  

With social listening you collect the conversation as it happens, offering opportunities to understand what’s happening now so you can make changes for the future. But the real power comes with the ongoing analysis and context that allows you to better understand your baseline conversation and create personal benchmarks, track seasonal changes, evaluate the effects of crises, and measure the impact of new campaigns. 

As many of our readers already know (or can easily guess from the Social Strategy Fundamentals episode I recently hosted), I’m a huge fan of strategy. That’s why I’m excited to work with natural strategists like ours at Campus Sonar every day. Our team of strategists not only develops deep client relationships, but also intuitively looks at each client’s goals from all angles to find the best way to reach them.

Sonarian capabilities differ based on historical and ongoing social listening. That doesn’t necessarily make one approach better than the other.