Social Media - Essentials - Part 1 of 4 - Observation

Phase I: Observation

As Yogi Berra famously noted, "You can observe a lot just by watching." A bit of research and observation up front will make your participation later much more productive and prevent false starts and missteps.

Some of the questions to answer in this phase:

• Where are people talking about our company, industry, and competitors? Which social media platforms do they congregate on?
  
• What are they saying? What are the hot topics?
  
• Who's doing the talking? Which voices seem to have the most influence?
  
• What opportunities do we have to respond and participate? What kind of content seems to be most popular?
  
• What questions are people asking that we can answer?

Social media monitoring tools are very helpful in answering those questions. Among free tools are Social Mention and Alterian's trial version of SM2. A wide range of tools is available with differing levels of cost and sophistication.