Social Listening

Systematically monitor social media and online conversations to track brand sentiment, identify emerging issues, and spot opportunities.

When to Use This Skill

Brand health monitoring
Crisis early warning
Competitor tracking
Campaign performance
Customer insight gathering

Methodology Foundation

Based on Sprout Social methodology and Brandwatch analytics, combining:

Keyword monitoring
Sentiment analysis
Trend identification
Influencer tracking

What Claude Does vs What You Decide

| Claude Does | You Decide | |-------------|------------| | Designs monitoring strategy | Tool selection | | Creates keyword lists | Alert thresholds | | Analyzes sentiment patterns | Response strategy | | Identifies trends | Resource allocation | | Suggests response approaches | Escalation calls |

Instructions

Step 1: Define Monitoring Scope

Monitoring Categories:

| Category | What to Track | Examples | |----------|---------------|----------| | Brand | Company name, products | "@CompanyName", "CompanyProduct" | | People | Executives, spokespeople | CEO name, founder | | Industry | Sector terms, trends | Industry keywords | | Competitors | Competitor mentions | Competitor names | | Issues | Potential crises | Product issues, service complaints |

Step 2: Build Keyword Matrix

Keyword Types: | Type | Purpose | Examples | |------|---------|----------| | Primary | Direct brand mentions | Brand name, product names | | Secondary | Related conversations | Industry terms, use cases | | Negative | Crisis indicators | "problem", "issue", "broken" | | Competitor | Competitive intelligence | Competitor names, comparison |

Step 3: Set Up Alerts

Alert Levels:

| Level | Trigger | Response Time | |-------|---------|---------------| | Green | Normal volume, positive/neutral | Daily review | | Yellow | Elevated volume, mixed sentiment | Same-day review | | Orange | High volume spike, negative trend | Hours | | Red | Viral negative, crisis indicators | Immediate |

Step 4: Analyze Findings

Analysis Framework:

Volume trends (up/down/stable)
Sentiment distribution (positive/neutral/negative)
Key themes and topics
Influential voices
Geographic patterns

Step 5: Report and Act

Reporting Cadence: | Report | Frequency | Audience | |--------|-----------|----------| | Real-time alerts | As triggered | Crisis team | | Daily digest | Daily | Marketing | | Weekly summary | Weekly | Leadership | | Monthly deep dive | Monthly | Strategy |

Examples

Example 1: Social Listening Strategy

Input:

Create a social listening strategy for:
- B2B SaaS company (project management)
- Main competitors: Asana, Monday, Notion
- Recent product launch: AI features

Output:

## Social Listening Strategy: Project Management SaaS

### Monitoring Objectives

| Objective | Priority | Key Questions |
|-----------|----------|---------------|
| Brand health | High | How are we perceived? |
| Product feedback | High | What do users say about AI features? |
| Competitive intel | Medium | What are competitors doing? |
| Industry trends | Medium | Where is PM software heading? |
| Crisis detection | High | Any emerging issues? |

---

### Keyword Matrix

#### Brand Keywords

| Category | Keywords | Platforms |
|----------|----------|-----------|
| Company Name | "[Company]", "@company" | All |
| Product Name | "[Product]", "[Product] app" | All |
| Misspellings | Common variants | All |
| Hashtags | #[Company], #[Product] | Twitter, LinkedIn |

#### Product Keywords

| Category | Keywords | Why Monitor |
|----------|----------|-------------|
| AI Features | "[Company] AI", "AI project management" | Launch feedback |
| Core Features | "[Company] tasks", "[Company] boards" | Product sentiment |
| Integrations | "[Company] Slack", "[Company] integration" | Partnership health |

#### Competitive Keywords

| Competitor | Keywords | What to Track |
|------------|----------|---------------|
| Asana | "Asana vs [Company]", "switching from Asana" | Win/loss signals |
| Monday | "Monday.com", "Monday vs [Company]" | Competitive positioning |
| Notion | "Notion for projects", "Notion PM" | Category overlap |
| General | "best project management", "PM tool 2026" | Category conversations |

#### Crisis Keywords

| Category | Keywords | Alert Level |
|----------|----------|-------------|
| Outage | "[Company] down", "[Company] not working" | Red |
| Security | "[Company] hack", "[Company] breach" | Red |
| Pricing | "[Company] expensive", "[Company] price increase" | Orange |
| Churn | "leaving [Company]", "cancelled [Company]" | Yellow |
| Bugs | "[Company] bug", "[Company] broken" | Yellow |

---

### Platform Strategy

| Platform | Focus | Keywords | Frequency |
|----------|-------|----------|-----------|
| Twitter/X | Real-time sentiment | All brand, crisis | Continuous |
| LinkedIn | B2B discussions | Industry, competitor | Daily |
| Reddit | Deep user feedback | r/projectmanagement, product | Daily |
| G2/Capterra | Review sentiment | Product reviews | Weekly |
| Hacker News | Tech community | Product, competitor | As trending |

---

### Alert Configuration

#### Red Alerts (Immediate Response)

**Triggers:**
- Volume spike >300% normal
- Sentiment shift >50% negative
- Viral post (>1000 engagements)
- Keywords: "outage", "down", "breach", "hack"

**Response:**
- Slack #crisis-alerts channel
- SMS to on-call team
- Auto-pause scheduled posts

---

#### Orange Alerts (Same-Day Response)

**Triggers:**
- Volume spike >100% normal
- Negative sentiment >30%
- Trending competitor comparison
- Keywords: "expensive", "worse", "frustrated"

**Response:**
- Slack #social-alerts
- Email to marketing lead
- Review within 4 hours

---

#### Yellow Alerts (Next-Day Review)

**Triggers:**
- Volume spike >50% normal
- Notable influencer mention
- Competitor activity spike
- Keywords: "considering", "alternative", "switching"

**Response:**
- Daily digest inclusion
- Assign for monitoring
- Review within 24 hours

---

### Analysis Template

#### Daily Report