Harnessing the Power of Digital Listening with Grace Newfrock

Marketers from leading international and local brands & agencies, including Macy's, PepsiCo., LinkedIn, Diageo, AMC Networks, J&J, and many more joined us for a lovely morning of insights and delicious brunch to network and learn about maximizing digital marketing efforts using digital listening and social media.

It’s been an exciting month here in New York at Digimind’s US headquarters!

Last week, we welcomed Grace Newfrock, Consultant for Johnson&Johnson and Senior Manager at Skylight Intelligence, as our thought leader at our first ever SocializeNYC Brunch&Learn event in Midtown Manhattan to talk about "Harnessing the Power of  Digital Listening to Maximize Your Digital Marketing Efforts". While most of us are well-versed in digital marketing, many of us have not yet tapped into social data and tools that can help us amplify our digital marketing efforts, so this session was widely well-received. We were joined by fellow marketing leaders from Macy’s, PepsiCo., LinkedIn, Diageo, AMC Networks, and J&J, and we enjoyed some great insights from Grace with yummy breakfast, too. (Shoutout to those yogurt parfaits!)

Grace has been using social listening tools for 5 years and has been helping clients like Johnson&Johnson reach their digital marketing goals. She uses digital listening as a tool to help clients understand the complex digital land. “There’s a lot of data out there; it’s hard to decipher,” she said. She really broke it down for us.

We know that making informed decisions and tracking our progress are the basic rules of any marketing campaign, but how can we come up with an effective plan for targeting the right people? To start, Grace emphasized that understanding your objective before implementing the campaign’s tactics is vital.

Know WHO & WHERE ❓🌎

It all comes down to identifying your audience correctly. You need to identify who is already talking about you, who you are trying to reach, and WHERE those individuals are spending their time online. Digimind and social listening tools can also help you determine who may not know about you yet. “You need to grow. Find segments of people who are interested in what you’re talking about.” Grace said.

“If it’s not a message that resonates and is relevant with your stakeholder group, it won’t stick.”

Keep It 💯

Consumers need to trust that what you are saying to them is true, and this is especially important in the healthcare market. Grace noted that you should increase your authenticity with individuals who are already participating in these campaigns, and you should aim to “Meet them where they are.” If there is a cultural moment or celebration happening within your audience, and you know that it’s important to them, then that needs to be a part of your content to show that you’re with them.

Your brand values should also consistently align with your content, and your messages have to be consistent across the board.

Street Cred 🏆

Grace also highlighted that credibility is an obstacle that brands may face with their key stakeholders. She prompted us to ask ourselves, are you trying to manage a crisis or identify specific stakeholders? Tools like Digimind Social may be essential if you are trying to understand the sentiment your audience has towards your brand, and numbers alone can’t tell you how consumers feel. This can also help you determine where your brand loyalty lies, and where you may need to enforce it. “XYZ” Grace said.

Your relevancy can impact your credibility, as well.

Stay on Point ☝️

It’s also important to leverage the functionality of certain social platforms to maximize the impact of your campaign.  or example Facebook groups are a great place where you can connect with niche groups of thought leaders who care deeply about topics and are highly engaged in conversations. Whereas Snapchat and Instagram stories allow you to connect with broader audiences by sharing additional messaging that reinforces your core brand values. This is what will help you stay true to your objectives and make sure that your team is on the same page as far as where to make an impact, as well as making sure that your dollars are working where you need them to.

Again, consistency is key to authenticity.

Impact 💥

Measure it! This is where social data becomes the real gold. Take advantage of social listening tools to get tangible data about your impact and sentiment. And if you’re missing the mark, then you’ll know where to pinpoint it.  If you want KPIs (who doesn’t?!) then having real data is going to get you there. Social listening will help you track your success pre, during, and post campaigns.

Lastly, use Boolean effectively on the Social Listening tools! This is an excellent way to weed through different audience segments to  understand what’s important to them.Grace recommends using the tool this way to ensure that you have a thorough understanding about what your key stakeholders care about before you launch a campaign.

Grace was an excellent thought leader and really emphasized the importance of social data for harnessing the power of social media to aid your digital marketing efforts. Our audience was fabulous and very engaged, with lots of intelligent questions about how to specifically target their audiences and measure their KPIs. We love a good Q&A session!

Check out our awesome photo booth below! We’ll be providing a similar one at our SocializeNYC #SuperSoirée following Social Media Week on May 1st, where we’ll be discussing Becoming a Superhero Marketer in the Phygital World.

And if you’d like to know how you can optimize your brand's digital strategy with a social listening tool, try out a demo below!