Innovative uses of a Listening Program

Most brands recognize the need to listen to conversations about them that are taking place on various platforms – Forums, Facebook pages, Twitter, Blogs etc. But most brand still ‘listen’ for things going wrong. It is a monitoring service that is almost like an insurance program for them. They want to make sure that if there is any conversation that needs their attention, it does not go unheeded.

While this is a tremendously useful service in itself there are many other benefits to be gained from running a Listening program. We at¬† Ogilvy run many of the ‘standard’ monitoring programs for brands but we have also been innovating. Sample some of the ‘non monitoring’ Listening Programs’ that we ran recently.

1. For a software company, we went deep inside forums and Linkedin groups to get insights for the brand, category and were able to recommend a custom and potentially more effective social media plan based on the insights.
2. For a beverages company, we were able to track the online buzz and link it with offline activities. We were as a result able to predict what kinds of offline activities were more likely to generate buzz online as well.
3. For an Infant Nutrition company were able to generate insights that were useful to make decisions regarding their manufacturing strategy and location.
4. For a government agency, we were able to understand why a particular career option is not seen as interesting or rewarding enough by youngsters and their parents in Singapore.
5. For a telecom company we were able to resolve customer issues by participating in conversations online.
6. For another government agency we were able to identify individuals who were depressed and needed help.

I could go on, but the point here is that a Listening Program is a wonderful tool that can be used for many and often multiple objectives.