Executive Summary

The changes to everyday life due to COVID-19 are causing a resurgence of interest in social listening. Businesses are using it to understand the evolving consumer mindset, craft appropriate marketing messages, and respond quickly to changing circumstances.

Why has social listening become more important during the pandemic?

Businesses have torn up their normal ways of operating, and they are looking to social media for fast, raw insights. Because consumers are using social media more heavily now, social listening can help marketers keep tabs on real-time trends and audience sentiment.

How are marketers using social listening right now?

They are using it to identify consumer needs, manage organic social media, gauge sentiment, manage crises and develop marketing creative.

How has social listening evolved in the past few years?

It started out as a way to passively track brand mentions and sentiment, but with advanced features such as AI, marketers can get more actionable reports and insights as well as make predictions. The ability to track images has also improved, and it’s gotten easier to incorporate social listening insights into other analytics.

What still holds social listening back?

It’s still heavily reliant on Twitter as a data source. Listening inside of things like Instagram Stories, TikTok and private messaging is difficult or impossible. That means brands can’t use social listening as a single source of truth. They still need to bolster it with other research.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report analyzes why marketers are turning to social listening during the pandemic and what they are using it for. It also explores new features and capabilities.

KEY STAT: Half of worldwide marketers have turned to social listening to understand consumers’ changing preferences during the pandemic.