--- title: Social Media Marketing - Are We Listening? description: Have we forgotten how to listen in social media marketing? Here are 3 tips to better engage through social media marketing listening --- [![The-Hashtag-Positive-Color-1.png](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/hs-fs/hubfs/The-Hashtag-Positive-Color-1.png?width=313&name=The-Hashtag-Positive-Color-1.png "The-Hashtag-Positive-Color-1.png")](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com) - [Home Page](https://www.atlanticwebworks.com) - [Blog Home](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com) [![Let's Talk](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/198514/bf16dad6-d87f-489a-91c5-fb06103ff7d9.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/198514/bf16dad6-d87f-489a-91c5-fb06103ff7d9) ![bg-img11.jpg](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/383029/hubfs/Espark-dtemplate/images/bg-img11.jpg?width=1500&name=bg-img11.jpg "bg-img11.jpg") ## [Social Media Marketing - Are We Listening?](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/blog/social-media-marketing-listening) ![Kim Williams](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/hubfs/kim.jpg) By [Kim Williams](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/author/kim-williams) - - - - ## Social Media Marketing – Are We Listening? > "There are people who, instead of listening to what is being said to them, are already listening to what they are going to say themselves." > — Albert Guinon My mother says it. You’ve heard it. “You have two ears and one mouth—behave accordingly.” Social media marketers tend to be so busy about the task of deciding what to say and how to say it that we can miss the important practice of listening. Content has been dubbed the king of internet marketing, and we are busy about creating and curating content to share and broadcast. The quotes stream forth abundantly from Twitter accounts and endless updates inundate our LinkedIn feeds. Are we missing the fine truth of communication by spending so much time talking and little time listening? Here are 3 keys to adding some listening value to your social media marketing. **1. Surveys and Polls.** Have you conducted a survey of your target demographic lately? Do you know what they think they want? Have you polled your social media subscribers, followers, or fans to get their take on your company or industry? Grab a survey tool or polling widget and find out. Construct your survey to best capture unbiased and useful data. Do some research on[best practices for building a survey](http://help.surveymonkey.com/articles/en_US/kb/Design-Tips-How-to-create-and-administer-effective-surveys)or poll and then fire off one or two. People will be glad you care enough to inquire. Speaking of inquiry… **2. Questions.** The best sales people know that asking questions is a sure-fire way to build trust and engage prospects. Yet, we seldom ask questions on social media. When is the last time you asked a sincere—not leading—question as a part of your social marketing? Too often we ask questions then proceed to answer them in a vain effort to demonstrate our expertise. Asking a sincere question and creating an encouraging space for conversation is a pleasant interruption to the constant noise of social media. How could you insert questions into your social media activity today? **3. Repeat what you hear.** People like to be heard and understood. A proven technique for effective communication is to repeat back to someone what you think they said, and then get their confirmation that you heard them correctly. While you can practice this technique literally on social media, a similar technique is simply acknowledging the content of someone else’s comment or update. How delighted I was last weekend when my birthday check-in on social media was acknowledged by the business where I chose to spend my birthday. It was specific to my communication and acknowledged that they heard me. [![social media marketing engagement](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/brookgreen-tweet-1-1.png?width=661&height=115&name=brookgreen-tweet-1-1.png)](https://twitter.com/brookgreensc) Engagement is a term used often to describe the interaction between brands/companies and people on social media. When you hear the term “engagement,” think listening. It could do wonders for your social media marketing efforts. ![bg-img14.jpg](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/383029/hubfs/Espark-dtemplate/images/bg-img14.jpg?width=750&name=bg-img14.jpg "bg-img14.jpg") ## Get Our Newsletter Stay on top of the latest in digital, marketing and branding by subscribing to our blog. We'll make sure you get the latest posts! ## Leave a comment ![Kim Williams](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/hubfs/kim.jpg) Written by [Kim Williams](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/author/kim-williams) ### Posts by Topic - [Social Media (224)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/social-media) - [Marketing (179)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/marketing) - [Web Development (88)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/web-development) - [Trends & News (86)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/trends-news) - [Blogging (52)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/blogging) - [Technology (48)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/technology) - [Small Business (43)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/small-business-2) - [Customer Service (23)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/customer-service) - [Video (11)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/video) - [B2B, (5)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/b2b) - [GDPR (5)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/gdpr) - [Content Marketing (3)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/content-marketing) - [Lead Generation (3)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/lead-generation) - [Marketing Strategy (3)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/marketing-strategy) - [Sales (3)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/sales) - [B2B Marketing (2)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/b2b-marketing) - [Sales Enablement (2)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/sales-enablement) - [Branding (1)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/branding) - [Inbound Marketing (1)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/inbound-marketing) - [Website Management (1)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/website-management) - [social media ROI (1)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/tag/social-media-roi) see all ### Recent Articles ### Popular Articles #### Related posts [![10 Social Media Wrongs To Make Right](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/hubfs/10socialmediawrongs_lrg.jpg)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/10-social-media-wrongs-to-make-right) ##### [10 Social Media Wrongs To Make Right](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/10-social-media-wrongs-to-make-right) ![Adrienne Jandler](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/hubfs/ade.jpg) By [Adrienne Jandler](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/10-social-media-wrongs-to-make-right/author/adrienne-jandler) - March 4, 2020 [![10 Instagram Tips For B2B Marketers](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/hubfs/10InstagramTipsforB2BMarketers.jpg)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/10-instagram-tips-for-b2b-marketers) ##### [10 Instagram Tips For B2B Marketers](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/10-instagram-tips-for-b2b-marketers) By [Jayme Soulati](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/10-instagram-tips-for-b2b-marketers/author/jayme-soulati) - February 20, 2020 [![9 Metrics To Measure Social Media Effectiveness](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/hubfs/AWW%20NineMetrics_LRG-02.jpg)](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/9-metrics-to-measure-social-media-effectiveness) ##### [9 Metrics To Measure Social Media Effectiveness](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/9-metrics-to-measure-social-media-effectiveness) By [Jayme Soulati](https://blog.atlanticwebworks.com/9-metrics-to-measure-social-media-effectiveness/author/jayme-soulati) - January 13, 2020 #### Contact Thanks for dropping by! 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