What does social intelligence mean to you?
Social intelligence is the key to social managers getting a much-deserved seat at the strategic decision makers’ table. Whether it is leveraged for campaign development, competitive analysis, brand sentiment, community management, storytelling opportunities or influencer amplification, social intelligence can unlock valuable insights that will propel your brand forward.
What skills do social listeners need to succeed?
You can be a stellar communications leader. You can be a stellar data leader. But a successful career in social intelligence requires someone who can wear both hats at the same time. Social listeners need to be able to tell a compelling story with the data. We are curious, innovative, collaborative and willing to learn.
Biggest challenge to social intelligence adoption in brands?
Education! Although most brands understand the importance of social overall, it’s often defined with a narrow lens. Social is an umbrella term that encompasses much more than a brand’s posting cadence. Although a great programming strategy is an important ingredient, it isn’t the only one a strong social team needs to thrive. Social intelligence is less understood and therefore, utilized less. If you are passionate about what you’re finding via social intelligence, shout it to the rooftops! Infuse social insights into every interaction you can. Standardize monthly reporting where everyone can nerd out together. Keep connecting the dots.
Favourite use case for social intelligence and what decisions can the insight help support?
I’m a storyteller at heart, so I love to leverage social intelligence for storymining (influencers, customers, etc.). A favorite use case: Last year, our social team launched a powerful social video series called “Faces of Hope.” Each video beautifully spotlights and celebrates a different member of the City of Hope community. It was created, in part, from social intelligence insights. The series has received praise on social from our audience and been leveraged across our internal system by a number of partners.
What piece of advice would you give to those looking to do more with social data than just brand tracking or campaign monitoring?
Challenge your own assumptions of how you’re defining social intelligence and where you can leverage the data. It is much more than brand tracking and campaign monitoring in the very best way! If you need more inspiration, reach out to other social leads to learn more about how they are leveraging. Subscribe to social-specific newsletters. Talk to your marketing insights leads to identify how they are leveraging trends from other sources – can you enhance their work further with social intelligence? Keep pushing!
Gen AI in social listening: hype or helpful?
Gen AI in social listening is as powerful (and helpful) as the person leveraging those insights. AI has accelerated social intelligence in a number of ways (queries become less daunting, potential sentiment can be detected, etc.) but it still requires responsible use and a healthy dose of skepticism if the results feel fishy.
If you were to start your social intelligence team from scratch what three things would you do first?
I would invest in three things: a tool that allows our team to dig into social intelligence headfirst, training for our social intelligence leads and a lunch and learn series for our key partners.
What are you looking forward to in social listening for 2025?
A bigger community! I’ve seen more and more brands investing in social listening leaders/resources – and I am HERE for it! Let’s nerd out together, y’all.
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