ABSTRACT
Book Title: Social Media Campaigns: Strategies for Public Relations and Marketing 2nd Edition
Author: Carolyn Mae Kim
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1093-9172
Step 1: Listening—Chapter 2
The first step in any social media campaign is to listen. Think of this step as the research phase of the campaign process. In this phase, it is important to understand not only how to listen in the social media environment, but also to what one should be listening. Before explaining how to use listening as a research function, however, it is equally important to explain the ethical and foundational role of listening within public relations and strategic communication. Once the foundation is established (or the why brands should listen), then understanding the tools and process (or how the technical side of listening in social media occurs) will come much more naturally. Thus, this chapter provides insight into both the theoretical and ethical role of listening, in addition to the applied practice of listening in social media. The reality is, the world of social media is littered with content. Expertise in social media, therefore, extends past one's ability to listen and into the ability to proficiently determine what to listen for and how to interpret that information into a meaningful plan for the organization. This chapter analyzes how to understand which metrics, data, and information points are most important when designing a social media initiative.
