Understanding The Basics Of Instagram Social Listening

With its dazzling visual content and over 2 billion monthly active users, it’s a social listening goldmine waiting to be explored!

Imagine gaining deep insights into your audience’s desires, tracking sentiments towards your brand, and outshining your competitors in the aesthetic world of Instagram. 

Your favorite brands like FitBit, Nike, GoPro, and many more leverage social listening on Instagram to track audience sentiments, monitor brand mentions, and identify trends. By analyzing conversations, comments, and hashtags, brands gain valuable insights into customer preferences, feedback, and the competitive landscape. 

This insight helps in shaping their GTM strategies, content creation, and product development. From understanding audience sentiment towards specific campaigns to identifying potential influencers and engaging with their community, social listening on Instagram empowers brands to stay relevant, responsive, and connected in the dynamic world of social media.

Well, now you can do this too. Get ready to uncover the secrets of Instagram social listening as we tread deeper into various tried and tested strategies. 

We’ll show you how to gather your audience details and delve into their likes, needs, preferences, and brand expectations. 

Let’s get started. 

Why do you need an Instagram social listening guide?

Here are some benefits of creating an Instagram social listening guide:

1. Trendspotting made easy

Instagram is a trendsetter platform, and social listening allows you to stay updated on the latest trends, hashtags, and conversations within your industry. By detecting and leveraging trends, you can create timely and engaging content, increasing your brand’s visibility and engagement.

For example, the Barbie trend blew up the internet and following the footprints, Zara also took part in the trend and launched their Barbie Capsule collection on Instagram. 

2. Discover loyal brand advocates

Instagram is a hub for influencers, and social listening enables you to discover relevant influencers in your industry. By identifying influencers who align with your brand values and resonate with your target audience, you can establish authentic partnerships and amplify your reach.

So next time you struggle with your influencer shortlisting, social listening can help. You can opt for influencers that already make use of your brand and speak well about it. This will not only make their onboarding easy but chances to accomplish your campaign goals will get higher.

Here’s how Toni Bravo is seen giving a review about a lip balm from Topicals. This was posted on Topical’s Instagram page, which is sure to attract some serious high-intent views from Bravo’s 70K followers.  

3. Brand reputation on check

A comprehensive Instagram social listening guide helps you monitor and manage your brand’s reputation. By tracking mentions, sentiment, and feedback, you can address customer concerns, resolve issues promptly, and maintain a positive brand image.

Everlane shares their good reviews as posted on Instagram. This shows how the brand truly provides evidence of what it promises. Their customers love them and they leave no stone unturned in flaunting them, which works out well for their reputation. 

4. Competitive advantages in fingertips

With Instagram social listening, you can track and monitor your competitors’ activities, campaigns, and audience sentiment. This allows you to stay one step ahead, identify gaps in the market, and differentiate your brand from the competition.

You might chuckle at this one. If you look closely, this ad posted by a third party shows how Pepsi used Coke bottles for its Taste OK campaign. Needless to say, the clever mockery got them much attention.

Instagram social listening guide

Crafting a platform-specific listening guide is the need of the hour rather than following a random and general approach across all your channels. In this segment, we’ll help you create an Instagram-centric social listening blueprint. 

Here are some simple steps to get you started:

1. Set objectives

Start by defining your goals and objectives for social listening on Instagram. Whether you are looking to understand your audience better, track brand sentiment, identify influencers, monitor industry trends, or optimize your Instagram marketing strategies, establish your goals before diving into social listening.

You get started with a couple of major goals and get realistic with your target numbers by auditing your current performance and that of your competitors. 

2. Monitor conversations and keywords

Employ a social media analytics tool like Keyhole and customize searches to track relevant conversations, keywords, hashtags, and accounts on Instagram. Audit your industry at large. See what hashtags and keywords are most used by your target audience. 

For example, if you’re a yoga brand, you may want to monitor keywords such as #yoga, #yogalife, #meditation, or relevant yoga influencers and accounts. You can do this easily by adding multiple trackers on Keyhole. 

3. Get your hands on data

Use Keyhole’s analytics to gain insights on audience sentiment, engagement, reach, and sentiment analysis. Analyze the data to identify patterns and gain insights into your audience’s preferences, needs, and expectations. You can do so by following 3 easy steps:

• Login to your Keyhole account and head to Listening & Campaigns. 

• Click on the +Add New Tracker button and choose from Add Tracker to add a hashtag or Add Advanced Tracker to add a keyword. In this case, we are creating an advanced tracker. 

• Fill in the asked details in the respective fields. Such detailed information will help Keyhole to cut through the noise and collect data only from what’s relevant and important to you. Click on preview. 

And that’s all. Keyhole will quickly scan Instagram for conversations relevant to your chosen keywords and present you with a dashboard with detailed metrics, top posts, and sentiment related to your tracker. If satisfied, go ahead and save the tracker. 

You can keep coming back to the tracker list and check for more updates. See if your sentiments stay positive or if some PR actions need to be taken. Similarly, a glance at top posts will open avenues for more engagement. 

4. Watch out for  competitors

Just like you added trackers that are relevant to your brand, consider adding some from your competitors too. Check out their latest campaign and see how their followers are reacting. 

You can QuickTrends feature here and set two similar keywords/hashtags/brands here. We have taken Coke and Pepsi. You can set the date range and voila! You’ll get the number of posts with maximum impression and sentiment. 

Plus, you’ll be able to see trending topics and influential users. This has some seriously underrated untapped potential. Without putting your brand reputation at stake, you can gain much more insights and learn from your competitors’ wins and mistakes.  

5. Look for advanced insights 

Keyhole creates a graphical representation of the keyword’s engagement metrics and uncovers top posts and the most influential profiles around those conversations. Just add your Instagram profile and you’ll get more advanced insights related to your profiles. 

You get comprehensive visuals on metrics like sentiments, most frequent and engaging post types, optimal post length, and hashtag types. Based on the insights and data gathered from Keyhole, refine your Instagram marketing strategy. 

Use the recommendations provided by Keyhole to make informed decisions, and optimize your content, engagement tactics, and overall brand strategy.

6. Respond to brand mentions

To make the most out of your Instagram social listening, it’s crucial to prioritize quick responses to brand mentions. Engaging with positive mentions by expressing gratitude and responding with on-brand replies can create a favorable impression. 

Don’t overlook negative feedback – acknowledge any mistakes, offer support channels, and avoid defensiveness. Additionally, actively participate in relevant conversations even if your brand isn’t directly mentioned. By sharing valuable insights and demonstrating your expertise, you can raise brand awareness. 

Setting up mention trackers ensures you’re alerted to brand mentions, allowing you to respond promptly. By actively listening and engaging with your audience, you can build a positive brand reputation and foster strong customer relationships.

How to act on Instagram social listening data

Acting on Instagram social listening data is crucial to enhancing your brand reputation and increasing engagement with your audience. Here’s how you can utilize the insights you gain from social listening:

1. Provide support

Proactively monitor and address negative feedback in a timely and constructive manner. By promptly responding and offering assistance, you show your dedication to resolving any issues customers may have with your brand. 

Use Instagram social listening to identify concerns, show empathy, and provide alternative channels for support. This approach actively manages your brand’s reputation and nurtures customer loyalty.

2. Share insights

Actively participate in relevant conversations within your industry alongside monitoring brand mentions. Engage with users discussing topics related to your business, even if they haven’t mentioned your brand directly. 

This positions you as a knowledgeable authority in your field. By sharing valuable insights, tips, and expertise, you raise brand awareness and attract potential customers seeking reliable sources. Be authentic, helpful, and build trust through meaningful contributions to these conversations.

3. Measure results

Track key metrics like engagement rates, sentiment analysis, and audience demographics. This valuable data helps you assess the effectiveness of your social listening strategy and identify areas for improvement. 

Adapt your approach based on these insights to enhance your brand reputation, customer satisfaction, and overall business growth.

By applying these detailed steps with a positive mindset, you can effectively harness Instagram social listening data to inform your strategies, engage with your audience, address customer concerns, and continuously elevate your brand’s presence on the platform.

What’s next?

Congratulations! You’ve gained a comprehensive understanding of how Instagram social listening can elevate your brand’s reputation and engagement on the platform. To stay ahead in the race, it’s essential to conduct regular and diligent listening audits.

But don’t worry, the process doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With Keyhole in your fingertips, you can track the tiniest of details. From real-time updates on audience sentiments to automated scheduling, Keyhole is your safe place with all your social media marketing needs.

So, why wait? Sign up for a free trial of Keyhole today and harness the power of Instagram social listening to drive success for your brand. 

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