Once upon a time a marketing and communication strategist had to look outwards to try to figure out what their customers were thinking, feeling or believing about their brand. As our environment became more digital, social media allowed us not only to open more communication channels, but to understand our audience’s perceptions and values by doing something as simple as listening.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that social listening has a certain level of complexity, but learning how to do it delivers valuable insights about our market, competitors, audience, and the performance of our content. It also improves our capabilities to prevent incidents or crises that could damage the reputation of our brand.

It is possible to know the pulse of the conversations around our brand in real- time, in addition to the the impact of our owned, paid, and earned media, to discover which concepts or companies have a shared interest with us, and even understand the needs we haven’t met  by listening to what our audiences have to say.  They are constantly leaving hints through their digital behaviour, and we must incorporate tools to analyze the conversations and translate them into actions. 

There are several options in the market, from free tools to sophisticated software with AI. Choosing the best for you depends on the maturity level of your company, the purpose, and the metrics that will be considered. My recommendation, based on personal experience, and the data presented by Statista, is to have more than one listening solution. 

According to a survey carried out by Statista in 2019, 56% of responding public relations professionals from Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela said they used more than one social listening tool, because the tools used different data sources and tested different capabilities.

Beyond monitoring the performance of your digital campaigns, listening tools can contribute to the decision making process of the leadership team, it doesn’t matter if you are a designer who is building a new brand or an international fashion company, it is important to know what is happening outside your chamber of echo.   

How to Add Value to Your Social Listening Habits:

•  Find Insights

Trend analysis on emerging themes is the most used feature for PR professionals in Latin America. According to Statista’s survey, this information by itself might not make a difference, but with the proper analysis creates a broader spectrum of possibilities, and also challenges your messaging, actions and plans. There are signs preceding every major change or emerging issue, the opportunity relies on those who take the time to notice them. 

These insights have a much deeper impact than just adjusting your social media strategy, they might help you reset your business strategy, alliances or even expansion plans. 

For example, Socialbakers’ report Retail In Latin America, shows that retail is the category with more Facebook interactions in the region, similarly, on Instagram we find that fashion, e-commerce, and retail are the top three categories. The same report finds that on both platforms,live videos are the type of content with more organic engagement. If we consider an additional layer of data, such as  the most used words in your category or sentiment, we start to dig deeper and create new links. 

• Protect and Enhance Reputation. 

Reputation is one of the most valuable assets for a company, it doesn’t matter if it’s a luxury company or an independent custom-made brand. It takes a lot of time, consistency, and intention to create a good reputation, and only one mishandled crisis to tear it down. 

Social listening is crucial to prevent incidents, since it sets alerts for controversial conversations and crisis management in times when it’s crucial to communicate, contain, and counteract. I remember several cases in Mexico, where  retail brands were in the middle of a crisis that could have been handled better if they had a preventive approach to listening. 

In times where controversy and trolling are part of our daily occurrence, it’s also important to be able to identify if the negative conversations come from real profiles or if it’s part of some sort of campaign. This sets the tone of the messaging strategy, resolution plan, and future actions. 

• Create Better Connections

Do you remember Mel Gibson’s movie What a Girl Wants? The main character creates an extraordinary ad campaign after getting the super power of reading female minds. Making a pretty basic analogy, we might consider social listening to be the transformation of that super power into a technological solution.

Our success depends on how much we create valuable connections with our audience. They want to hear from us, but they want us to be socially aware, to have consistent values, to give back to the community, to become agents of change. How do I know that? By listening to what their conversations, shares, likes, are saying to me. 

Industry reports are quite helpful, however, if you set up a daily, weekly or monthly habit of analyzing the valuable information inside the listening platforms of your choice, you don’t have to wait until they are published.  Set up the keywords, accounts, topics,and time frame you are interested in and start doing the next best thing to reading minds. 

Alternative revenue streams emerged as a response to uncertain times, from regular people turning their passions and interests in a career, to celebrities, designers and artists finding different channels to monetize their work. I’m talking about the creator economy.

It is defined as: the class of business built over 50 million independent content creators, curators and community builders, plus the software and finance tools designed to help them with growth and monetization. According to the venture capital firm Signalfire’s report: Creator Economy Market Map[1], it is the “fastest-growing type of small business”.

As other 2021 trends, the creator economy has grown from being an emerging one, then gained traction and now: creators are moving their top fans off social networks and into their own websites, apps, or monetization tools, and becoming founders or gaining power in the media ecosystem.

Today, 2 million people are able to make a full-time career out of their content, the evolution of this trend could be divided into three phases: 

First, the creators combined storytelling with leadership skills, transforming their fans into a community. The second phase was monetizing reach: Brands started to notice influencers and invested in advertising products, however, even though influencer marketing is expected to have a double digit growth this year, some creators realized that losing control over the narrative of paid posts hurt their engagement and considered owning the process by changing their business model.

That consideration led into the new phase we are entering today: creators are noticing their capabilities to generate action within their community and deciding to go beyond the algorithm restrictions of the mainstream platforms (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook), creating hyper-specific revenue streams that allows fans to be a little closer to their favorite opinion leader, and pay for perks that go from voting to have some incidence in a creator’s day-to-day decisions, to exclusive content or 1:1 zoom meetings. The possibility of transforming art, memes or design into Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) could be the sign that this trend is here to stay, at least in the foreseeable future. 

Emerging platforms like Clubhouse identified the market and included a direct monetization stream for their top content creators. Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook could not be left behind and also announced that they will build new features to help content creators earn money and connect better with brands. 

The Next Step for Brands

Before considering opening the position of Clubhouse Strategist or Chief NFT Creator it is important to understand challenges and opportunities of the creator economy boom from the point of view of a brand.

Business as usual with influencers might not be the best approach, not every content creator will be developing the same revenue channels. Some might continue with traditional influencer marketing campaigns, while others take advantage of new tools to approach their communities. There will not be a “one-size-fits-all” solution, brand strategists should be thinking about reshaping alliances, considering hybrid models, but mostly about turning the brand into a community creator as well.

One of the biggest mistakes will be trying to push the same corporate narrative into the creator’s content channels. Since their community is becoming a key element to obtain revenue, creators will be more careful about the brands they choose to partner with, they have to help them reinforce their narrative and add something valuable to the fandom.

To build a community of their own, brands must rethink and reshape their actions as well as their communication strategy. Niche prevails over massification and connection is what enhances the sense of belonging. Communities require closeness, a human approach, and time.  One brand might build several communities, depending on purpose, product, values, and messages. Getting insights about  niches from a more human perspective, beyond traditional marketing targets, is a great way to start a roadmap.

A different path is to connect with existing communities, acknowledging that connecting is not the same thing as selling. Identifying the value that can be added into the community’s purpose or which conversations are the most suitable to jump in, might help a brand have a more organic attempt to be “one of the guys”.

Uncertainty is the mother of innovation, I believe that we are seeing the evolution of PR and Marketing beyond traditional media and the division between earned, paid and owned channels. There will be more to learn and discuss about this emerging business model as it evolves, for now it is a good time for brands to get insights, perform trials and start building connections. 

[1] https://signalfire.com/blog/creator-economy/

As I’m writing this, I notice I’m struggling to stop thinking about the tabs open on my computer, the Tetris-shaped meeting schedule for the following days, and the post-it on the wall reminding me about the financial report that needs my approval, all at the same time that  my phone keeps on beeping with different notifications. This situation probably sounds familiar to you especially, if you grew up, like me, believing the myth of multitasking as the Mecca of productivity.

However, scientific research shows that doing more than one task at the same time might accelerate the burnout process, due to the fact that our brain isn’t wired to work that way,  and has to put in extra effort, particularly with complex tasks. According to the research The Illusion of Multitasking and Its Positive Effect on Performance made by Gal Zuberman, a professor of Marketing at Yale, multitasking has shown damaging effects on the quality and speed of our outcomes because “we are switching our attention back and forth between different tasks”.[1]

After a peculiar year where the home office became the everyday reality for 22% of businesses in Latin America, and the balance between work and leisure got compromised, it is important to consider that experts such as  Margaret M. Luciano and Joan F. Brett, academics from the University of Arizona,  are warning us to recognize burnout on an early stage, and work on our capacity to retrain a multitasking mindset by being more mindful[2]. 

What Exactly Is Mindfulness and Why could it Become Your Secret Weapon for Improving Your Leadership Skills?  

According to  Greater Good Magazine, a publication from the University of Berkley, mindfulness means “maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens”. The hardest part could be that it involves acceptance, and paying attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them.

For the last decade there has been a transformation on how we approach leadership roles, and soft skills have reclaimed a relevant spot in the efficiency of the management team. When we think about creative industries, soft skills become facilitators for innovation, new ideas, and new solutions since they flourish in an environment where the team feels confident to be vulnerable, and try new things.  

Harvard research from 2016 shows that when leaders engage in mindfulness practice the “psychological capital” of an organization rises, which translates into hope; as a positive motivational state based on a goal-directed energy, optimism, and self-efficacy.  

It’s important to notice that mindfulness is not something you acquire by downloading a meditation app or completing a flash course, it’s a process that requires discipline and daily work.   

Where to Start?

There are a lot of practices to build up your mindfulness capabilities, as a leader you might want to excel on all of them from day 1, but you must start small and grow organically until you incorporate these habits to your mindset instead of worrying about mastering the method:

1. Focus on your breathing: This might be  pretty obvious, however, when we are stressed our body gets into survival mode and we start breathing fast. Deep breathing is an easy tool to help your mind become more present. It encourages full oxygen exchange, helps lower or stabilize blood pressure, and slows down your heartbeat. Breath focus is the easiest practice you can incorporate into your everyday routine, either by dedicating 5-10 minutes daily, or by using it as an “emergency” resource when you recognize a stressful response.

2. The 80/20 rule has to  become the key element of your planning:  Only 20% of what you do produces 80% of your results, identify what these tasks are in your field, and place them as your top priority for the day. Delegate other tasks where your results are not as meaningful and start your day by working on a list of the important things you will be engaging in.

3. Schedule downtime to recharge energy: One of the complaints I’ve been constantly reading about in this “new normal” is the lack of boundaries between productive hours and “free” hours. Our brain needs rest to be productive, and our team needs our leading example to generate a healthy working environment. At first, you might need to create a calendar alert to set that free time, that’s ok, mindfulness is a journey, not a destination.

There is no shortcut to develop mindfulness skills, it depends on the time each leader dedicates to rewire their habits, thoughts, and schedule. Even though progress is not linear, the effects on both your personal and professional life will be worth the time.  

[1]   Srna, S., Schrift, R. Y., & Zauberman, G. (2018). The Illusion of Multitasking and Its Positive Effect on Performance. Psychological Science, 29(12), 1942–1955. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618801013

[2] https://hbr.org/2021/01/do-you-know-burnout-when-you-see-it