Positioning social listening as a strategic asset : how marketing agencies can raise awareness and convince new businesses to adopt it?

Abstract

This thesis examines how marketing agencies can promote social listening tools effectively as an alternative to common business-oriented methods. It examines the digital-marketing agency Vanksen, registered in Luxembourg. With the vast factors of change in the digital ecosystem, it seems that social listening is increasingly becoming a marketing asset. Still, many businesses who would traditionally rely on social listening as a new marketing tool are unaware of its potential.

They are also passive in adopting it, as they don't want to aggravate their traditional and digitally-created marketing budgets due to perceived difficulties related to social listening, "risk-averse thinking" regarding their new marketing potential, and a major challenge with proving measurable return on investment. The research attempts to uncover qualitative agency and client motivations for social listening adoption, wanting to solve problems to aid adoption, and identifying results from respondents.

The research was conducted using a qualitative research design style based on structured observations and internal agency documentation shared by the agency (Vanksen). The findings concluded that it was implied that companies were aware of the strong potential marketing ploys of social listening, recognizing social media listening potential is strong and especially since companies had not measured it. The three main drivers for social listening adoption were real-time consumer insights, reputation management and improved campaign effectiveness. To address barriers to social listening adoption, listed constraints identified were budget constraints and lack of expertise. (Identified examples for working as levers were identified - communication strategies to improve adoption, including tailored use cases surrounding strategy, messaging strategies, marketing expert and budget to aid adoption.)

Overall, this thesis was completed in an attempt to answer organizational recommendations for a marketing agency to position themselves, better articulate a value proposition, have clients understand their potential value in social listening, and stimulate the desire to have conversations surrounding the blending of traditional and digital organizational communication strategies in the industry.