Incorporating Social Listening Into Integrated Marketing Communications Mix

Abstract

Marketing companies have no choice but to engage in two way communication with its various stakeholders, newlineinstead of the one way street from the company to the consumer. This has given rise to the increasing importance newlineof social listening and incorporating the same in the integrated marketing communication mix of the company. newlineAccording to Terpening et al.( 2015), social media is no longer a novelty but is a widely adopted means of newlinecustomer engagement. Organisations, using the social media platforms, can engage in social listening, which is the newlinescience and art of monitoring digital conversations to get a first hand understanding of customer perceptions and newlinepositions about a brand, a company,an industry or a service online ( Stewart, Atilano, and Arnold, 2012). newlineThe literature search has brought forth a very large body of published work addressing the issues relating to social newlinelistening in the current , highly competitive marketing scenario. However there is very little evidence of rigorous newlineresearch on the issues concerning. Thus the present research sought to examine the social listening phenomenon in newlinedepth, focusing on its dynamic and valuable role in marketing. newlineThe descriptive phase of the investigation consisted of two parts in depth interviews and analysis of the selected newlinecases. newlinea) in- depth interviews were conducted to get information on the way social media listening in gaining popularity newlinein India and how Indian consumers and organisations are getting ready to embrace the challenge. A sample of 8 newlineindividuals was selected for in-depth interviews to understand their perceptions about how social listening as a newlinecomponent of integrated marketing communication impacts the organisational brand and the bottom line. newlineb) the present study does an analysis of four case studies. The case study method was selected as it would allow for newlinea wide and deep perspective on the situations to be studied. The selection was done on the basis of the special newlinecharacteristics of each case that helped display some seminal i