One of the greatest advantages of social media marketing is the access you have to a plethora of valuable data. Useful data don’t only include numbers about page engagement, profile reach, leads, and conversions. Other information that is at least as valuable is what you learn about your brand, services, and products from social media monitoring. All these types of data can be used in making smart marketing decisions and playing into your (potential) customers’ opinions and feelings. Currently, about half of marketers have already discovered the great benefits of social media monitoring and listening. Social media monitoring in Japan comes with its own set of challenges, but the rewards will be great. Learn a bit more about the basics of social media monitoring in general and the extra challenges that need to be addressed when social media monitoring in Japan.

Social Media Monitoring vs Social Media Listening

What exactly is social media monitoring? Similar to social media listening, you will sift through various social media channels to see what is being said about your brand. Both monitoring and listening are important strategies in your social media management. But while in social media listening you collect data from social media mentions and base larger marketing decisions on the understanding you gain from the general sentiment, social media monitoring is more about finding and going after individual mentions of your brand on a variety of social media and websites. Then, you will see what is being said about you and your competitors, and if necessary, you can respond to their expressed views or inquiries.

In social media monitoring, you have to be reactive. Especially when there are issues with your product or service and it is being talked about online, you can see this as a great opportunity to fix the problem and communicate well so people will start talking about your great customer service instead. In this sense, as long as you handle it well, there is no such thing as bad publicity. And if you are getting positive feedback, it is a good time to thank the customer for their business and offer them additional services if it suits the situation.

Social Media Metrics that Matter

Many metrics can be derived from social listening. Which of these data can be useful in social media monitoring, and what can be done with them? Here’s an overview of some important social media metrics that will help your monitoring:

• Number of mentions: this shows you the general popularity of your keywords and on which social media channels they talk about you

 

• Analysis of sentiments: this metric will give you a good overview of how people think about your product, service, or brand at that time. Whether the sentiment is positive or negative, it gives you a chance to search out inquirers personally and reply to them in a way that leaves them feeling (even) better about your brand

 

• Trending hashtags: if you know which hashtags are trending at any given moment, this will point you in the right direction of which hashtags will likely give you engagements that give you a chance to have positive customer interactions

 

• Share of voice: this number tells you more about how many people are talking about you vs your competitors. If you see that one of your competitors is being talked about a lot, it is worth checking out what is going on there to see if it is something you can use in your customer communication

 

• Top public profiles: this metric will show you on which accounts you’re talked about, so it gives you an indication of where you can interact with your customers at that moment

Using Social Media Tracking Tools in Japan

Do you have to spend hours online to try and figure out who is talking about you at any given time and what they are saying? The good news is that this is not necessary and there are great tools out there that can help with both social media monitoring and listening. Data is presented in a way that is easy to digest, and many tool packages come with recommendations. If you are looking to use tracking tools in the Japanese market, though, it can pose a challenge to work with them if you are not fluent in Japanese.

This is when it may be a better idea to hire a digital marketing agency that is specialized in bridging the gap between Japan and your locale. They will use social media tracking tools effectively in their strategy for your company’s success in Japan.

It makes sense when you think about it, as effective social media monitoring means that you will regularly interact with your customers, likely in Japanese. You have to find out where people are talking about your brand which is much easier if you understand Japanese and know what’s trending in the country. Tracking tools’ translation capabilities are often not quite up to the job as they can’t understand context that well.

Social Media Monitoring in Japan

Even more than for other segments of social media management in Japan, cultural understanding is crucial if you want to get the most out of social media monitoring. Finesse is required when you interact with customers in Japan; you have to correctly understand what people are saying and give an appropriate reply. If you get this wrong, it may cost you customers. Again, a bilingual digital marketing company can help you avoid this issue.

What’s also good to know is that Twitter is the number 1 go-to social media channel if you want to know what’s being talked about in Japan. Because of the relative anonymity, people talk more freely on Twitter than on other social media, and consumers will not hold back on voicing their (negative) opinions on brands, products, or services. In Japanese culture, people generally try to hold back on expressing themselves in an overly negative way, but when there’s anonymity and they are unhappy with a product or service, Japanese consumers will also not hesitate to give you a piece of their mind.

Although it can be hard to receive negative feedback, this is actually the type of feedback that can help your company the most as it will provide you with excellent information on how to improve your company’s processes or products. Plus, it is a great way to show how your company handles and solves problems if they arise which can firmly put you back in people’s good books.

Your Digital Media Agency Partner in Japan

Hashi Media is Japan’s go-to content marketing and social media company. If you are planning on entering the Japanese market and don’t know where to start, we’ve got you covered.

• Content creation
• Social media management
• Digital marketing strategy
• Brand localization

If you enjoyed what you read today and found it valuable, contact us today and let’s talk about your project.