social-listening-plan

name	social-listening-plan
description	Designs social listening frameworks for monitoring brand mentions, competitor activity, and industry conversations. Use when setting up systematic monitoring of online conversations about your brand.
allowed-tools	Read Write Glob
metadata	{"author":"matthewhitcham","version":"1.0"}

Social Listening Plan

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

• Monitor brand mentions, competitor activity, and industry conversations
• Set up alerts and tracking for relevant keywords and hashtags
• Build a systematic listening framework for market intelligence
• Design a response workflow for mentions and conversations

DO NOT use this skill for social media posting or engagement strategies. This is for monitoring and intelligence gathering.

---

Core Principle

SOCIAL LISTENING IS NOT ABOUT SURVEILLANCE — IT IS ABOUT UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS NEED SO YOU CAN SERVE THEM BETTER.

---

Phase 1: Brief

Required Inputs

Input	What to Ask	Default
Brand name	"What is your brand or business name?"	No default — must be provided
Competitors	"List 3-5 competitors to monitor."	No default — must be provided
Industry keywords	"What topics and keywords are relevant to your business?"	Derived from business description
Platforms to monitor	"Which platforms matter most?"	Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Reddit
Goals	"What do you want to learn? Brand sentiment, competitor moves, content ideas, lead signals?"	Brand mentions + competitor activity
Budget	"Budget for monitoring tools?"	Free tools only

GATE: Confirm brief before building the plan.

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Phase 2: Outline

1. Listening Categories — what to monitor
2. Keyword & Query Setup — search terms and alerts
3. Tool Recommendations — free and paid options
4. Monitoring Schedule — how often to check
5. Response Workflow — how to act on what you find
6. Reporting Template — how to track and share insights

GATE: Approve outline before full plan.

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Phase 3: Write

1. Listening Categories

## What to Monitor

| Category | What to Listen For | Why It Matters |
|----------|-------------------|----------------|
| Brand mentions | Direct @mentions and untagged name references | Reputation management, customer feedback |
| Competitor mentions | Competitor names, products, launches | Competitive intelligence |
| Industry keywords | Topic terms, trending discussions | Content ideas, market trends |
| Customer pain points | Questions, complaints, "how do I..." posts | Product improvement, content opportunities |
| Purchase signals | "Looking for," "recommend," "best tool for" | Direct lead opportunities |
| Sentiment shifts | Positive/negative trends in mentions | Early warning system |

2. Keyword & Query Setup

## Monitoring Keywords

### Brand Keywords
- "[Brand Name]" (exact match)
- Common misspellings of brand name
- Product names
- Founder name (if personal brand)

### Competitor Keywords
- "[Competitor 1 Name]"
- "[Competitor 2 Name]"
- "[Competitor 3 Name]"
- "[Competitor product names]"

### Industry Keywords
- "[Core topic 1]"
- "[Core topic 2]"
- "[Problem your product solves]"
- "[Industry trend term]"

### Purchase Signal Keywords
- "looking for [product category]"
- "recommend a [product category]"
- "best [product category] for [audience]"
- "alternative to [competitor]"
- "[competitor] vs"

### Google Alert Queries (set up for email notifications)
1. "[Brand Name]" -site:yourdomain.com
2. "[Competitor Name]" + [industry keyword]
3. "best [product category]" + [year]
4. "[Your product type]" + "recommend"

3. Tool Recommendations

## Recommended Tools

### Free
| Tool | What It Does | Best For |
|------|-------------|---------|
| Google Alerts | Email notifications for keyword mentions | Blog and news monitoring |
| Twitter/X Search | Real-time keyword search with filters | Twitter conversation monitoring |
| Reddit Search | Subreddit and keyword monitoring | Community discussion monitoring |
| Social media native search | Platform-specific keyword search | Quick manual checks |

### Paid (if budget allows)
| Tool | What It Does | Starting Price |
|------|-------------|---------------|
| Brand24 | Cross-platform mention monitoring | ~$79/mo |
| Mention | Real-time media monitoring | ~$41/mo |
| SparkToro | Audience research and listening | ~$50/mo |

4. Monitoring Schedule

## Listening Cadence

| Activity | Frequency | Time Required |
|----------|-----------|--------------|
| Check brand mentions | Daily | 10 minutes |
| Review competitor mentions | 2-3x per week | 15 minutes |
| Scan industry keywords | Weekly | 20 minutes |
| Monitor purchase signals | Daily | 10 minutes |
| Full listening report | Monthly | 1 hour |

5. Response Workflow

## What to Do With What You Find

| Finding | Action | Timeline |
|---------|--------|----------|
| Positive brand mention | Like, thank, and repost (with permission) | Same day |
| Negative brand mention | Assess validity, respond empathetically, resolve in DMs | Within 2 hours |
| Customer question about your brand | Answer directly with helpful information | Same day |
| Purchase signal ("looking for...") | Provide a helpful, non-salesy recommendation | Same day |
| Competitor weakness mentioned | Note for positioning; do not trash-talk | Log for strategy |
| Industry trend gaining traction | Consider creating content on the topic | Within the week |
| Content idea from audience question | Add to content backlog with the original question | Log immediately |

---

Phase 4: Polish

1. Listening Plan Checklist

## Social Listening Checklist

- [ ] Brand keywords defined (including misspellings)
- [ ] Competitor keywords set up
- [ ] Industry and purchase signal keywords listed
- [ ] Google Alerts configured for all priority keywords
- [ ] Monitoring tools selected and set up
- [ ] Daily/weekly monitoring schedule defined
- [ ] Response workflow documented for each finding type
- [ ] Monthly reporting template created

2. Monthly Report Template

## Monthly Social Listening Report — [Month]

**Brand mentions:** [N] total ([+/-]% vs last month)
**Sentiment:** [Positive/Neutral/Negative breakdown]
**Top positive mention:** [Quote + source]
**Top negative mention:** [Quote + source + response taken]
**Competitor highlights:** [Key moves or mentions]
**Purchase signals identified:** [N]
**Content ideas captured:** [List]
**Action items for next month:** [List]

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Example: Listening Plan for a SaaS Product

Brand keywords: "ProductName," "Product Name," common misspelling
Competitors: "Competitor1," "Competitor2," "Competitor3"
Industry: "project management tool," "team collaboration software"
Purchase signals: "looking for project management," "alternative to Asana"
Tools: Google Alerts (free) + Twitter Search (free)
Cadence: 10 min/day brand mentions, 15 min 3x/week competitors, monthly report

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Anti-Patterns

• Monitoring without acting — listening that never leads to action is wasted time. Always have a response workflow.
• Only monitoring your brand — competitor and industry monitoring provides context that brand-only monitoring misses.
• Responding to every mention — not every mention needs a response. Prioritize negative mentions, direct questions, and purchase signals.
• Using listening to argue — do not engage with every critic. Respond calmly to legitimate concerns, ignore trolls.
• Checking too infrequently — a negative mention that festers for a week is harder to address than one caught the same day.

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Recovery

• No mentions found: Your brand may be too new for monitoring. Focus on industry and competitor keywords until brand awareness grows.
• Overwhelmed by volume: Narrow your keyword list. Focus on the 5 most important terms and expand later.
• Negative sentiment trending: Identify the root cause. Address it publicly with transparency and a plan to fix it.
• No budget for tools: Google Alerts + manual platform searches cover 80% of listening needs at zero cost.
• Not sure what keywords to use: Start with your brand name, top competitor names, and 3-5 terms your customers use to describe their problem.