DIY social listening

Before there was Peloton, there was Tone it Up (TIU). The fitness lifestyle brand for women was founded in 2009 by Katrina Scott and Karena Dawn. The two will be the first to admit that social media played a massive role in turning their $3,000 investment into a multi-million dollar company. It was lucky timing that they launched their community-focused fitness brand while social media was starting to skyrocket. But beyond putting out high-quality content, Katrina Scott leveraged social media as a compass for big business decisions. 

In a podcast interview with Katrina Scott, she described spending time each day reading every comment, mention, and DM to keep a close pulse on what the TIU community cared about, what their pain points were, and what they wanted more of. She said she would design new products based on conversations she observed between TIU users on social media. 

Katrina could’ve hired a social media coordinator to monitor TIU’s social accounts, but she wanted to do it herself. She wanted to understand not just what her community was talking about but why they were talking about it. Instead of passively responding to comments, she paid close attention to engagements so she could form insights about her brand’s community that would drive proactive business decisions.  

As I listened to Katrina talk, I realized she was describing her own version of social listening. While I haven’t yet used a social listening tool, like what Hootsuite or Sprout Social offers, I’m intrigued by the idea. There’s no one explanation for the term, but Sprout defines social listening as “real-time brand monitoring and social data for marketing insights.” Analytics on consumer sentiment about a campaign, product, or strategy is immensely powerful when it comes to iteration. As are industry insights and competitive analysis that allow you to better position your brand. The list of benefits goes on.

I love how a founder made audience research a core component of her everyday work. A lot of leaders might’ve thought that spending time on social media each day was beneath them, but Katrina saw the opportunity it presented to better understand her consumers so she could give them more of what they love.