In a year with a news cycle and social media landscape overwhelmed with conversations around COVID-19 and the 2020 election, having the right monitoring tools and knowing how to uplevel them was a key part of strategy in 2020. As we head into 2021, there’s still time to take your NetBase skillset to the next level to add to a successful new year.

If you didn’t get a chance to join NetBase for NetBase Quid Live 2020’s virtual sessions, we have some key takeaways from some important sessions to share (you can also check out some sessions on their website here) as you consider adjustments to your social media strategy in the new year.

7 Ways to Uplevel Your Social Strategy in 2021

Takeaway: Brands need to focus their social media strategy around four key things

“The approach to a strong social media strategy should depend on 4 key things: reputation (what is being said about the brand), recognition (what themes are associated with the brand), resonance (are people satisfied with the brand?), and relevance (when the brand is mentioned, is it relevant to who they are?). Brands should focus on social listening – meaning they should understand the challenges and goals of the persona they are targeting, and develop a strategy based on the trends and issues spotted.”

Meghan Kearney, Senior Account Executive, Boston

Session: Persona Development: Taking Social Listening a Step Further

Download our Social Media Framework below to help identify gaps in your buyer’s journey.

Takeaway: Brands need to do more than provide goods and services: 92% of Millennials are interested in brands’ impacts on society

“Millennial relationships to brands are no longer transactional; they’re emotional. 60% of Americans want companies to develop a viewpoint on social justice change. While 50% expect brands to have a stance on social justice and do research ahead of time, 92% of Millennials are interested in brands’ impacts on society compared to previous generations. Expectations differ by generation, but consumers expect social change in brands across all generations. 73% of consumers increased interest in brands that take action for BLM. While 15% of consumers are increasingly skeptical of brands’ stances that speak about BLM, particularly black consumers. Be authentic, or brands will get backlash if they don’t speak out authentically or not at all.”

Ashley Deloach, Account Executive, Boston

Session: Social Listening for Social Justice

“Millennial relationships to brands are no longer transactional; they’re emotional. 60% of Americans want companies to develop a viewpoint on social justice change.”

Takeaway: Maintaining followers’ loyalty and engagement is more difficult than ever, but social listening may be the solution

“Managing social media for a brand or organization in 2020 has been challenging. Regardless of industry there has been a stark shift in what social users are looking for and what brand managers must keep in mind in order to maintain their followers’ loyalty and engagement. As the news climate has changed, so have consumers’ priorities – and although this is, and will be, a constant evolution, it will serve as a compass when social listening tools are leveraged. Being more people-centric vs. being business-centric was a common theme, which can be challenging for B2B brands, but right now the overall demand for human interest/human element is extremely clear.”

Helen Byrne, Senior Account Executive, Seattle

Session: Customer Panel: Adaption and Growth in a Tumultuous Year

Takeaway: The power of having access to real-time data has never been more evident than during a global pandemic

“A team cultivating content for an informative video serious about COVID-19 used NetBase to pull questions directly from the media and social landscape, using it as an overall cultural lens to narrow down, what were people’s greatest questions and concerns. As the pandemic progressed and they gained more information about their viewers, the team took their viewers’ demographic and narrowed down content and questions relevant specifically to that audience through this same lens. Delivering information relating specifically to what people are interested in, especially in a time when news and media were overflowing with COVID-19 coverage, shows the power of having access to real-time data. That information can become powerful for almost any audience and in almost any industry, in helping to understand what matters most to your audience and how your organization can provide that to their audience.”

Brittany Eagar, Account Supervisor, Boston

Session: Providing in a Pandemic: Using Social Analytics to Uncover Changing Themes and Drive True Value

Takeaway: NetBase News latest integration can up-level insights

“NetBase News is now powered by LexisNexis global news dataset. This new integration allows a view of the full picture of news and social within one tool. Additionally, there are now 15 new Boolean operators available to craft queries and new key sentiment drivers to refine your searches. An example of a brand utilizing these new updates and integrations is GM’s Hummer EV. It is possible to analyze this topic in NetBase, and ensure that under the data tab, that “LexisNexis News” is toggled “ON.” Use the authors widget to identify key outlets, as well as the sentiment driver’s widget to find which attributes are driving conversations. In this case, Car and driver magazine is a key outlet and cost is a negative sentiment. Using various Boolean operators, review content that the authors published on traditional outlets and social to see the overall sentiment of their content. NetBase News powered by LexisNexis is applicable across all of NetBase’s use cases and is a wonderful way to uplevel the power and quality of all of your insights.”

Alanna Sadeghian, Senior Account Executive, Boston

Session: Proactive, Data-Driven PR Strategies

Takeaway: Uncovering insights beyond the numbers is the way to bring data to life, helping to shape decision making

“Clients often expect data-driven results and insight into where their budget is being spent. For paid efforts, we must ask ourselves: How and what data can you use to uncover insights beyond the sheer volume of clicks or impressions served? By taking the time to answer this, you bring the data to life and provide a foundation for future investments, strategy, campaigns and ultimately a compelling story.”

Grace Bonacum, Senior Account Executive, Boston

Session: Beyond Clicks & Impressions

“Clients often expect data-driven results and insight into where their budget is being spent. For paid efforts, we must ask ourselves: How and what data can you use to uncover insights beyond the sheer volume of clicks or impressions served?”

Takeaway: Strategically using social listening for customer service can boost your bottom line

“Social listening may, at first, sound like a simple task that does not go far beyond reading Tweets and engaging with your community’s posts. F5 has proven that it’s a much more complex and valuable strategy when it comes to understanding their DevOps audience, supporting their customers 24/7, and ultimately driving new sales opportunities. In leveraging NetBase’s social and competitor dashboards, the company has been able to track conversations and feedback about their solutions and act when a customer is looking for answers – even if they post on an anonymous forum. In addition, leveraging real-time alerts for possible cyber-attacks to step in and stop the attack from occurring – for customers and non-customers alike – builds huge opportunities for F5 to expand their customer. Social listening has not only given F5 a voice in the industry, it has enabled them to reinforce the values, characteristics and trends within their communities and cement them as leaders in the security and cloud industries.”

Stephanie Ward, Account Executive, Boston

Session: Understanding Community Trends: How F5 Uses Social Listening to Pull Actionable Insights

For additional social strategy advice, download our Social Media Framework.