media update’s mandate is to keep up with developments in the industries we cover and inform our readers of this news through our articles. To stay relevant, we constantly have to explore new angles for stories and identify new topics that are of interest to our readers.
Staying on top of industry developments requires work, whether you are a publisher, like
media update, or a brand.
Marketers as well as content creators, like our journalists, often use a combination of methods to do so. They might, for instance, set up Google Alerts for topics, subscribe to industry newsletters, regularly check in with professionals, and frequently do quick social media searches for topics of interest.
In our
exploration of social media tracking service amaSocial, we’ve come across a solution that searches multiple social networks for topics related to the industries we are interested in. One of these sectors is the PR industry in South Africa, which we are now monitoring through amaSocial’s Topic Tracking service.
The service presents us with the data we need to find story ideas and stay in the know with new developments. This information is made available on the amaSocial platform, which brings social data from a number of social networks together on one platform.
Topic Tracking is
one of four services amaSocial offers. Gavin Coetzee,
digital monitoring researcher at amaSocial, tells
media update that this specific tracking service helps clients to monitor broad topics of business interest.
“Brands and companies use this to gather large amounts of social media posts; which can then be categorised and analysed to unlock insights such as trends and emerging consumer needs,” he explains.
A social media tracking service that allows brands to monitor a specific topic can help a number of teams and departments within a company reach their PR, marketing and business goals.
Here’s what media update has learnt about the value of tracking topics on social media:
Three ways tracking a topic on social media can help brands and businesses:
1. Find content ideas for blog posts, articles and videos
Using amaSocial,
media update has been tracking “PR in South Africa”. Through this search, we have discovered what big industry players, like Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa, are up to. This allows us to write news stories, keeping our readers informed.
Healthcare brands could, for instance, use a social media tracking service to search for keywords such as “medical aid”. Using this information, these companies would be able to see what consumers are saying about the topic. It will help them create relevant content that answers the questions consumers have or discusses the issues they are concerned about.
2. Get ahead in your industry
The amaSocial app enables our team to create
Sortbins that filter social media posts into categories we have defined. Each folder, or ‘bin’, shows us the social media posts from a specific author or industry player.
This information has given us a better understanding of the strategies of certain industry players and publications, allowing us to strengthen our own strategy to address gaps in the South African media’s coverage of PR. Some of our competitors, for instance, focus on the PR industry worldwide, but little stories are being written about PR industries in Africa countries specifically.
Brands can use this same feature to identify what other players in their market are saying about the topics being
tracked, and use these insights to find ways of creating and promoting content in a new and unique way.
3. Unlock business intelligence
Coetzee explains that brands can use topic tracking to gain insights about emerging trends, market perception and content themes.
This information can help businesses understand where their sector is headed and how industry players are positioning their businesses. These insights can be used when you make decisions about product development and the future of your business.
Are you interested in social media tracking? Learn more about these tools and how they can help you build better social media strategies in our article,
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