---
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.**

---

## 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.**

---

## 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]
```

---

## 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
```

---

## 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.

---

## 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.
