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Social Listening That Works: 3 Ways to Make It Count
Insights from the CX-WISE podcast with Seana Siekman, Vice President of Analytics and Optimization at Athena Global Advisors
Social listening isn’t a nice-to-have anymore — it’s a strategic capability that can define how your brand shows up, reacts, and grows.
According to GlobeNewswire, the global social listening market is expected to nearly double from $7.4 billion in 2023 to $14.2 billion by 2028. That kind of growth tells you something: brands are finally starting to take listening seriously.
In the episode of our CX-WISE podcast, Seana Siekman from Athena Global Advisors laid out what it really takes to make social listening work. We have distilled her wisdom into three effective ways to make social listening count.
So, let’s begin.
#1 Go beyond the usual suspects
If your listening strategy is focused only on existing customers — NPS surveys, contact center transcripts, or direct messages — you’re just scratching the surface.
The true value lies outside your CRM. People are sharing thoughts on Reddit threads, dropping commentary in Facebook groups, reacting to your competitors on TikTok, or tagging your brand in the comments on Instagram.
As Seana put it, “Your most valuable insights might be coming from people who aren’t even in your database.” If you’re not actively tracking those conversations, you’re missing the full picture. As a result, you are creating experiences for your customers based on just fragments of data.
Make it count: Expand your listening perimeter. Tune into conversations about your industry, your competitors, and adjacent categories — not just brand mentions. Break down the data silos and unify the teams that gather customer data and the ones that can benefit from it.
#2 Shift from monitoring to understanding
Most brands confuse “responding” with “understanding.” Just because you have a care team replying to social messages doesn’t mean you’re actually getting to know your customers.
As Seana pointed out: “Listening is passive. Understanding is active.”
To do this right, you need to move beyond one-off complaints and look at broader patterns:
- What are the recurring themes?
- Where are the emotional peaks (frustration, delight, confusion)?
- What’s not being said that should be?
AI is helping brands spot these insights faster and more accurately. The AI-powered social listening market is growing at 15.4% CAGR and projected to more than triple by 2033. Why? Because it helps brands shift their focus from just monitoring mentions to deriving meaningful insights to understand their customers better.
Make it count: Use AI to track every touchpoint your customer is reaching you on, directly or indirectly. Identify customer sentiment trends, decode unstructured feedback, and surface actionable insights with AI to get a deeper understanding of your customers and their preferences.
#3 Listen like your business' success depends on it
Here’s the tough love from Seana: “It can’t be someone’s fourth or fifth job.”
If you approach social listening like a checkbox that needs to be checked, you’re likely missing key signals — especially during critical moments like a product launch, crisis, or a viral moment.
To build online reputation and relevance, you need to invest in:
- Dedicated resources or agency partners
- Enterprise-grade AI tools (like Sprinklr, which Athena uses)
- Clear escalation and insight-sharing processes
The ROI is clear: The social listening market is growing at 17.2% YoY. The brands leading this charge are the ones embedding listening into their strategy.
Make it count: Set up your listening program like a core business function. Give it the necessary tools, talent, and visibility to create the desired business impact.
Great listening leads to smart action
Seana’s insights are a powerful reminder that social listening is only valuable when you act on it.
Whether it's identifying a product improvement opportunity, jumping into a trending conversation, or holding back when the timing's not right — your ability to act fast (and smart) is what builds and fortifies brand trust.
So, here’s your checklist for social listening that actually works:
- Listen beyond your bubble
- Seek understanding, not just mentions
- Treat it like the strategic function it is
Ready to make it count?
Unpack more about social listening by tuning into Siena’s full podcast on YouTube or Spotify. The 20-minute episode is packed with insights, an example of crisis management done right and so much more.
