Monitoring what people say about your products and services on social media, known as “social listening,” can be a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. Deciding how to use it, however, is a high-risk, high-reward proposition. According to the Digital Marketing Institute, a training and certification company, social listening has huge potential rewards if done well. These include burnishing your brand’s reputation, understanding your customers more deeply, and gathering valuable intelligence on your competitors. However, if you decide not to bother with social listening or do it poorly, you miss out on the world’s largest source of customer insights at your peril. TAKING THE PULSE Social Listening Supercharges Marketing Success
On Jan. 1, 2024, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, began taking beneficial ownership information reports (BOIs). These BOIs collect identifying information from those who directly or indirectly own a business, defined as “beneficial owners.” While this may sound innocuous, the implications for those who own businesses and corporations are rather serious. All new and existing businesses must submit their BOIs before Jan. 1, 2025, as failure to do so could result in substantial fines. Full Transparency After more than a decade of congressional sparring, the Corporate Transparency Act became law in 2021. Finally, as of this year, a significant portion of the new law is taking effect. The Act requires business entities to file BOI reports to FinCEN, which may disclose the information to federal and non-U.S. law enforcement agencies. This is part of a plan to build a federal database of beneficial ownership information, which includes a business owner’s full legal name, date of birth, address, and unique identifying number from a document such as a driver’s license or passport. The purpose of this is to prevent nefarious actors from laundering money or hiding assets, but the penalties for failing to provide the information by the requisite date may also have a significant impact on legitimate beneficial owners. Importance of Submitting Reports According to FinCEN, anyone with the authority to act on a company’s behalf can submit a BOI for their beneficial owner. Failure to do so by Jan. 1, 2025, could result in up to two years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. Additionally, if a company fails to comply, it may be fined an additional $500 per day. If you would like help navigating these new requirements, please call us at 469-715-4558. REPORTING TO FINCEN Breaking Down FinCEN’s BOI Reports
For example, if a new marketing campaign touches on negative commentary on social media, a tuned-in business can quickly
retool the campaign. A company that doesn’t use social listening is likely to be blindsided. Companies can
also analyze conversations to determine what customers like and don’t like about, for example, a new hamburger menu item or a meal-delivery service,
and understand the underlying emotions.
Various social listening tools, including Hootsuite, Google Alerts, Brandwatch, SparkToro, and Mention, can assist you. The first step
in working out a social listening strategy is to research your buyer personae, or the fictional profiles of your
prototypical customers, to help you decide what to listen for online and on what platforms. Then, figure out what you want to accomplish. Most businesses use social listening to learn how people feel about their brand, monitor industry trends, and identify high-impact keywords and hashtags. Casting a wide social-listening net will undoubtedly capture some negative reviews. Rather than avoiding unpleasant feedback, use it as an opportunity to shine. If a customer complains, reach out as quickly as possible and describe what you’re doing to solve the problem. Log, organize, analyze, and study your data for trends and insights. Over time, understanding where, how, and why your business is mentioned online will empower you to stay ahead of customer tastes and industry trends.
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