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You are ready to dive into social listening. You have heard the hype about uncovering insights, spotting trends, and understanding your audience. Then comes the tricky part: setting up your searches. How do you find the conversations that matter without getting swamped by irrelevant noise?
The truth is, social listening is only as good as the keyword list behind it. That list is the engine of your insights. If it is sharp, your dashboards light up with signals you can use. If it is sloppy, you are left wading through static.
Why Your Keyword List Matters
Think of your keyword list as your brand’s blueprint for listening. A well-built list tells your tool exactly where to look and what to ignore. It is the difference between overhearing a thousand random chats and tuning in to the thousand that actually matter.
Read next: How Social Listening Actually Works
The Four Pillars of a Keyword Framework
Here is the framework that stops your searches from becoming guesswork.
1. Your Brand and Products
Include your brand name, the nicknames, the misspellings, and the hashtags. Do the same for your products and services.
2. Your Competitors and Industry
Not just the obvious players but anyone fighting for the same attention. Add their names, products, campaign hashtags, and broad industry terms like “audience insights” or “martech”.
3. Your Campaigns and Events
Track the words and hashtags tied to your campaigns, slogans, and spokespeople. It shows you how the market is really engaging with your efforts.
4. Your Audience’s Language
This is where it gets interesting. Customers rarely speak in corporate copy. They use slang, sarcasm, and shorthand. In South Africa that might mean “eish my bank” rather than “customer service issue”. Get those phrases in your list if you want the full story.
Refining for the South African Market
A keyword list is not one and done. It needs regular updates as slang shifts, cultural context changes, and new trends appear. Platforms like Brandwatch help with this by using AI and Natural Language Processing to detect nuance across multiple languages. That makes sure your list keeps pace with your market instead of lagging behind it.
Ready to Build Smarter Insights?
Your keyword list is the difference between hearing everything and hearing what actually matters. Get it right, and you will uncover real sentiment, spot trends before they peak, and shape strategies that land.
Try the Easy Peasy Social Health Check to see how your listening stacks up.
