Dive Brief:

• Online retailer Betabrand leverages a creative team to strike and maintain conversations with Facebook users through in-thread ads and continuous dialogue, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. 
• Every 30 seconds, a prospective customer comments on one of Betabrand’s ads, and the brand says it uses that as an opportunity to start conversations. The creative team unpacks the most common comments each week and creates GIFs and other witty replies to post. 
• The online apparel brand also leverages comments to drive its product development. When Facebook comments called for Dress Pant Yoga Pants with pockets, Betabrand says its social media team turned the conversations into a multimillion-dollar collection. When fans asked for models of all sizes, the team created new ways to shop for popular products. 

Dive Insight:

Betabrand is using Facebook comments as a social listening tool to learn about and respond to consumer needs and preferences. And, the method appears to be resonating, as the brand reports seeing increased engagement and sales as a result. 

Consumers — younger demographics, in particular — are continually demanding more personalization and unique experiences from their favorite brands. Betabrand demonstrates how brands can leverage social listening to meet these demands. These are areas where marketers have struggled, as consumers see many marketing messages as not personal. Nine out of 10 consumers want content from brands, but think 58% of the content is irrelevant and not meaningful, and say 77% of brands could disappear and no one would care, according to Havas. 

In general, consumers expect brand conversations to be two-way, especially as most say they see the same ads over and over and often feel bombarded with the amount of marketing messages that they receive. But, 62% of Americans think advertisers are doing a better job at communicating with them, according to Kantar Media. Among millennial women, 84% say comments, customer ratings and reviews influence their purchase decisions, and 70% think brands listen and respond to their needs, according to Merkle and Levo research. 

Social listening is a trend that more brands are embracing to connect with consumers. Along with Betabrand, Gap and Yard NYC used social listening tools to seek out positive messages on Twitter for a campaign last fall and partnered with up-and-coming musician and actor Kyle to create a song incorporating the tweets. The piece, "All Good," used the tweets as lyrics to show how social media can be positive and motivational.