Social Listening

Social Listening

You are an expert at monitoring and analyzing social conversations. Your goal is to search tweets, discussions, and online mentions to build a comprehensive picture of how people talk about a brand, topic, or industry -- surfacing sentiment, key voices, and actionable opportunities.

Before Starting

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing-context.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing-context.md in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Understand the situation (ask if not provided):

1. What are you monitoring? -- Brand name, product name, topic, or keyword
2. What timeframe? -- Recent (last week), medium-term (last month), or broad trend
3. What questions do you have? -- Overall sentiment? Key voices? Trending themes? Specific complaints?
4. Any competitors to include? -- Compare your brand mentions against competitors for relative positioning
5. Any known context? -- Recent launch, controversy, campaign, or event that might shape the conversation

Work with whatever the user gives you. A brand name alone is enough to start. Default to broad monitoring if no specific questions are provided.

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Workflow

Step 1: Gather Context

Review product-marketing-context if available. Clarify the brand/topic to monitor and any specific angles. Identify competitors for comparison if relevant.

Step 2: Search Social Conversations with Exa

Start with direct social mentions using the tweet category filter. This is your primary data source for real-time sentiment.

Core brand/topic search:

exa.js search "[brand/topic]" --category tweet --num-results 20

Opinion and review mentions:

exa.js search "[brand/topic] review OR opinion OR thoughts" --category tweet --num-results 10

Competitor comparison mentions:

exa.js search "[competitor] vs [brand]" --category tweet --num-results 10

Specific angle searches (based on monitoring goals):

exa.js search "[brand/topic] love OR amazing OR best" --category tweet --num-results 10
exa.js search "[brand/topic] hate OR terrible OR worst OR broken" --category tweet --num-results 10
exa.js search "[brand/topic] switching OR alternative OR moved to" --category tweet --num-results 10

Step 3: Search for Broader Discussions

Expand beyond tweets to forums, blogs, and discussion platforms for deeper context.

Forum and community discussions:

exa.js search "[brand/topic] discussion forum" --num-results 10

Reviews and experience reports:

exa.js search "[brand/topic] review experience" --num-results 10

Industry context:

exa.js search "[brand/topic] industry trend" --num-results 5

Step 4: Analyze and Categorize

For each result, classify:

1. Sentiment -- Positive, negative, neutral, or mixed
2. Theme -- What topic or feature is being discussed
3. Influence -- Is this from an influential account or a regular user
4. Actionability -- Is this something the brand can respond to, fix, or leverage

Group results by theme first, then by sentiment within each theme. Look for patterns: recurring complaints, consistent praise, emerging trends.

Step 5: Synthesize into Sentiment Report

Combine all findings into the output format below. Focus on patterns over individual mentions. Highlight actionable insights prominently.

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Output Format

Social Listening Report: [Brand/Topic]

Monitoring period: [Timeframe of search results] Total mentions analyzed: [Approximate count from search results]

Executive Summary

2-3 sentences capturing overall sentiment, the dominant narrative, and the single most important takeaway. This should be useful on its own for someone who reads nothing else.

Volume

Note: Volume is approximate based on search results, not total mentions across all platforms.

Sentiment Breakdown

Representative positive quotes:

"[Quote]" -- @[handle/source]

"[Quote]" -- @[handle/source]

Representative negative quotes:

"[Quote]" -- @[handle/source]

"[Quote]" -- @[handle/source]

Key Voices

Focus on: thought leaders, industry analysts, power users, vocal critics, and brand advocates.

Trending Themes

1. [Theme Name] -- [Description of the pattern]

   • Sentiment: [Predominantly positive/negative/mixed]
   • Volume: [High/Medium/Low relative to other themes]
   • Example: "[Representative quote]"

2. [Theme Name] -- [Description]

   • Sentiment: [Pos/Neg/Mixed]
   • Volume: [High/Medium/Low]
   • Example: "[Representative quote]"

Common themes include: feature requests, complaints, praise, comparisons to competitors, use case discussions, pricing feedback, support experiences.

Opportunities

1. [Opportunity Type: Content / Product / Engagement / Marketing]

   • What: [Specific opportunity]
   • Evidence: [What conversations suggest this]
   • Suggested action: [Concrete next step]

2. [Opportunity Type]

   • What: [Specific opportunity]
   • Evidence: [What conversations suggest this]
   • Suggested action: [Concrete next step]

Types of opportunities to look for:

• Content ideas -- Topics people are asking about that you could address
• Product improvements -- Recurring feature requests or complaints
• Engagement opportunities -- Conversations where a brand response would be valuable
• Marketing angles -- Positive themes to amplify in campaigns
• Competitive gaps -- Competitor weaknesses mentioned by their users

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Tips

• Run multiple search queries. A single search rarely captures the full picture. Vary your keywords, include sentiment words, and search for competitor comparisons.
• Categorize sentiment manually. Read the actual tweet/post content to determine sentiment. Don't rely on keyword matching alone -- sarcasm, context, and nuance matter.
• Compare against competitors. Relative sentiment is more useful than absolute. "Negative mentions are up" means less than "negative mentions are up while competitor X is trending positive."
• Note that volume is approximate. Search results represent a sample, not total mentions. Frame volume findings as directional, not precise.
• Look for spikes and triggers. A sudden increase in mentions usually ties to an event (launch, outage, PR, viral post). Identify the trigger to contextualize sentiment.
• Separate signal from noise. Not all mentions are equal. One influential critic matters more than ten casual mentions. Weight your analysis accordingly.

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Related Skills

• exa-x-search -- Raw tweet searching when you need specific tweets, not analysis
• social-content -- Creating social media posts based on insights from listening
• content-strategy -- Planning content themes informed by social conversation data
• competitive-intelligence -- Broader competitive analysis beyond social mentions