I have just read some articles about listening online. To “listen online” means that companies can keep track of what people are writing about their brand/company/product by tracking key words like brand name. One thing I found interesting while reading about it was how you could use it to find customers that didn’t even know they needed your product. They gave an example, that “I hate having a cold house” might actually mean that your furnace is broken or that you need one. People might not know that they do have a need for your products (if you are into the furnace business) but then you can respond to them and tell them. I got inspired by this and started to think about how I would use it within the fast moving consumer goods industry. Because the thing is, you can get access to loads of information about your customers in that way. For example you can find out how customer feels about problems that your product solves. If you are a Wellington brand, you might find valuable information about why people are not using Wellingtons when it is raining. To search for words like “wet feet” or “my feet are so wet” you might find information about why they didn’t use wellingtons and inspiration about how you can develop your product. You can also be inspired about how to make advertising etc. The information you find then comes directly from the customers or prospective customers, which is both cheaper and feels more trustworthy than finding information via surveys or interviews.