Insights from the Observe Summit, Chicago, with Måns Nodbrink and Tim Magnusson
Monitoring social media is nothing new, but in the U.S., it has evolved beyond marketing and grown into a specialized field. At the Observe Summit in Chicago, Måns Nodbrink, Senior Key Account Manager, and Tim Magnusson, Senior Sales Executive at All Ears, joined industry experts to explore how American companies are transforming social listening into real business value. Both observed that audio plays a far more significant role in brand-building than many realize.
Social media intelligence, the art of analyzing social media data to generate valuable insights, is a broad practice that includes social listening. While social listening may be familiar to you as a reader and a staple for marketing departments, in the U.S., it’s a recognized discipline in its own right. Entire teams work solely on collecting and analyzing social media data, providing valuable insights not only to clients but also to internal teams in marketing, sales, product, research, and tech. To our knowledge, the Observe Summit in Chicago is the only conference dedicated entirely to knowledge-sharing on social listening. But the critical question remains: How does this flood of data translate into business value?
"Most people are surprised to learn that technology can monitor audio and spoken media on platforms like TikTok and podcasts," Måns explains.
At the conference, Tim and Måns engaged with the U.S. social media intelligence community, connecting with suppliers, in-house agencies, and industry leaders through panels and networking. Their takeaway? Understanding social media intelligence on audio-driven platforms opens up exciting opportunities for growth.
“The big question is always what to do with all this data, and how to translate it into actionable insights,” says Måns. “Data serves different purposes. An in-house agency might zero in on brand-specific metrics like customer dissatisfaction, while an external agency can offer broad-based insights across clients over time.”
The biggest eye-opener? Realizing how much the market still focuses on video, image, and text even though demand for tracking audio mentions, like those on podcasts, is clearly on the rise.
For All Ears clients in the U.S., there’s often a clear ‘before and after’ moment, where they begin to see (or rather, hear) how spoken media accounts for substantial mentions that would otherwise go unnoticed. Many consumers share experiences—good and bad—on TikTok or in podcasts, with spoken media quickly becoming vital to brand-building, crisis management, campaign planning, and even product development.
Måns and Tim left with a valuable insight: many brands focus too narrowly on themselves. By expanding their view to monitor by product category, like “carbonated beverages,” or by consumer solutions, like “thirst-quenching,” they can identify product opportunities and anticipate marketing needs, paving the way for stronger, data-informed strategies.