At the workshops I give at different conferences, I show those in attendance a slide with three bullet points explaining how seeds get planted:

1. You plant seeds across the web
2. You ask others to plant seeds on your behalf
3. People are planting seeds ” good and bad ones ” for you

Point is, though, if you’re not using social media monitoring tools, you’ll never really have a full handle on when and where those seeds are planted.

To monitor the social web, your options are simple enough. You can use free tools or a paid ones. Now, I don’t want this post to become about those options, as there are many resources available on the topic. The only point I want to make is this:

If you’re not clicking through and reading the links, you’re wasting your time.

It’s one thing to collect links, as I’m sure many people do. It’s easy to look at numbers and statistics. It’s fun to watch your influence and reach grow far and wide across the web.

However, and I don’t say this lightly, if you’re not bothering to click through and read, don’t bother at all.

All the real insights come from reading.

All the relationships you’ll build will come from knowing where to interact.

And none of this can really happen unless you’re reading the posts, threads, Tweets, status updates and comments you’re collecting.

If you don’t have the time to do it yourself, have someone help you gain these insights and guide your participation. But even with a little help, take a little bit of time to read what people are saying about you. At minimum, it’ll give you a feel for the social media environment you didn’t have before.

How are you gaining insights from your social media monitoring program?

Tags: #SMM, Advanced Learning Institute, Jason Falls, Level Ten Design, Planting Seeds, Planting Seeds online, PlantingSeeds.ca, Social Media, Social Media Examiner, Social Media Explorer, Social Media Monitoring, Social Media Monitoring Advice, Social Media Monitoring Directory, Social Media Monitoring Tips, Social Media Monitoring Wiki, Social Media Presenter, Social Media Speaker, Social Media Speaking, Social Media Training, Social Media Workshops, SocialMediaMonitoring.ca, Wiki