When the legendary radio brand, National Public Radio (NPR), decided to pull in more listeners, they needed a low-cost/high-visibility strategy that could generate results. Creating content that delivered real value to potential listeners was the perfect solution, but it required NPR to really understand their target audience. How did they bridge such an information gap? They listened.

As Youtility author, Jay Baer notes, the most helpful companies will be top-of-mind when their prospect is ready to buy, and that means understanding your customers. Building that understanding involves a fair amount of listening, or at least it should. You want to know what your customers care about, and what topics they are discussing. 

We all say that we listen to our customers, but when was the last time you eavesdropped or seriously asked for some no-holds-barred feedback? That’s why social media is so powerful, and so frightening to some. You get the real skinny if you listen. 

1. Social Listening

Dig down into different parts of your tweetstream. You can look just for a keyword, but also for links, images, videos, and for specific influencers. Keep track of who is talking about topics you care about. Follow influencers in your industry or your clients' industries to understand the latest topics and trends likely impacting their world.

2. Understand Conversations

Once you search keywords, analyze how people are using language, as in the conversation’s context. This can help you identify an interested prospect or a disgrunteled competitor's client, allowing you to find and pursue prospects in the context of an ongoing conversation.

3. Uncover Influencers

Look for the true influencers around a topic. Being able to identify influencers in your industry can allow you to create powerful brand advocates and better understand the topics and concerns of a given industry.

4. Social Sharing

Knowing who is linking to your website affords you a limited glimpse into the connections in your industry. Track who links to your favorite sites or to a competitor’s site. This gives you a better understanding of the landscape.

Technology is pushing marketing and sales disciplines closer than ever, and taking a page out of the content marketing book could give sales reps a leg up on their next deal.

Here is a long list of content marketing posts on salesforce.com that I refer to often.

TJ consults on content strategy for technology companies and produce web content for entrepreneurs and business owners. He currently writes for Small Business Trends, Forbes, and Yahoo! SMB. In the past, he has put pen to paper for the Wall Street Journal, Make, Sports Afield, the Pittsburgh Business Times and many others. He is passionate about technology and works to serve small and mid-sized tech businesses. You can reach him at Q4Sales at Gmail and put Forbes in the subject line. You can circle him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter.