10. Listening Posts

A listening post is a place or opportunity to hear about what’s going on in the market. This is helpful for identifying your target audience, your competition, and market trends. 

Listening posts are most found on social media platforms, but can also be found through general research, genuine conversations, news and media, etc. 

As a third-year student, I’m apart of the SAU Mulerider Marching Band, Wind Ensemble, and Flute Choir which allows me the opportunity to interact with many students studying different things and those apart of different organizations. This has provided me more than just the generic perspective of campus at my university. 

As a college student, the quality of my presentations and papers take place in the “market” described in the definition of listening posts. Utilizing social media platforms, like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok makes way for me to observe the minds of my colleagues and their work in real time. 

I have to access to see not only what my campus does and deems worthy to post on social media but also the thought process behind their published work, as well as the quality of their “business” in the market. My professor has been extremely adaptive to society shifts, encouraging his students to do the same. This is something I encourage all students to do, if efficiency and quality is what you strive to succeed in.