We often talk about using social media in the context of marketing and advertising to listen to people. Listen first, then engage in a useful and meaningful way. Listening presents opportunities for sales and marketing, for re-engaging customers and building loyalty, and becomes an always-on focus group for discovering and testing new business ideas. We ran some quick local searches for tweets in Newcastle to show what we mean by listening and engagement. We know a few things about the following people in Newcastle - where they’re planning to travel, their fitness intentions, what they’d like to eat, how their workout routine works fits local businesses and what their goals are. If your brand was listening, what could you discover?

Jaelea will be travelling from Newcastle to Melbourne for the Australian Open. Do you have a travel package, flights, taxi, travel card or a hotel you can offer her?

Tina is looking for fitness advice. She’s a model (Ralph, FHM, Monster Girl). She’s deciding between gym, CrossFit, yoga, pilates and running. If you’re in the health and fitness game, here’s a chance to get a high-profile local on your books.

Josh wants a steak. If you’re in Newcastle and you sell steak, tell Josh what makes your steak special. Sometimes it’s that simple. Or share more of your brand story with him - what makes you different to everyone else who sells steak?

Kate likes her routine, which involves a run, a swim, then a coffee at Swell at Merewether. Is it time for Swell to think about a loyalty program for check-ins? Or maybe other people, like Kate’s friends, would like to combine a run and swim with a coffee afterwards. A local personal training business could be interested in a partnership.

Tanya Wilks, local radio host, has resolved to get a handle on twitter this year. Good opportunity for a Newcastle-based social media consultant.

And that’s just Twitter. There’s also blogs, forums, Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp, and more. Try Hootsuite if you’d like a free tool to help you get started and make social media listening efficient. You can scale up from there if you need to. Quote above by Mike Arauz.