Why it's important
Keeping track of where your brand or website is mentioned online serves three purposes:
- Knowing what people are saying about you will help you craft effective messaging. Play up the features people compliment and/or the problems you've helped them solve. Once you've addressed any complaints, promote your "new and improved" product.
- Addressing complaints online can be a powerful customer service tactic. Monitoring your mentions online will allow you to stay on top of any negative feedback from customers so your brand doesn't suffer.
- People who mention you positively are the most likely to link to you. Maintain a list of your positive mentions to target during a link building campaign.
Getting it done
Use Google Alerts to track your mentions in news stories, reviews and blog posts.
Set up a Twitter custom feed to monitor conversations on that platform for mentions of your company, products, industry and keywords.
Look for people talking about you on other sites with a tool such as Buzzsumo, Mention or PinAlerts (if you allow users to pin your content on Pinterest).
When you record your mentions, be sure to note any specific products or features, whether it was positive and negative and any contact information you can find for link building outreach.
External resources
- Free Media Monitoring Tools: Google Alerts, Twitter Search, Social Searcher