Monitoring your mentions on social media

Customers drive every business – in fact, the more, the better. And chances are, many of those customers will have something to share online about your brand. Do you have a strategy in place for monitoring what’s being said? Do you know when to respond, and what to say? Here are some simple tools that will keep you from missing out on what could be valuable feedback and opportunities.

Monitoring Media Mentions

There are plenty of tools available for monitoring your brand’s social media mentions. Here are a few of the best:

• Old-school Google Alerts should be your first line of attack. It’s free, it’s powerful and it’s Google – the best tool for searching deep into the online world.
• Mention uses real-time monitoring of billions of sources in more than 40 languages. One of its best features is its ability to give you an idea about any commenter’s level of influence, making it easier for you to decide whether or not to respond.
• Stay up-to-date with Moz Fresh Alerts, which allow you to set up email alerts for every time your brand is mentioned. While similar to Google Alerts, Fresh has a superior querying and filtering ability.
• Get real-time email alerts from Twilert whenever your brand’s name, keywords or hashtags are mentioned on Twitter.

The Art of the Response

Every brand wants to create a personal connection with its customers. But how and when do you respond to those people who have mentioned your brand online? Do you respond to both positive and negative mentions? Should you not respond at all? Here are some guidelines:

• Respond to questions or concerns about a product or service. It shows people you’re listening and you care.
• Tread carefully when responding to negative comments. It’s the rare brand that has a perfect batting average. If the poster is merely venting, it may be best to let it go. But if they’re complaining about a defect or customer service issue, a polite offer to make amends can go a long way in not only appeasing the original poster, but his or her followers will also see you value customer relationships.
• No matter how you respond, make sure your tone is respectful and avoid straying from the topic at hand. Recognize the weight of your words, and act accordingly.

Get More Mentions

Not getting enough mentions? You’ll want to do whatever you can to increase them, as social media is an incredible marketing tool where mentions help you increase brand awareness, which in turn leads to more site traffic. Consider:

• Asking for backlinks from other brand’s blogs.
• Forging relationships by reaching out to people who are influential in your industry. Use LinkedIn’s search feature to find who the influencers are and what they’re talking about.
• Consistently sharing great content.
• Asking followers to retweet you.

We hope these tips have given you some great ideas on how to find, garner, and interact with your brand’s social media mentions.

Do you have any interesting experiences to share about how you handled positive or negative mentions? Tell us in the comments below.