Use the Right Tools to Keep Your Company Regular
We have all heard the same story most of our lives, brand is good for you. Well, your brand is one of your most important assets and knowing what is being said about it should be a priority. However, monitoring your brand is something most companies do not spend a lot of time or money on. I’m here to help you add a little brand to your daily diet of business practices and keep your company regular.
The first thing you need to do is to make a list of everyplace your brand is talked about online and in traditional media. So use your favorite list tool and continue on. This is where you look at all of the social media channels you have started and given up on or continue to use. Then go to other online sources such as news sites, blogs, and trade journals that you may have a presence on. The goal is to get an overall list of everywhere your brand is represented.
One you have your list together, it is time to start monitoring your brand. There are a lot of paid and free tools that can help you do this very easily. Let’s start with social media.
Social Media Monitoring Tools
To monitor your social media accounts, there are a lot of options out there to mix it up. One of the easiest ways is to use socialmention.com to search for your brand or products. It gives current results and searches across the most popular social channels. Plus it is a free tool. One of the most popular servies is HootSuite.com. It has free and paid offerings to tackle most any social media monitoring. SproutSocial.com is a great paid resource and has a lot of other features such as scheduled posting, comprehensive reports and a whole pantry of add-ons the others don’t touch on.
Web Mention Monitoring
Since the internet is your main source information, you need to be able to set custom searches that are focused on your brand and products. Google Alerts was the go-to service back in the pioneering days, but new options have grown more sophisticated. One of my favorite free tools is TalkWalker.com alerts. You can set your search criteria and it will send you an email whenever a result is found. You can search news sites, blogs, discussions or all of them together. They also have paid tools to enhance your needs as well. A good paid tool with a lot of options is Mention.com. It goes as far as showing analytics, influencer dashboard, tags and more.
Monitoring Your Brand
Now that you have all of your alerts set up, you need to look at the places where the most activity is happening. It is easy to get caught up in the latest social fad, but when you see where your biggest voice is, use that to enhance your presence. Newer isn’t always better. Focus your efforts and get better, more consistent results. Monitoring your brand should be a part of your daily routine and not a once in a while occurrence. Don’t worry about the way you monitor your brand as long as you are doing it. The thing about a good brand is it always seems better with a little fruit and nuts in it.
Kiar Media is a full service interactive advertising agency specializing in real world inbound marketing, mobile apps, website design, search engine optimization (SEO) and social media planning. For more information on how Kiar Media can help your company grow its online presence, visit kiarmedia.com or call 920-403-0576.
About the author: Kiar Olson has been at the cutting edge of advertising, media, websites and interactive strategy since 1996. His love of 80’s hair bands and all things from that era make him well versed in being made fun of by his wife and two teenage children.
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