Monitoring brands and key words is one of the most effective ways to market a business. In this article I’ll explain:

1. What is keyword monitoring.
2. What keywords you should track.
3. How to monitor keywords.
4. How to use the information you get to market your company.

What Is Keyword Monitoring?
Basically, you use software that will alert you when people mention a particular keyword on blogs, websites, Twitter, forums, videos, etc. Whether you like it or not, people are talking about you out there. They’re saying both good and bad things about your company. You can pretend that they don’t exist, but the fact is that they do, and a lot of people are listening to them, so it’s up to you whether to step in and be part of the conversation.

What Keywords Should You Track?

• Your company name and all its variations.
• Your URL (yoursite.com).
• Your name and the name of the top executives of your company.
• Some key phrases for your industry. For example, if you have a Star Wars t-shirt e-store, you might want to track “Star Wars”, “Luke Skywalker” and other related keywords.
• Your competitors’ brands and URLs.

How to Monitor Keywords
In most cases, I use three different tools.

1. Google Alerts
   
2. SocialMention
   
3. TweetDeck
   

What To Do with the Information You Get
Here’s where the tools can’t help you. You’ll have to use your brain and social skills for this part of the process. I’ll give you some creative examples on how you can use the information you get.

• When someone says something nice about your company, thank them and ask them if you can use their statement as a testimonial on your site.
• When someone says something nasty about you, apologize publicly, fix the screw up and let them know it’s fixed. If they’re happy with how you handled the situation, ask them if they don’t mind sharing the good news on Twitter (or wherever they posted the nasty comment). Remember: it’s not just about that one customer; everybody else is watching you.
• When they say they wish your product did this or had this other feature, write the comment down. If a lot of people agree that your product needs a new feature, develop it and let your followers know when it’s ready. Even better, thank them for giving you their idea and invite them to try your new feature for free.
• If you sell Star Wars t-shirts and someone asks “do you know where can I get Star Wars t-shirts?”, suggest your site along with two other good ones. Remember it’s about providing value, not shameless self-promotion.
• When people mention how much they like one of your competitors, make a note of that. Do the same thing when they say why they hate them. The more you understand what your audience likes and what it doesn’t, the better you can take care of your own customers.

Author: Zeke Camusio

Zeke Camusio is a serial entrepreneur, marketing speaker, author of The Internet Marketing Bible and CEO of The Outsourcing Company, an Internet marketing agency based out of Portland, Oregon.

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8 Responses

1. 

   1

   Alan 
   

   Good post Zeke. SocialMention was a new one for me so I just created my first alert. Thanks!

   Alan

2. 

   2

   Zeke Camusio 
   

   You’re welcome!

   Zeke

3. 

   3

   hillary bost 
   

   I have just started using the google alert. They have helped me stay on top of my keyword analysis. Nice post!

4. 

   4

   Zeke Camusio 
   

   I’m glad you found it useful, Hillary.

   Have a great weekend!

   Zeke

5. 

   5

   Infinit-O 
   

   Thanks for the great post. I’d just like to point out though, that as useful as the two are above (yup we use them ourselves), these tools also have their drawbacks. Google alerts is useful but if you have a popular, or a brand name that is a commonly used word or phrase, then you may have difficulty sorting out which ones are relevant and which ones are not. Likewise with Social Mention, its nice and free but the accuracy leaves a little to be desired. If you just want to check your brand’s status, just for your own reference, then its great, but if you need an in-depth analysis, say for a campaign, then it might not be the way to go.

6. 

   6

   Zeke Camusio 
   

   Try to use quotes or your URL instead. For example, if I create a Google Alert for The Outsourcing Company, I’ll get thousands of irrelevant results, but if I search for “The Outsourcing Company”, the results are much more accurate. I also have an alert for theoutsourcingcompany.com.

   Zeke

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