Hey bloggers and content creators, how well are you monitoring your brand? Are people talking about you, linking to your content on social media, without tagging you or using your hashtag? Probably!

Now comes the bigger question: do you know who’s talking? Are you listening?

Are you being a rude blogger by accident or on purpose?

If you didn’t realize that people could be talking about you and your brand without tagging you, then you’re accidentally being rude by not acknowledging these shares. However if you know better, and you’re not doing anything about it, you’re being rude on purpose. Don’t be a rude blogger on purpose, that’s not cool.

It’s time for you to monitor your brand mentions. Of course, you can PAY for tools that monitor your mentions, but those tools can get pricey. There are ways to get ‘er done on a ZERO budget, especially if your brand is still in a growth phase.

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First and foremost, every business and brand can use free Google Alerts for brand monitoring. If you don’t have Google Alerts set up, or you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s a quick lesson.

Google Alerts 101

Google Alerts is a function of that behemoth we can’t live without, Google. Google will ALERT you when your brand, business, name, etc. is mentioned anywhere online. And they will alert you by sending you an email containing the reference.

1. First, outline the ways Google Alerts can benefit your business. For starters, I recommend monitoring your brand name, company name, government name, and your brand’s 3-5 keyword phrases, so you can see who’s talking about your industry.
2. Next, set up your Google Alerts at http://www.google.com/alerts.
3. Then, set up a specific email folder(s) for your alerts. Or you can set up a specific email address just to receive those alerts. The point is to make sure you have these alerts in an organized place so you can look for patterns, read them together, and make decisions based on what you find. Don’t let them sit idle in your cluttered inbox.

Aside from setting up Google Alerts for your brand name (plus company name and your government name), here are 3 specific ways to find people mentioning you and/or linking to your content via social media.

3 Free Searches to Find People Sharing Your Blog Posts

1. Search social media for your company name. Example: I search for ‘Marketing Sparkler’.
2. Search social media for your real name (and brand name). Example: I search for MissKemya AND ‘Miss Kemya’ AND ‘Kemya Scott.
3. Search social media for your domain url. Example: I search for ‘marketingsparkler.com’ because my blog lives at this domain.

Why do you need to actively monitor your brand mentions? Because you aren’t publishing to talk to yourself, that’s why! I am going to presume you want to know who is sharing your content, correct?

You cannot expect everyone to tag you, or use your hashtags. But you should still reach out to these sharers, if for no other reason than to say thank you!

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How often should you perform these searches? I recommend weekly. Search Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at a minimum. This search shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes. I find people sharing my content every time I perform this search.

You can guess what I do when I find these posts: I say thank you for sharing!

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

How do you monitor your brand mentions?