Monitor Your Brand

I know that there is a great deal of concern about the future of Google’s Alert service.  You know, it’s the service that sends you an email with the references to any set of criteria that you may choose to set.  I used to use it to get a summary of the times that “@dougpete” or mentions to this blog hit the web.  If you’re reading the web, there are a number of suggested alternatives to Google’s service that are being promoted.

One of the things that is so impressive about search engines is their ability to scour information and find where content just might pop up.  Sometimes, it’s from the darnedest places.

I realized a while ago that the significant area that I wanted to monitor was Twitter itself.  It’s here that the significant mentions happen.  So, I figured, why not put Twitter’s search engine to good use.  Unlike other services that will send you a message daily with your mentions, Twitter search does things right now – the moment that it happens.

Since Hootsuite is my current favourite Twitter management console, it’s a snap.  I decided to set up some monitoring right there.

To consolidate things, I set a new tab and called it “Brand”.

Next – what am I monitoring?  Of course, my Twitter ID.  Over the time that I’ve used Twitter, I’ve noticed that people will make reference to me as both “@dougpete” and “dougpete”.  So, if I search for the lowest common …

I’ll catch both instances.  The results appear the moment Hootsuite picks them up.  Save the stream and it becomes a permanent entry within that tab.

I also want to monitor references to this blog so I’ll set up another customized search for “dougpete.wordpress.com”.  Sure, the first search for “dougpete” finds the reference but I’d like the blog references separated into a column by themselves.  Creating it is just as easy.

I also am monitoring my wiki and a couple of other services like my Diigo account.  Quite frankly, they don’t generate nearly the action as these two and I may just drop them.

And there you have it.  Instant monitoring!

Instead of another service with daily updates or doing a number of different searches, I just set them once and they do their thing.  A quick click on the tab shows me the latest.

Now, in the big scheme of things, my two little searches probably don’t amount to a hill of beans.  But, if I was monitoring an entire school or a number of events or a number of entities, the concept of a number of searches within a tab makes so much sense.

If you’re using a Twitter dashboard that allows for saved searches like Hootsuite, why not give it a shot this fine Sunday morning.  Your ears might start burning when you read what people are saying!  More importantly, this will give you the ability to see the entire package and engage with anyone who is talking about you.  And, isn’t that the point of Twitter?

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