Good brand management requires careful monitoring. Set aside a specific block of time each day for checking up on your brand’s presence. You may also want to set aside a bigger block of time weekly or monthly for more detailed analysis.

Tools for Monitoring Your Brand

There are many online tools you can use to monitor your brand. Tools such as SocialMention and Trackur keep tabs on your online reputation for you. When your brand is mentioned, they’ll alert you and provide a link. SocialMention actually analyzes comments about your brand and shows you the overall sentiment. You can choose to see only positive or negative listings.

Google Alerts

All of these tools are slightly different so you should spend some time shopping around. In the meantime, sign up for Google Alerts. Google Alerts is the simplest and easiest system for monitoring online. You select keywords or phrases, such as your brand’s name, and then Google lets you know when someone posts something about you. You can either be alerted immediately or as a digest.

More Specialized Tools

There are tools for specific social media sites. Twilert is a tool that works in the same way as Google Alerts but focuses on Twitter. There are also specific analytic tools designed to help you boost your search engine rankings.

Unlinked Mentions

You may also want to find unlinked mentions and link them back to your site. An unlinked mention is when someone posts something about your brand online but doesn’t link back to your website. This is a lost opportunity for you. If there is a link leading back, it will bring you more traffic. Most people post content without thinking about including live links, so if you find unlinked mentions and reach out to the site owner, they’ll often be happy to link to your site. Be sure to provide the link in the email so it’s easy for them.

Monitor Your Competition

You may want to sign up for alerts for your competition and monitor them. This can help you come up with ideas for making your brand stronger or at least differentiating yourself from them. You can also find out what their customers think about them and this can be useful. If you see a customer complaining about a competitor’s lack of flexibility or shipping options, you can outdo them in that department.

Quick Response

Be proactive and respond quickly when there are issues with your brand online. Also, respond to positive comments as well as negative ones. When someone leaves a glowing review of your brand, send them a ‘thank you’ email. Even better, offer them a deal. Try to build a relationship with them.