Free Social Media Monitoring

Written by Lisa Chapman | Edited by Rory Hart
Sections of this topic
    Woman checking social media with her phone

    Set Up a Social Media Listening Alert System

    In the last post, we discussed the importance of listening to the online conversations about your company, brand, products and service(s).

    This post will walk you through the set up of a completely free social media monitoring system that is fully automated and customizable for your unique needs.

    Start With the End in Mind

    Decide what information is most important to receive. Decide on keywords most commonly used to relate to different aspects of you and your business. Examples of keywords to monitor include:

    • Your company name
    • Your brand name(s)
    • Your product and/or service name(s)
    • Your domain name(s)
    • Names of competitors
    • Keywords specific to your industry and/or niche

    When you read the results, you can determine if you chose the right keywords. If you receive information that isn’t helping you, giving you news, or up-to-date insights, consider adding or changing keywords for awhile. It may take a few weeks or months to hone the list, but it’s well worth it, to keep you informed.

    Basic Free Monitoring Tools

    Set up these tools in the order below, and you’ll have a fully automated social listening, tracking and reporting system. In order to make them all work together, you’ll first need to set up a Google Account. Then feed the rest of the tools into Google Reader:

    1. Google Reader – Set this up first. It will collect the links found in the keyword searches and feed them to you. Google Reader is an RSS Feed Reader, sending updates as they occur.
    2. Google Alerts – This is a fundamental tool, and without it, you won’t have a full reporting system. Select ‘comprehensive search’, and choose to receive alerts by RSS Feed. For each keyword, click ‘create alert’ and ‘view in Google Reader”.
    3. Google Blog Search – Very important, since many opinions, rants, and even raves appear in blogs. “subscribe” and select RSS.
    4. Social Mention – Searches include social networks, such as Facebook, You Tube, LinkedIn, etc.
    5. Google News – Stay informed about your industry, niche and competition.
    6. Twitter Search – Searches Twitters’ massive content. Choose to add this to your Google Reader account.

    After you have these set up with feeds going to your Google Reader account, you can organize Google Reader into folders and maintain an easily-accessed archive.

    Now you’re set up to listen, monitor the social media conversation daily. Soon it will become a regular part of your day.

    What type of listening has been most helpful to you and your company? What have you done to counteract the negative mentions?

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    For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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    ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

    Ms. Chapman’s new book, How to Make Money Online With Social Media: A Step-by-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs will be available very soon. With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

    Lisa Chapman