You would want to know what people are talking about your brand on social media. Guess what? It’s happening. Your brand is likely to be mentioned on social media, regardless of whether you’ve noticed it or not.

Continue reading to learn why social mentions matter, how to track them and how to respond to people talking about you brand.

Bonus To learn how to use social listening to increase sales and conversions today. There are no tricks or boring tips, just simple, straightforward instructions that work.

What are social mentions?

Social mentions are posts on social media that contain a reference to your brand. This includes posts where your brand is tagged (often called @mentions), or simply mentioned in the caption.

@mentions is a social user trying to grab your brand’s attention. Untagged mentions are about your brand, but they don’t draw your attention to it. Both types of social mentions can be positive or negative, or even neutral.

Here’s an example for a tagged mention Hootsuite:

Untagged:

Why is social mention so important?

People are talking about your brand online. Why is it important to keep track of these conversations?

It is always useful to see what people have to say about your brand. Social mentions are a great way to find out what people think about your brand. Here are some reasons why this is important.

Social proof

Social mentions of your brand can be considered de facto reviews. You can monitor social mentions and reshare positive ones while building a library user-generated content that highlights your brand’s benefits in action.

Social media is a great way to show potential customers that your brand promises are being kept, with 75% of users using social media to research brands.

Social customer service

Customers are increasingly turning towards social media channels to provide customer service. You have to meet them where you are.

Every social mention of your brand that is service-oriented gives you the chance to show you care, no matter if it’s a simple question or an emotional complaint. This not only makes it easy for the customer to mention your brand, but also shows other social media users that you value their requests.

Crisis management

Social mentions can help you spot potential problems before they become serious. You can also use them to help you understand your target audience’s expectations as you navigate through difficult waters.

You can monitor social mentions to help you respond to a crisis as it develops before it becomes out of control.

Understanding your audience

Social mentions can be a great source of audience research. Who is mentioning your company? What are they saying?

Social mentions can help you understand everything, from customer expectations to demographics. You can better understand your audience and provide better content and services to them.

Your brand should be humanized

You can respond to social mentions and engage in real conversation. This allows you to show your brand personality and makes your brand seem more human. It’s a great way to build a more intentional online presence and establish long-term relationships with your followers.

How to track social mentions

Now that you understand why social media mention tracking is so important let’s take a look at some ways to do it.

Manually search for mentions on social media

Many social networks offer a notification option that will notify you when someone tags you on social media. To find social mentions in this way, you will need to open each social network account and check your notifications or alerts.

Each network is different but almost all require you to click your Notifications icon and then click a Mentions tab. Let’s take Twitter as an example.

Click the bell icon from your Twitter account. Next, click Mentions on the top menu.

You can use the search function of social media platforms to locate relevant posts for social mentions that do not tag your brand.

Search for common misspellings. Hoot Suite, Hootsweet. To find mentions of your brand, search for these misspellings and any other references.

Let’s take LinkedIn as an example. Enter your brand name (or misspellings) into the search bar and then click Posts.

Hootsuite allows you to track and respond to mentions

Software to monitor social media mentions can save you a lot of time and ensure you don’t miss any. You can check mentions from multiple accounts from one screen.

Hootsuite has a social mention tool that you can use to see who is talking about your brand on Facebook or Twitter. These mentions can be reacted to in real-time, without you ever leaving the platform. It’s a great way for you to stay organized and on top. Here’s how you can set it up.

Step 1 Click the Streamsicon on the left menu and then click Create a Board.

Step 2 Choose To receive personalized feeds.

Step 3 – Select one of the networks you want to start tracking mentions. Next, select @ Mentions in the stream options.

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Step 4 – Continue this process for all other Facebook and Twitter accounts that you wish to track.

Step 5 In order to rename your board Social Mentions, click on the left menu.

Hootsuite also allows you to use hashtag and keyword streams for social media mentions tracking, even if you aren’t tagged. Software to track social media mentions is very useful because you can create multiple search and hashtag streams instead of using the native platform tools.

Check out our post on setting up social listening for more information.

Set up an RSS feed

RSS.app allows you to convert search results from certain social networks into RSS feeds, which you can then follow to keep track of your social mentions.

Here’s how it works.

Step 1 – Go to the RSS.app feed creator.

Step 2 Scroll down until you find the social network where you want to create an RSS Feed. Some social networks do not allow you to create a search-based feed. You can create a hashtag feed on Instagram and search feeds on YouTube and Twitter. As an example, we’ll use YouTube. Click YouTube RSS Feed.

Step 3 Go to YouTube to create your search link. Simply type your keyword into the Search bar and then copy the URL.

Step 4 : Copy this URL into the RSS.app feed creation box and then click Generate.

Scroll down to view the content of the feed. You will need to add your feed to an RSS reader to track it. Hootsuite offers a free RSS syndicator app that you can find in their App Directory. You can add it to your dashboard and monitor RSS feeds using Hootsuite streams.

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Learn more about the Hootsuite RSS Syndicator

7 best practices for responding to social mentions

1. Answer each mention

It makes sense to respond to people who mention your brand on social networks. Salesforce reports that 64% of consumers want to interact with brands in real-time.

They expect a response if someone tags you on social media. If they mention your brand but don’t tag you, responding gives you an extra chance to impress them by showing that you are paying attention.

It doesn’t need to be complicated.

2. Share your learnings

Monitoring your social media mentions will help you gain a lot of insight. It is important to share this knowledge with all the relevant departments within the company. If users are tagging your images like crazy because they love a marketing campaign and want you to engage with it, that’s gold.

Customers may also tag you repeatedly about a problem with your product or a feature that they want you to make available. This is critical information for product development.

3. Thank you to the user for reaching out

You’ll want to thank people who share positive things about your brand on social media. They are helping you reach new customers and vouch for how great your brand is.

It’s important to thank customers for reaching out with questions and complaints. Every negative review is an opportunity to win back frustrated customers and show others how helpful and classy you are.

Bonus To learn how to use social listening to increase sales and conversions today. There are no tricks or boring tips, just simple, straightforward instructions that work.

Get the free guide now!

Be sincere and not sarcastic when you express your gratitude. You don’t have to thank someone for an injures, but you can thank them for drawing your attention to a concern.

4. Reshare positive mentions

Sharing positive mentions is a great way build that social proof we mentioned earlier. Reshares can also be used to highlight aspects of your offering that you might not have considered.

Fraser Valley Cider Company’s content focuses on their cider, events and pizza. This story was shared with a social mention by a visitor, which was a great way to show your love for their focaccia.

Source: @FraserValleyCider

Resharing content is easy on most social media platforms, especially if it’s directly tagged in. Instagram’s main feed has been a notorious stumbling block, but they are currently testing a new reshare button.

Resharing Instagram stories that you are tagged in is a great way to highlight positive social mentions. Then create a Stories highlight for them for them to live in. This will allow you to show them off for more than 24 hours. A highlight that has many social media mentions can be a sign you’re a popular brand on the platform. It can also inspire confidence in new followers.

5. Keep positive and offer solutions

It is important to see less-than-glowing feedback not as criticism but rather as critique. Even an angry comment can help to gain a deeper understanding about your audience’s pain points.

It is important to approach every issue with a positive outlook, even those that are negative. You should offer solutions that will improve the user’s experience next time. If they have had a positive experience with your brand online, 85% of customers will recommend you to others.

Keep yourself accountable. It is not a good idea to delete messages or suppress conversations. Negative comments will be noticed by others and they may even call you out. This is just the beginning of a never-ending cycle to try to keep negativity under control. It is much more beneficial for everyone to direct things in a positive direction.

Remember to not feed the trolls. It’s best to move on if you can see that a conversation isn’t going anywhere productive. The troll will eventually get bored and crawl back into its hole.

6. Know when to keep the conversation private

If you are dealing with sensitive information, it is best to use direct messages.

Twitter allows you to include a button in your reply so that the user can send you a DM.

If a misunderstanding is likely to spiral, it’s better not to make it public. Don’t delete anything. Also, make sure to indicate in your thread that the conversation was moved to a private channel. This will allow others to see that you have followed up.

Complex situations can sometimes be difficult to resolve with a quick reply or tweet. If a more detailed response is required, or if someone has many questions, then DMs, email, and other private forms of communication may be more appropriate.

7. Be true to the tone and voice of your brand

Your brand’s tone and voice guidelines should be mastered by the team members who respond to your social mentions.

Even if your customer service and marketing styles are not identical, they should be closely aligned. GIFs can be a fun way to spice up your responses, but make sure they are appropriate for your audience.

Use simple language that is understandable by everyone. Your replies should be easy to understand for an eighth grader.


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The post What are Social Mentions? How to Track them in 2022 appeared first at Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard.

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