Getting your social listening right all comes down to one thing: picking the right keywords. It’s the difference between finding a handful of golden opportunities and getting buried under a mountain of irrelevant chatter. If you want to find the conversations that truly matter, here’s how to choose your keywords wisely.
Be Specific. It's tempting to start with broad terms like “software” or “strategy,” but you'll just clog your feed and burn through your monthly mention limit in no time. The goal is to find targeted conversations, not every single post that vaguely touches on your industry.
Test and Tweak. Think of keyword selection as a process, not a one-time task. If you set up a keyword and get nothing back after a few days, try making it a little broader. If you’re flooded with junk, narrow it down. It often takes a few tries to hit that sweet spot.
Embrace Long-Tail Keywords. Just like with SEO, longer, more specific phrases are often pure gold. A keyword like “best way to share tasks with remote team” will generate far fewer hits than just “project management,” but the person searching for it has a specific problem they desperately want to solve. These posts usually signal much higher intent and relevance.
Add Context for Common Words. Does your brand share its name with a common word (like the payment company, Stripe)? You'll need to help the listening tool separate your brand from the pattern. To avoid mentions of zebra stripes, you can add clarifying terms like “Stripe Payments” or track your official handle, “@stripe,” to focus on relevant conversations.
This one’s a no-brainer, but it’s also the most important. If people are talking about you, you need to know about it. Make sure you track all the different ways someone might mention you.
Example: A company called Horizon CRM should monitor for "HorizonCRM", "horizoncrm.com," and even the spaced-out version "Horizon CRM" to catch every possible variation.
This is where the magic happens. Think about the terms your ideal customers use when they're describing their frustrations or needs—even if they’ve never heard of your brand.
Example: A company selling customer relationship management software might track terms like "managing sales leads", "customer data platform", and "how to improve client follow-up". These keywords help you find people asking for recommendations or sharing pain points, giving you the perfect moment to step in and help.
Keeping an eye on your competition is a powerful way to find opportunities and gather intel. By tracking their brand names, you can:
Don’t try to track everything all at once when you're just starting out. You'll only overwhelm yourself. Begin with a focused list of 2-3 core keywords. As you see what kind of posts come in, you can refine your list and gradually expand.
With smart keyword tracking, you’ll spend less time sifting through noise and more time uncovering amazing leads, gathering priceless feedback, and protecting your brand.
Introduction MentionTracking is a powerful platform for monitoring your brand mentions across social media and web resources in real-time....
Get Started in 5 Minutes Follow this step-by-step guide to set up monitoring in just a few minutes. Step 1: Create Account...
BrandMentions is a popular social listening and brand monitoring platform that monitors social media, blogs, and reviews. We'll compare MentionTracking and Brandmentions based on features, pricing, and ease of use so you can choose the right tool for you.
