HOW TO: Set up a free online monitoring system
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The question I get asked most frequently, “How do you monitor what is happening online?” I’ve compiled a list of the tools I use when on a tight budget. These are FREE tools (in five relatively easy steps) available to help you get a handle of your online presence.
STEP 1: Set up Google Alerts
Think about every term you need to monitor as part of your communications and public relations efforts. This may include:
- You
- The company name
- Company CEO and/or executive team
- Company spokespeople
- Competitors
- Highly visible employees
- Key stakeholders/shareholders/investors
To get the most accurate search, try adding quotation marks around your search terms. For example, if your company name is often abbreviated or shortened try a search like “ACS” “American Cancer Society.”
Select “comprehensive,” “as it happens” and “up to 50 results” to garner the most thorough results.
STEP 2: Create a digital dashboard
I recommend a web-based platform like Addict-o-matic. It pulls in online mentions across platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Bing, FriendFeed, etc. It’s an easy way to take a quick look at where you’re being mentioned online.
TIP: Bookmark the page and refer to it daily.
TIP: You can rearrange the tabs to create a custom view and add additional sources under “available sources.”
STEP 3: Track social networks
If you’re active on social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin (among others) it can become overwhelming to update and monitor them regularly. I recommend setting up Hootsuite and Tweetdeck (along with the iPhone apps) to manage syndication, schedule tweets and gather Twitter analytics. Both Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are applications that are based off of Twitter, so they limit updates to 140 characters.
If you’re looking for additional ways to analyze Twitter, check out oneforty’s list.
ON THE RADAR: With Seesmic’s recent acquisition of Ping.fm and release of Seesmic Look, my Tweetdeck recommendation may change in the near future.
UPDATE #1: Find and analyze your influencers and competitors and track success with Twitalyzer. It’s the most sophisticated Twitter analytics tool available and it’s free. Plus, it integrates with Google Analytics (it’s the only Twitter analytics tool to do that) as well with Bit.ly. It also has a nifty Firefox plug-in that will let you see your most influential connections at a glance. Submitted by @CarriBugbee.
STEP 4: Gather information and benchmark data about your blog or Web site
Set up Google Analytics and review your web stats and check out what Quarkbase and Compete reveal. It’s up to you how you document your findings. I keep a spreadsheet, updated monthly, of my analytics so I can review trends and other data important to me. (I also use Technorati to round out my research.)
STEP 5: Find out who is talking about you, your blog and site
Google Alerts may not pick up every blog mention of your keywords. That’s where Nielsen’s BlogPulse comes in. I use this tool daily for myself and clients. The site includes a run down of hot topics on the web (although you can also use Google Trends), what news outlets bloggers are sourcing and other stats.
Find out if you (or your company) are being tagged in online videos via Google Video search. Don’t forget that people can refer to you on forums and discussion boards, you can use BoardTracker to help.
TIP: Set up the Blogpulse Conversation Tracker to monitor blog comments and set up a feed.
TIP: Make sure no one has taken your brand name online by checking name availability via Knowem.
*****************************
Remember, you get what you pay for. If you’re looking for comprehensive online monitoring, check out one of these providers:
- Radian 6
- Sysmos
- BuzzMetrics
- Visible
- ScoutLabs
- eCairn
- Webtrends Social Measurement
- Collective Intellect
- Techrigy SM2
- Filtrbox
- KDPaine & Partners
- Trackur
So, what did I miss? What do you use to monitor your brand online?
69 Comments on this post
Trackbacks
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MZayfert said:
Really helpful. Thanks.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:32 pm -
Jamie Favreau said:
Hubspot? I read their blogs but have never used them. You really have a comprehensive list. Thanks for the help!
January 21st, 2010 at 8:41 pm -
Alexis said:
This is just what I was looking for today thanks!!!
January 21st, 2010 at 9:28 pm -
Mohan Arun L said:
You could also use Giga Alerts (a pro service from Indigo Stream Technologies) and Trackle.com and Yotify.com for setting up online monitoring systems on the lines of Google Alerts.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:23 am -
Julie Anne (MaineCopywriter) said:
This is so helpful. I tell my clients they need to monitor their name, company, competitors and keywords all the time. They always ask “how”….I used to have to go through a whole long explanation. Now I’ll just send them here. Thanks!
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:23 am -
Ed said:
Good round up and explanation.
I would add (for those new to it),
plan to invest a little time in services such as
Google Analytics. As with most we services,
you can actually become more skillful and efficient
with practice.With that said, if you have any budget beyond free
services, but don’t need fully managed infrastructure
such as Radian6, then Andy Beal’s Trackur is the way to go.January 22nd, 2010 at 8:24 am -
Alexis Karlin said:
One thing to add sorry. Co-Tweet is also great for sharing one Twitter handle between multiple people.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:29 am -
Kathy Winter said:
Very helpful information! Thanks, Sarah!
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:35 am -
Matt Batt said:
This is a very smart and timely post, Sarah.
Too many businesses just believe that monitoring such online conversations will cost them an arm & a leg. As you’ve clearly laid out with your 5 tips this isn’t the case.
I also think the case can be built for setting up this free online monitoring system resulting in minimizing your time spent doing so many of these things separately and randomly throughout the day, week and month.
Any suggestions for how to glean from these great tools and pull into a useful report for management?
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:42 am -
farrah said:
Great resources. Thank you so much for putting this together. It is very helpful.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:42 am -
Katie Delahaye Paine said:
I do find it interesting that you recommend all my competitors in this post, but in fact Kaplow uses the KDPaine & Partners dashboard for their own work.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:47 am -
PRsarahevans said:
Thanks, Matt. I do have a way I pull information to create a report for clients. It’s usually based on what they’re trying to accomplish and I’ll add suggestions on what they should focus on. For example, I’ll share online sentiment (positive, negative, neutral) to give an idea of what people are sharing.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:47 am -
PRsarahevans said:
Hi Katie. I’ll be happy to add KDPaine to the list. I apologize for the oversight.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:53 am -
Davina K. Brewer said:
Sarah, Great advice for small businesses, smaller firms and solo PR pros like myself. Gini Dietrich also just did a post on Google alerts, and this just adds to it. Keeping track of @ replies, blog and message board posts, it’s all part of monitoring. Running of to look into some of these. Thanks for sharing.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:20 am -
Todd said:
Great post. Thanks.
I’d also recommend adding Viral Heat (http://viralheat.com) to your list of paid solutions. They’re a nice solution, have location-based searches and offer their services free to non-profit organizations.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:07 am -
Jodine Chase said:
Pull Google alerts into an RSS feed reader – Google’s reader is good – to help organize and track content.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:08 am -
PRsarahevans said:
Todd, I didn’t know Viral Heat offered services to free for non profits. I’ll definitely recommend that! Do you know if any of the others do that?
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:08 am -
carolynn said:
Find this information valuable. Thank you
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:12 am -
Todd said:
No, that’s the only one I’ve come across.
I’ve never applied for the free pricing, so I don’t know if the feature set is limited or not. But I’ve been pleased with the paid version. Location-based analysis, while spotty, is incredibly valuable for our regionally focused clients who can’t afford and don’t need national monitoring.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:15 am -
danaeng said:
Thanks for the valuable information and advice!
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:21 am -
Erica Finley said:
I all of a sudden feel very inadequate after reading this post! But that’s a good thing because I will no doubt be able to use it to up my game. Thanks, Sarah!
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:48 am -
Allison Aldridge-Saur said:
Great resources! I am trying to gain insight into how folks monitor FB Fan Page activity. Any services out there for that?
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:27 pm -
Anne-Marie said:
Thank you bery much a brilliant blog, with fabulous tips and now off to re-think my strategy!
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:30 pm -
Ryan said:
Great stuff! I didn’t know about some of those. Always great to try out some new monitoring devices. Cheers!
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:41 pm -
Ted L Simon said:
Excellent post, Sarah. Succinct, clear, simple recos – what I call “news you can use!” Went to check out Addict-o-matic based on a previous tweet of yours…thanks for that tip!
Another online monitoring provider to check into is SocialRep http://www.socialrep.com/ , a company founded by Chris Kenton. They have a range of license offerings, some of which are very reasonable (e.g., $29.99/month).
Keep up the great posts…and have fun at the ultimate fighting event with your hubby!
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:11 pm -
Carri Bugbee said:
Hootsuite and Tweetdeck don’t offer much in the way of true analytics. If you really want to measure Twitter engagement, find and analyze your influencers and competitors, and track your success in this space, you need to use Twitalyzer. It’s the most sophisticated Twitter analytics tool available and it’s free. Plus, it integrates with Google Analytics (it’s the only Twitter analytics tool to do that) as well with Bit.ly. It also has a nifty Firefox plug-in that will let you see your most influential connections at a glance. No list of analytics tools would be complete without it!
@CarriBugbee
Social Profiles: http://www.CarriBugbee.comJanuary 23rd, 2010 at 2:16 pm -
Bidet said:
This is great information. Its always good to monitor your presence online to see how your brand name is being used.
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:56 pm -
Cetvn said:
This is great information and very knowledgeable site.
January 24th, 2010 at 1:31 am -
AG said:
Omniture and Meltwater news (payed service) but provide great insight. Omniture can track anything with embedded codes and provdies service that is customized to your needs, they don’t just send an all out by the product package. It depends on what you need. Their tracking can analyze from website visit, email, social media, etc and follow down to web search, etc quite comprehensive.
Meltwater news can track exact result of your brand online and your competition you can compile the info and review them as you like and see how they are perceived, whether a news online is getting a lot of viewer, it is definitely a lot more targeted and more timely delivered from Google alert.
January 24th, 2010 at 9:14 am -
won said:
By the way what is web-based platform like Addict-o-matic?
January 25th, 2010 at 2:35 am -
won said:
But this site is very good information, have a good resources.
January 25th, 2010 at 2:37 am -
Cartoon Bears said:
We need to meet a very important deadline which requires some extra work from our software developers. I would like to give them an incentive, but the usual incentives (bonus, holiday etc) aren’t of interest.
January 25th, 2010 at 5:26 am -
Aluminum Laptop Cases said:
Great post Sarah. Too many people/companies overlook this crucial practice. If you are not monitoring who is saying what about you, you can be letting people tarnish your reputation. You may not be able to stop the public bashing, but you may discover the root problem and prevent further bad PR.
January 25th, 2010 at 5:35 pm -
used tires said:
Cheers for the Addict-o-matic recommendation. It looks quite interesting. I’d like to recommend orkut.com as another popular social networking site to add to the list if it helps anyone.
Till then,
Jean
January 26th, 2010 at 3:49 am -
jpschadde said:
I highly recommend this:
Install a television screen at every department of your business. Show tweets about your business, or subjects related to your company. It’s easy to set up using twitterfall.com. I use a fullscreen browser to show the tweets in a presentation modus.January 26th, 2010 at 5:40 am -
Arik Hanson said:
Thanks for the tips, Sarah. Picked up a few new ideas myself here.
Cheers!
@arikhanson
January 28th, 2010 at 9:21 pm -
calivita.com said:
Really thanks your gret information with this post
January 31st, 2010 at 3:19 pm -
calivita.com said:
in addition i dont use to monitor my brand online
January 31st, 2010 at 3:21 pm -
Turkey said:
free online tracking system to set up good information. Thank you.
February 1st, 2010 at 3:16 am -
Aluminum Laptop Cases said:
jpschadde that is an interesting idea. I’ve been at a job where they display the daily sales figures on an office tv, but displaying tweets may be much more inspirational.
February 1st, 2010 at 1:58 pm -
printing said:
I always include Google Trends, Everyzing, YouTube tags and Flickr tags in my just-add-water online monitoring soup mix in addition to the stuff you have here.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:59 am -
Catering Tampa said:
Most powerful are Google Alert, Google Analytic are best and social networks Tracking tool useful to monitor the work so we can analyze our work and accordingly change procedure.
February 4th, 2010 at 7:01 am -
Bogdan Tiron-Anton said:
Hi everybody, I’m the rookie of this group. I’m part of the leading Romanian monitoring company Media Image Group and also an Entrepreneur (building an online communication tool) with “CentruldePresa.ro” (This would be “ThePressCenter.ro” in English). Regarding the free online monitoring tools, I must tell you that at least in Romania many companies request dedicated solutions for online monitoring, even if they have to pay for some money. We’ve tested the Google search and it provided not satisfying results (mainly because of the SEO made by the websites, including meta-tags and such things that try to “fool” Google an get your higher in its the ranking). That’s why we provide in Romania online dedicated services (monitoring a specific list of websites and blogs), services provided to us by a company in US. This was the only way to make sure that we provide to our clients significant results. Please do not consider me as a fan of the “paying products” but I speak from the experience we have in this field, at least in Romania. Regarding my website (www.centruldepresa.ro) have a little patience and in about 3 weeks you’ll see at this address a “state of the art” website (including an English version, between many other ones…). Bogdan
February 4th, 2010 at 11:54 am -
used tires said:
I tested Google Maps version 3.0.2 on a Blackberry Bold and Blackberry 8700. The software still feels like version 1.0, and accuracy and reliability need improvement before Latitude can reach its potential. For the time being I’ve uninstalled Latitude from my Blackberry, but will install it again when the next version is released.
Till then,
Jean
February 7th, 2010 at 7:15 am -
Catering Tampa said:
Orkut is might more popular in Asian country rather than USA or Europe but i found its interesting sure wanted to try out new social medium. Share your opinion for Orkut.
February 8th, 2010 at 1:30 am -
Hair Salons said:
Good tools for online monitoring systems. Thanks for information.
February 8th, 2010 at 2:11 am -
Porno said:
Thanks for the valuable information
February 11th, 2010 at 10:28 am -
sohbet said:
thankssssssssssssssssss
February 13th, 2010 at 12:29 pm -
youtube gir said:
great idea, thanks for sharing.
February 16th, 2010 at 8:37 am -
Cartoon Bears said:
Such a thing wouldn’t exist, and would be impractical, and even the thought of setting up web surveillance with a web cam is not an idea well thought out.
February 16th, 2010 at 10:53 am -
Cartoon Bears said:
Now, if you are looking for some software that will let your webcam monitor your room for parents or others who might come in, there might be some software that can help you with that…
February 16th, 2010 at 10:53 am -
how to start a blog said:
Filtrbox is cool – it actually alerts you OFFLINE stuff.
Great tip on putting your competitors’ names in Google Alerts!
February 19th, 2010 at 5:05 pm -
sikis izle said:
Really helpful. Thanks.
March 4th, 2010 at 2:19 am -
wholesale handbags said:
It’s a solid article you’ve provided for which every employers are seeking for. I’s subcribing earlier Google alerts for different activities but the addictomatic tool works great. Thank you, Lisa.
March 8th, 2010 at 5:55 am -
Freelance Writing Jobs said:
Most people love doing that kind of jobs
March 11th, 2010 at 12:31 am -
Round Picture Frames said:
This actually a wonderful guide Sarah, thanks so much for sharing.
April 7th, 2010 at 3:03 pm -
beach clog said:
I knew about Google alerts. The rest was completely new to me. Thanks.
April 7th, 2010 at 9:40 pm -
dizi lig tv izle said:
It’s the most sophisticated Twitter analytics tool available and it’s free. Plus, it integrates with Google Analytics (it’s the only Twitter analytics tool to do that) as well with Bit.ly. It also has a nifty Firefox plug-in that will let you see your most influential connections at a glance. No list of analytics tools would be complete without it!!!
April 9th, 2010 at 11:58 am
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