Twitter mentions form an important part of your marketing strategy and if you’re not tracking your mentions on Twitter, as a brand, you may be losing on important opportunities.
In this article we quickly walk you through twitter mentions, types and how you can track your mentions as well as other’s effectively. Let’s begin.
Defining Twitter Mentions
Twitter mentions are defined as a way to grab attention on the platform and as a means to spark a direct conversation. By tagging a user or brand, anyone’s intention is to voice their opinion or concern, give feedback, complain or report a positive interaction.
A twitter mention is made when someone types your username in a tweet or retweet followed by the “@” symbol. In this case you will get a notification that you have been tagged.
Would you like to get Notified when keywords you care about are mentioned on Twitter and other social media sites?
Types of Twitter Mentions
Your brand or anyone else for that matter can be “mentioned” on Twitter in three different ways. These include:
By using @username
When someone mentions you on Twitter followed by the “@” symbol, this is what a Twitter mention usually refers to. In this type of mention you will receive a notification.
By Mentioning your brand
Sometimes people may just mention your brand without using the “@” symbol with your username. When this happens, you don’t receive a notification. This is a common practice on Twitter usually when someone’s sharing a blog post from your site or just commenting about your brand.
By Using a Hashtag
Your brand may also be mentioned on Twitter using hashtags. However, again there is no notification for this and can make tracking mentions trickier.
How Can You Track Twitter Mentions?
You can monitor and track Twitter mentions through Twitter analytics and start building insights for your brand. It will tell you how you’re brand is doing on Twitter and what are users saying about it. This allows you to promptly take the action needed.
You can monitor your brand mentions through Twitter analytics which is the platform’s own feature. Twitter analytics is accessible from the left-side panel on your profile by clicking more and then analytics.
The analytics homepage that pops up in a new window will give you a complete overview of your account activity for a 28-day period. This includes your number of followers, profile visits, top tweets, mentions, and impressions.
If you just want to quickly view your mentions on Twitter you can do so by going to notification and clicking mentions. Here is a screen shot of that:
How You Can Track @mentions of Other Users on Twitter?
However, if you would like to track mentions of other brands or users on Twitter, unfortunately you can’t do that on the platform.
Twitter does not support or allow viewing mentions of other people or brands. A notification is received by only those that are mentioned in the tweet. However, sometimes as a brand, you may want to track other people’s or brand’s mentions for insights.
Tracking your competitor mentions can give you important insights and let you tweek your own Twitter marketing strategy accordingly. You may also want to jump in on a conversation and introduce your own brand if there’s opportunity.
A social media listening tool like Notifier can help you with this. You can add a searcher in Notifier to track mentions of another user or brand. Below is a quick video tutorial on how you can do that:
Here is a step-by-step breakdown of the process as well:
- Click on Add Searcher in your Notifier account
- Connect your Twitter account
- Select how you’d like to be alerted
- Then select how often you’d like to be alerted
- In the String Search type in the username of the person you want to track mentions of on Twitter
- Conclude it by clicking on Add Searcher
As this searcher runs in Notifier you will start getting the results. You can get the results through email, slack or other options given. You can also view the search results on the Notifier dashboard.
Another thing you can do is that as you type the username you can add variations of it as well simply by separating the terms using “OR”.
This allows you to search for “@” mentions as well as mentions without the tag or any other variations you’d like to search in the same searcher. An example of this is shown in our video tutorial as well.
Mistakes to Avoid When Tracking Twitter Mentions
Tracking Twitter mentions for yourself or someone else looks easy using a simple social listening tool like Notifier. However, sometimes you can end up making mistakes with the easiest things.
Here are some common mistakes that you should avoid when setting up your searcher to track social mentions:
Not Accounting For Misspellings
Twitter doesnt current wrong spellings in Twitter handles. If someone has been tagging you and making a typo, it won’t show up. So, it would be wise to include misspellings of your twitter handle as well when setting up your searcher.
Only Searching the @ mentions
When you setting up a searcher for yourself or to track someone else’s mentions, it would be wise to include just the brand name or even hashtags. People can sometimes forget to add the “@” symbol but you shouldn’t.
Tracking Twitter Mentions Occasionally
This is a common mistake that brands often make. Customers expect a response within a few hours and by not checking your search results promptly, you’re putting your brand in danger. It is advised to keep an eye on your Twitter mentions throughout the day as the searcher runs so that you can take prompt action when required.
Tracking mentions of competitors and the industry will help you undiscover latest trends and help gain consumer insights. This could be gold for your marketing strategy or next campaign. Set up your searcher for Twitter on Notifier and start tracking!