The Friday 5: Top 5 Ways to Listen

research-online-conversation-share-of-voiceSince we’re on the topic of Social Media listening and online buzz monitoring (check out our previous post), I thought I’d share five of the many ways you can listen and research your brands’ online conversations and share of voice.

1.  Twitter. Track your mentions on Twitter, and respond when you can. Use Hootsuite to create an account, and save a search column for “Your Brand”, updated in real-time. Each time anyone mentions “Your Brand”, you see it. This requires constant monitoring, which not everyone will have time for, but it’s worth it if you can.

2.  SocialMention.com. Search for “Your Brand” in blogs, microblogs, networks, videos, photos, news, comments, or all of the above. It requires sorting through noise and irrelevant info, but the nuggets you find may be gold for your brand.

3.  Google Reader. Set search terms, receive Google Alerts, read RSS subscription updates. Easy as 1,2,3. Just remember to check it frequently!

4.  Technorati. It’s the world’s largest blog search engine. If you have a blog, claim it on Technorati as well.

5.  Get a monitoring report. Easy, effortless (literally), and worth it. Check out ePulse. Also, listen to the podcast.