Tools for Monitoring Chatter on the Web

Want to see what’s going on with your brand or company on the web? How about your competitors? While there are many monitoring systems out there that cost a pretty penny, there are also several free ways you can monitor your industry, company, campaigns, products, etc.! They key is keywords. Check out a few ways we like to monitor:

Google Alerts: Probably the most common and well known alert tool – and for a good reason! Google alerts sends hits that include your keywords and sends them to your email. Get more organized and set up a Google Reader account. Alerts can be organized into folders based on the company, campaign, competitor, etc. that you’re monitoring.

Mention: Mention is a dashboard application for your computer or phone that allows you to create alerts for keywords. There is a free version, but opportunities to use an upgrade version for more keywords and searches if you need it. It monitors everything on the web from blogs and news sites to Twitter in real-time. You can make stories that you are not interested in – removing homonyms and spam from their technology that learns from your behavior.

Twitter: Yes… good ol’ Twitter! Twitter is a great way to capture industry news, competitor news and your own news – even if you’re not tagged in a post. Set up a Twitter search for key terms and industry hashtags. Is your competitor running a Twitter campaign using a special hashtag? Search it and then save the search.

Have a good monitoring tool you would like to share? Leave a comment here or tweet @rachelkaylor on Twitter.