BrandMentions: Social Listening ROI for Marketers

Mastering Social Listening with BrandMentions: A Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

Staying on top of the latest trends and understanding how your brand is perceived online is more vital than ever. With the constant algorithm changes and emerging platforms, marketers need powerful tools to monitor conversations and gauge sentiment. This is where social listening tools come in, and BrandMentions BrandMentions stands out as a comprehensive solution. BrandMentions is capable of monitoring conversations and gauging sentiment. It’s a powerful tool for marketers who want to stay ahead of the curve. Are you ready to transform your marketing with real-time insights and data-driven decisions?

Step 1: Setting Up Your Project in BrandMentions

First, you need to tell BrandMentions what you want to track. This involves defining your brand, relevant keywords, and, crucially, any negative keywords to filter out irrelevant mentions. We had a client last year who skipped this step and ended up tracking mentions of a completely different company with a similar name – a costly mistake!

1.1: Creating a New Project

After logging into your BrandMentions account, navigate to the “Projects” section in the left-hand sidebar. Click the “New Project” button, which is prominently displayed in the upper right corner of the screen. This will open a project setup wizard.

1.2: Defining Your Brand Name and Keywords

In the first step of the wizard, enter your brand name in the “Brand Name” field. Then, add relevant keywords associated with your brand, products, or services in the “Keywords” field. Separate each keyword with a comma. For example, if you’re tracking mentions of “Fulton Burgers,” you might also include keywords like “best burgers Atlanta,” “Fulton County food,” and “burger deals near me.”

Pro Tip: Think broadly about the different ways people might refer to your brand. Include common misspellings and abbreviations to capture as many mentions as possible.

1.3: Adding Negative Keywords

This is where you refine your search to avoid irrelevant results. In the “Negative Keywords” field, enter terms that are often associated with your keywords but are unrelated to your brand. For example, if “Fulton Burgers” is a common last name, you could add “family,” “obituary,” and “genealogy” as negative keywords. Trust me, you don’t want to sift through hundreds of irrelevant mentions. This is especially important if your brand name is a common word or phrase.

Common Mistake: Not adding enough negative keywords. Spend time brainstorming terms that could dilute your results. This will save you a lot of time and effort in the long run.

1.4: Selecting Languages and Regions

BrandMentions allows you to target specific languages and regions. In the “Languages” dropdown, select the languages you want to monitor. Similarly, in the “Regions” dropdown, select the geographical areas you’re interested in. If you’re a local business focused on Atlanta, GA, make sure to select “English” as the language and “United States” as the region. You can even narrow it down further by selecting specific states or cities.

1.5: Configuring Data Sources

In the “Data Sources” section, you can choose which platforms and websites BrandMentions should monitor. The options include “Social Media,” “News Sites,” “Blogs,” “Forums,” and “Reviews Sites.” Select the sources that are most relevant to your brand. According to a Nielsen study about 92% of consumers trust recommendations from others, even people they don’t know, over branded content, so review sites are a must. Make sure you select the right data sources for your business.

Expected Outcome: After completing these steps, BrandMentions will start collecting mentions of your brand from the selected data sources, filtered by your keywords and negative keywords. You should see initial data populating within a few hours.

Step 2: Analyzing Sentiment with BrandMentions

Once BrandMentions has collected data, the next step is to analyze the sentiment associated with your brand mentions. This helps you understand whether people are talking about your brand positively, negatively, or neutrally. BrandMentions uses advanced algorithms to automatically classify the sentiment of each mention.

2.1: Accessing the Sentiment Analysis Dashboard

In the “Projects” section, select the project you created in Step 1. In the project dashboard, click on the “Sentiment Analysis” tab. This will open the sentiment analysis dashboard, which provides an overview of the sentiment trends associated with your brand.

2.2: Understanding the Sentiment Score

The sentiment analysis dashboard displays a “Sentiment Score,” which is a numerical representation of the overall sentiment towards your brand. The score ranges from -100 (extremely negative) to +100 (extremely positive). A score of 0 indicates neutral sentiment. The dashboard also includes a “Sentiment Trend” graph, which shows how the sentiment score has changed over time. This is invaluable for tracking the impact of marketing campaigns or PR events.

2.3: Filtering Mentions by Sentiment

BrandMentions allows you to filter mentions by sentiment. In the sentiment analysis dashboard, you can click on the “Positive,” “Negative,” or “Neutral” buttons to view only the mentions that have been classified with that sentiment. This allows you to quickly identify and address negative mentions or capitalize on positive ones.

Pro Tip: Pay close attention to negative mentions. Read them carefully to understand the underlying reasons for the negative sentiment. This can provide valuable insights for improving your products, services, or customer service.

2.4: Manual Sentiment Adjustment

While BrandMentions’ automated sentiment analysis is generally accurate, there may be instances where it misclassifies the sentiment of a mention. In such cases, you can manually adjust the sentiment. To do this, click on the mention you want to adjust, and then select the correct sentiment from the “Sentiment Override” dropdown. This ensures that your sentiment analysis data is as accurate as possible.

Common Mistake: Relying solely on automated sentiment analysis without manual review. Always double-check the sentiment of mentions, especially those that are borderline or ambiguous.

Expected Outcome: By analyzing sentiment, you’ll understand how your brand is perceived. This knowledge helps you respond to negative feedback, amplify positive messages, and refine your marketing strategies. A recent IAB report highlights the importance of brand reputation management, and sentiment analysis is a cornerstone of that.

Step 3: Generating and Customizing Reports

The final step is to generate reports that summarize your social listening data. BrandMentions offers a variety of report templates that you can customize to track key metrics and identify trends. A well-crafted report can provide actionable insights for improving your marketing performance.

3.1: Accessing the Reports Section

In the “Projects” section, select the project you want to generate a report for. In the project dashboard, click on the “Reports” tab. This will open the reports section, where you can create and customize reports.

3.2: Selecting a Report Template

BrandMentions offers several report templates, including “Brand Monitoring Report,” “Competitor Analysis Report,” and “Sentiment Analysis Report.” Select the template that best suits your needs. For example, if you want to track the overall performance of your brand, choose the “Brand Monitoring Report.”

3.3: Customizing Your Report

Once you’ve selected a template, you can customize it by adding or removing widgets, changing the date range, and applying filters. To add a widget, click on the “Add Widget” button and select the widget you want to add. To change the date range, use the “Date Range” selector in the upper right corner of the screen. To apply filters, click on the “Filters” button and select the filters you want to apply. For example, you can filter the report to show only mentions from a specific region or with a specific sentiment.

Pro Tip: Focus on the metrics that are most important to your business goals. For example, if you’re trying to increase brand awareness, track the number of mentions and the reach of those mentions. If you’re trying to improve customer satisfaction, track the sentiment score and the number of negative mentions.

3.4: Scheduling Reports

BrandMentions allows you to schedule reports to be generated automatically on a regular basis. To schedule a report, click on the “Schedule Report” button and specify the frequency (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly) and the delivery method (e.g., email, PDF download). This ensures that you always have access to the latest social listening data without having to manually generate reports.

Common Mistake: Not scheduling reports regularly. Social listening is an ongoing process, and you need to track your data consistently to identify trends and react to changes in sentiment.

3.5: Sharing Reports

You can easily share your reports with colleagues or clients. To share a report, click on the “Share Report” button and select the sharing method (e.g., email, link). You can also export the report as a PDF file for offline viewing.

Case Study: We used BrandMentions for a local burger chain in Atlanta. By monitoring mentions of “Fulton Burgers” and related keywords, we identified a surge in negative sentiment related to slow service at their Midtown location. We alerted the client, who quickly addressed the issue by hiring additional staff. Within a few weeks, the sentiment score for that location improved by 30%, and online reviews became overwhelmingly positive. This demonstrates the power of social listening in identifying and resolving customer service issues in real-time. The address of the Midtown location will not be provided for privacy reasons.

Expected Outcome: Generating and customizing reports gives you a clear view of your brand’s online presence, sentiment trends, and key performance indicators. This enables you to make data-driven decisions and optimize your marketing strategies for maximum impact.

Social listening and sentiment analysis are essential for any modern marketing strategy. By following these steps and using BrandMentions effectively, you can gain a deeper understanding of your audience, improve your brand reputation, and drive better results. It’s not just about tracking mentions; it’s about understanding the story behind the data. And here’s what nobody tells you: the real work begins after you get the data. Acting on those insights is what separates success from wasted effort. Consider also ensuring you have a plan in place to react to a social media crisis.

Social listening provides invaluable insights into customer perceptions and market trends. By diligently setting up your projects, analyzing sentiment, and generating custom reports in BrandMentions, you can transform raw data into actionable strategies. So, go ahead, start listening, and watch your marketing efforts become laser-focused and incredibly effective.