One of the key ways to ensure business longevity is to build a brand. You might be able to profit from a trend or tactic, but it will be a strong brand identity that allows you to flourish long into the future. Customers will come to recognize your brand and trust that you can deliver on your promises. An additional result of effective branding is that you will be mentioned across the web. These brand mentions can offer benefits in a variety of ways. So what are brand mentions, and how can your business capitalize on them?

What are brand mentions? 

Brand mentions occur when websites, blogs, social media platforms, and review sites refer to a brand in their content. The mention could be as detailed as a review or profile of your business, but it could also be a simple reference to a brand name within a broader piece of content. Brand mentions may be linked or unlinked, with the search engines able to understand when mention is taking place. More than simply a reference to a brand, search engines like Google use the metric as a factor in identifying authority within a niche.  

What are the benefits of brand mentions? 

Brand mentions have a number of benefits, making them an important part of developing a business online. Which benefits are most important may depend largely on the type of business you run.

Increase brand awareness 

Branding is a process that won’t usually produce immediate results. Building a brand requires consumers seeing your brand name and identity consistently. Therefore, the more mentions you can receive, the more familiar people will become with your business. You can ensure there are consistent conversations about your brand by creating events, product launches, and talking points that draw attention to your business.

Overcome reputational issues 

There may be occasions where you suffer some damage to your reputation. Examples of some problems would be several negative reviews or a failure in the product development process. These issues need to be dealt with to avoid any long-term reputational damage. Brand mentions can be used to identify problems early, allowing you to rectify the issues before they escalate. You can also build relationships with people and sites that make positive references, helping you overcome threats to your reputation.

Improve search rankings 

Brand mentions have become a factor in the search algorithms so that they can lead to some positive rankings boosts. Backlinks are a familiar factor in rankings, but they are linked mentions of your site. Brand mentions, though, do not need to be directly linked as the search engines can work out what is being referenced. You can always try and turn mentions into backlinks by communicating with the site owner, but they will still offer a benefit with a simple reference.

Provide audience research 

The biggest brands pay close attention to what their audiences are saying about them. Surveys and direct questions will provide some answers, but it is also important to listen in on conversations taking place online. Tracking your mentions can offer an unfiltered impression from communities discussing your brand on forums, blogs, and social media. You can use tools to continuously monitor for references to your brand name, letting you then gather both broad views and more detailed thoughts.

Content curation 

Brand mentions can often be adapted to provide content for your blog or social media platforms. You may come across a testimonial from a customer, for example, providing detail of the buying process. This content could be turned into an interesting case study that would engage audiences. You can also use mentions as quotes for social media, allowing you to create some quick content. User-generated content is an effective part of content marketing, so you can use mentions as a starting point for uncovering elements that will enable you to promote yourself.

What tools can be used to track brand mentions? 

There are various tools that are either based solely on monitoring mentions or integrate with other services. The following examples are a few of the best.

Mention 

Mention is a tool providing real-time monitoring of brand mentions. You can track mentions across social media and other media sources, filtering out any content that doesn’t interest you. If you want to publicize any mentions, it is possible to integrate your social media accounts to directly post content. Mention also lets you track your competitors, so you can see the feedback they are getting and the strategies employed to promote their brand.

Cyfe 

Cyfe is an all-in-one dashboard for businesses, with different departments for social media, finance, sales, project management, and much more. The social media element lets you track brand mentions across the major platforms like Facebook and Twitter. You can also analyze likes, shares, and other important metrics. While the brand mention services aren’t as comprehensive as dedicated tools, Cyfe is perfect if you want to run all your business activities from a single dashboard.

BuzzSumo 

BuzzSumo is another tool that provides comprehensive content marketing tools. You can find popular content, important influencers, and competitor insights. Additionally, though, the tool lets you set up alerts for brand mentions. You can use a broad approach to find every reference that may be relevant to your business. Alternatively, you could choose to look at specific keywords, domain alerts, author posts, and backlinks, enabling you to take a more focused approach.

Brand mentions have grown in importance over recent years, offering real benefits to businesses. Mentions can lead to greater brand awareness and increased knowledge about what you do. If there are potential threats to your reputation, brand mentions can prevent the issue from becoming overwhelming. Also, the SEO benefits of mentions have continued to grow, making them an important factor in your search rankings. Brand mentions look likely to become even more important over the coming years, so start tracking mentions and getting the true benefits of them wherever they occur.