How to Monitor Your Online Reputation

Step-by-Step Guide

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   Step 1: Navigate to Social Mention's website.

   Social Mention is a free search engine that catalogues social media information from blogs, sites, forums, and more in real time., If your business name is difficult to spell, uses an acronym (e.g., "Hewlett-Packard" is just "HP"), or is stylized (e.g., using numbers in place of letters), consider searching variations as well.
   
   You can also enter keywords related to your business into this search; for example, if you specialize in carpet cleaning in California, you might enter "carpet cleaning"
   
   "California"
   
   and your city's name into the search bar. , You'll notice a field next to the "Search" button; by default, this menu will say "All".
   
   Clicking search from here will search several different social media platforms at once, but you can also narrow your search to specific site types:
   Blogs
   - searches for blog posts related to your inquiry.
   
   Microblogs
   - narrows "blog" search to smaller, more frequently-updated blogs.
   
   Bookmarks
   - searches for bookmarks related to your inquiry.
   
   Images
   - reviews Google, Bing, and other image-providing sources.
   
   Videos
   - reviews video footage with your search terms in the title or tags.
   
   Questions
   - searches for sites with Q&A formats.
   
   This includes forums.
   
   All
   - the default value, which searches for all of the above. , This will apply your selected search criteria and initiate the search.
   
   Your results may take a few seconds to display. , You'll see immediate examples of what people are saying about your business in the middle section of the page.
   
   The top left corner of the page displays statistics related to your brand's success: "Strength"
   - the likelihood that your brand is being discussed or mentioned on social media. "Passion"
   - a measurement of how many users are repeatedly mentioning your brand. "Reach"
   - a value determined by dividing the number of unique mentions by the number of total mentions. "Sentiment"
   - the ratio of positive to negative comments. , The Advanced Search Preferences option is at the top of the page, immediately to the right of the search bar.
   
   From this page, you can tailor your search's results specifically:
   Filter out results by entering an exact phrase or set of words for which to search.
   
   You can also blacklist certain words.
   
   Change your preferred source, location, chronological range ("anytime" to "last hour"), and language.
   
   Change your "results per page" value.
   
   Block results from specific users. , This will apply your advanced search's criteria to your current search. , You have successfully completed a reputation search with Social Mention!
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   Step 2: Type your business name into the search field.

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   Step 3: Set up your search criteria.

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   Step 4: Click "Search".

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   Step 5: Review your search results.

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   Step 6: Click "Advanced Search Preferences" if you want to narrow your results.

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   Step 7: Click the "Advanced Search Preferences" button when you're done.

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   Step 8: Review your new results.

Detailed Guide

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