How to Track Your Brand on Twitter
As I mentioned before, you don't need to actually join Twitter to track conversations about your brand on the platform.
The Twittersphere is flooded with hashtags, those coded phrases preceded by the '#' character that many folks use in their posts. Hashtags allow Twitter users to track tweets based on a particular topic. For example, put #hiring in a tweet to indicate your post is about an open job, and people looking for work will have an easier time picking that post out of their follow feed.
If you want to track real-time conversations about your brand, become familiar with the hashtags associated with your company.
Let's use KFC as an example, since their online coupon campaign has been generating buzz within Twitter.
First go to either the official Twitter search page or the Twitter hashtag search site (both work well, although the hashtag search has a neat trending graphic and suggests similar hashtags in use). Once you're there, search for variations like KFC and #KFC.
As you'll see, Twitter users have been sharing KFC's coupon site link thanks to its initial promotion by Oprah:
Thanks @Oprah for lunch today. One of my team members brought me a meal from #KFC or is that #KGC? Get a coupon here: http://bit.ly/19553mSo many people tried to get free chicken that many franchises couldn't honor the deal yesterday. Angry customers eventually prompted news outlets to cover the campaign -- yet another example of the need to monitor what people are saying about your brand online and in real time.GuiBRZ: Madness @ #kfc everyone n their mother has #oprah coupons, ran out of chicken, evry1 waits 4 their order http://twitpic.com/4o9brCriminalsmile: @greentide what is the coupon for? isn't oprah trying to save the world and their waistline? how does kfc fit into that? #kfc #oprah #fail
If you don't want to keep checking the search pages, simply subscribe to the RSS feeds associated with each hashtag on those hashtag search sites. You can add the RSS feeds to your browser. Or go to one of the free widget creators like SpringWidget. You can add all hashtag RSS feeds related to your business (KFC, #KFC, #KFC-Hunger etc.) into one widget that will automatically update in reverse chronological order every time someone on Twitter discusses your brand. These widgets can be placed on a blog, Facebook page, or your desktop.
If your company doesn't have a hashtag associated with it, join Twitter and create and promote whichever hashtag you'd like. The Twitter search engines will automatically register it once people start using it to communicate.