Monitoring a generic brand name (like Orange or Brand Mentions) often results in a high volume of irrelevant data, commonly referred to as "noise." The key to success is systematically identifying and excluding these generic, off-topic terms.
Step 1: Identify High-Volume Noise Terms
The goal here is to spot common, non-brand-related words that repeatedly appear in your irrelevant mentions.
Review and Sort: Go to your Mentions Feed and quickly scan the titles and snippets.
Look for Industry Context: If you track "Apple" (the company), look for non-tech words like pie, juice, orchard, cider, or recipe.
Look for General Context: If you track "BrandMentions" (the platform), look for generic marketing terms you don't care about, such as strategy, tip, or advice unless they appear alongside your brand name.
Identify Off-Topic Categories: If your brand is a color, look for mentions of paint, dress, or fashion that don't refer to your product.
Pro Tip: Filter your mentions by Source Type where generic conversations are most likely to occur.
Step 2: Add Irrelevant Keywords to the Exclusion List
Once you have a solid list of 3-5 noisy terms, it’s time to apply the filter in your project settings.
Navigate to Project Settings in your BrandMentions account.
Open the Keywords to track section.
Go to the Excluded keywords field.
Enter the irrelevant terms you identified, separated by commas (e.g.,
pie, juice, orchard, recipe).
Any mention containing any of the words in your exclusion list will be automatically filtered out, instantly improving the relevance of your results.
Step 4: Validate and Iterate
Noise reduction is an ongoing process.
Check the Impact: After applying the exclusions, check your Mentions Feed again. Are the irrelevant mentions gone?
Prevent False Negatives: Occasionally, you might exclude a word that actually appeared in a relevant mention. Review your data after a few days to ensure you haven't filtered out important conversations. If so, remove the conflicting exclusion term.
By consistently auditing your mentions and refining your Excluded keywords, you can ensure your generic brand tracking focuses only on the conversations that truly matter.