Alright, so you've set up your project, but you're not getting any results? We totally get how frustrating that can be, especially when you're not sure why it's happening. But don't worry. Our Customer Success team is here to help and save the day!
There could be a couple of reasons why your project is collecting a small amount or no mentions:
Problematic keywords
Selecting the words you want to monitor is a significant part of the work; almost half of it is done. However, it's essential to keep in mind that certain keywords may give better results, some might require adjustments, and others may not be suitable for monitoring at all. What keywords would qualify as the latter?
Unpopular keyword: Sometimes, there may be no mentions to collect if there's not much discussion about a particular topic on the internet. This situation often occurs when a new startup is trying to monitor their name.
In such cases, we recommend monitoring the category or industry instead for better results.
Full URLs and email addresses: Using full URLs and email addresses as keywords might not yield any results since they typically don't appear in the mention's content.
Too long/specific keyword: If you try to monitor an entire sentence that isn't commonly used, be prepared for limited or no results.
Generic Words: Words like "and," "the," and "is" are too generic to be useful and won't add any context or meaning to your project. Technically, you can set up a project to monitor them, but it wouldn't serve a purpose.
Stop Words: Common words like "a," "an," "the," and "in" are ignored by search engines. They lack specificity and won't effectively help monitor your brand or industry.
On the other hand, here are some examples of good keywords:
Single word (e.g., Nike)
A phrase consisting of a few words (e.g., Just Do It!)
Hashtags (e.g., #JustDoIt)
Some short links (e.g., nike.com/justdoit)
Domains (e.g., nike.com)
Not including word variations
When selecting a good keyword for monitoring, don't forget to consider different variations that people might use. For instance, if you want to monitor "CD Projekt," be sure to include other versions such as "DCProjekt" or even hashtags like "#CDProjekt."
By including various forms and representations of the keyword, you'll ensure a more comprehensive and accurate monitoring experience. It'll help you capture a broader range of mentions and gain deeper insights into how your brand or topic is being discussed online.
Lack of Instagram & Facebook Integration
We always recommend integrating this social media account. It helps gather more mentions and boosts the effectiveness of your project! Give it a try, and you'll see the difference it makes in tracking your brand's presence online.
It may be particularly helpful if you are, e.g., monitoring Instagram hashtags.
Here is a step-by-step instruction on how to integrate your Facebook and Instagram accounts:
Or, if you prefer the written version, here you'll find it :)
Wrong required and excluded words
Setting up a project to monitor a keyword isn't always enough. Sometimes, you might want to track a specific campaign or have a keyword that doubles as your company name and a commonly used word (like 'Apple'). In such cases, adjusting the project with additional required and excluded words can be necessary. However, there are instances where the project ends up empty, and you might wonder why. Here are some popular reasons:
Including the project's keyword as an excluded word: This makes finding any mentions absolutely impossible.
Using a keyword both as a required and excluded word: This leads to the same outcome as mentioned above.
Adding too many required words after a comma: This causes Brand24 to search for mentions that contain all the words in a single mention. Each required word should be added separately (unless you want every mention to have all the words - then separating words with a comma is exactly what you should do :)).
Adding too long or complicated required keywords
Adding links as required keywords
You can recheck your required and excluded words in a project's settings:
Sources are disabled
In your project's settings, you can find all the available sources. By default, all sources are included to ensure comprehensive monitoring.
However, there are instances where users want to exclude a specific source temporarily but might forget to change it back afterward.
Alternatively, if the project is relatively small, they might exclude sources that happen to be the only ones generating mentions for that project.
The reasons can vary, but if you notice that your project is not collecting enough mentions, it's worth checking if the lack of sources is the underlying issue. Ensuring you have the right sources can greatly impact your monitoring efforts' effectiveness. So, take a quick look at your sources to ensure you're capturing all the relevant discussions and mentions.
Sites are disabled
This is a common reason why your project may not be collecting enough mentions from certain sites. Be sure to check if you've accidentally excluded the site instead of the author at any point.
To verify this, simply head to your Project's settings and navigate to the Sources section. There, you can review the list of sources to ensure that you haven't excluded any relevant sites. Making sure the right sources are included will help ensure you don't miss out on valuable mentions and insights.
Date range is too short
By default, your project collects mentions from the past 30 days. However, if you don't see any mentions appearing, it doesn't necessarily mean that the project is empty.
Don't forget to check previous weeks, months, or even years to make sure you're not missing any valuable data. There might be older mentions that are still relevant to your monitoring efforts. So, take a look back in time to ensure you have a comprehensive view of all the mentions that matter.
Misspeled keyword
It can be surprisingly simple to overlook certain things, like making sure your keyword is written correctly. Don't hesitate to check it not just once but twice! Sometimes, these little mistakes can easily slip by without us realizing it. Just like you probably haven't noticed the misspelling of "misspelled" in the title! 😄
So, take that extra moment to review your keywords!
If your project still doesn't collect the mentions after that - reach out to us! We will help you to set up your project correctly!