With social media becoming an essential part of branding and customer relations, it pays to have an ear on different platforms. Aside from being a tool for spreading your message and boosting sales, social media also allows you to keep in touch with your customers.

Brand mentions are posts that mention or tag a brand online or on social media platforms. Mentions are one of the things that businesses on social media platforms need to look out for all the time. This is a metric that you can easily track.

However, not all brands listen to brand mentions on social media. Aside from simply keeping track of mentions, companies need to start responding to them quickly just like any review because they can have a negative affect if ignored.

How to respond as a brand

Mentions on social media are easy to track because you are notified, especially for tagged posts. These notifications serve as prompts to reply to these mentions.

Responding as a brand, especially when you are tagged on a post, is essential. You need to respond to the mention, no matter what the post is. It can be a positive mention, a neutral one, or even negative.

Positive mentions give you an opportunity to show appreciation. Just a simple thank you, "Like" or "Heart" will show your online community that you are paying attention. If you do not get a lot of mentions, then you can find time to personalize your responses. Another way to handle a lot of mentions is to post an acknowledgment that you are reading comments and are grateful for them. Simply put, if a customer takes the time to mention your brand, show appreciation by acknowledging them.

Not all mentions are positive, unfortunately. There will be negative and neutral ones that you'll need to address. With negative mentions, you can solve the issue and show sympathy to the customer. Neutral mentions, on the other hand, can let you collect feedback. This gives you an insight into customer preferences and information that you can use.

Why are brand mentions important?

Positive brand mentions help establish digital credibility. Similar to word-of-mouth marketing, it helps others learn about your brand from those outside the company. It also keeps your brand on top of mind and encourages potential customers to learn more about you after reading what others say and/or share. 

This can be a method to listen to your customers and get feedback. Because not all mentions are created equal, you are able to use negative and neutral mentions to show a different side to your business or to collect information about your customers.

Most importantly, mentions allow you to engage and converse with your customers. This helps you turn a simple mention into a conversation. Doing so allows you to improve your branding and strengthen customer relationships.

So what are you waiting for? Turn those mentions into long-term relationships with your customers.