How to Track X (Twitter) Mentions? [2024]

Netflix got over 119,500 mentions on X (Twitter) in the last 30 days, which indicated an estimated reach of over 232 million. And here’s the cherry on top: a staggering 74% of these posts have a positive sentiment. Those numbers are impressive. Do you know how your brand is doing? You can access such data with an advanced mention monitoring tool. 

Table of contents:

• What are X (Twitter) mentions?
• How to track X (Twitter) mentions?
  • Manual tracking
  • Using a social media monitoring tool
• How to analyze X (Twitter) mentions to gain insights?
• Conclusion

What are X (Twitter) mentions?

A mention on X (Twitter) is a post that contains another account’s @username in the body of the text. You can find yours in your “Notifications” tab.

Mentions are used all the time to tag or address specific users, engage in conversations, or bring someone’s attention to a particular message. They’re also used to create communities. 

Theoretically, there is just one type of X (Twitter) mention (the @username), but people use this term to call a few different things. 

So, let’s take a look at the other “mentions”:

• @username

When a post contains the @username’s handle in its text, that is a mention in its purest form. These serve to tag other accounts.

Ah, and remember – if you include multiple @usernames in your post, all of those people will see your post in their Notifications tab. Your “tweet” can include as many mentions as you can add within a character limit.

• Reply mention

This is very similar to the first type, so it’s easy to confuse them. A reply is when someone doesn’t start a post from scratch but replies to what another user has posted (thread). These messages are only seen by the accounts posting in this particular convo and by the users following both of those accounts.

• Just text mention

These mentions are almost the same as the first ones, but they do not include the “@” symbol – so they’re not tagged. These are just texts mentioning a brand, person, or company. 

• Hashtags

These are not X (Twitter) mentions exactly, but they tend to be considered as ones. This happens when the hashtag is the name of the company. So, for example, the hashtag #Brand24 can be considered an X  (Twitter) mention.

What makes mentions on X (Twitter) important for your brand?

Getting mentions on social media allows you to build relationships with your customer base and encourages new followers, visits, and positive comments.

And here’s a pro tip: When visiting another account’s profile page on X (Twitter), it will not display posts that mention them. However, you can search X for posts mentioning their @username.

On X (Twitter), talking about your brand can really help your advertising work better. If you use paid ads, they can get more attention through people mentioning and reposting your brand.

Actually, X (Twitter) did some research that shows that ads on their platform can be 15% more cost-effective when you invest in the conversation.

So, when you put money into ads on X, you can expect to get better results if you wisely use mentions. Joining in on conversations can make your ads go further and work harder.

In spite of this, a staggering 91% of posts about your brand don’t even mention (tag) you. 

That’s why monitoring mentions using advanced social listening tools is crucial for well-tailored X (Twitter) campaigns. You should be aware of all the conversations around your brand mentions.

Without that knowledge, it’s easy to misinterpret the conversations, make mistakes in your marketing efforts, and even mess up your online brand reputation.

At the same time, tracking X (Twitter) mentions enables to:

• Monitor and improve brand reputation through sentiment analysis
• Identify and engage with target audiences
• Discover influencers and relevant people for potential collaborations.
• Provide prompt customer service
• Keep an eye on competitors and industry trends
• Increase engagement and grow your follower base
• Generate content ideas from trends and topics in public posts and mentions.

This is what an untagged brand mention on X (Twitter) looks like in a Brand24 dashboard:

How to track Twitter mentions?

01 Manual tracking

It’s pretty simple. If you wonder who’s talking about you on X (Twitter), you can just go to the X (Twitter) app and use the search bar to find your mentions. Simply type in your X (Twitter) @ and see who’s mentioned you.

X (Twitter) also tells you how many people saw these mentions.

And yes, you can set up notifications so you don’t miss when someone talks about you. There are other cool features too, like seeing all the publications in one place.

Key X (Twitter) features:

• Search bar
• Notifications
• Basic mention analytics
• Mention timeline
• Interaction details
• Filter options

But this way of tracking isn’t perfect. If someone talks about you without tagging, you won’t know. It can also take a lot of time to look at each relevant mention one by one.

Does X (Twitter) provide more advanced features? Well, they now have 3 plans (Basic, Premium, and Premium+). However, for tracking mentions, it doesn’t offer much.

Higher tiers offer additional features like a verification checkmark, reduced ads, access to ad revenue sharing and creator subscriptions, ID verification, Media Studio access, and more. But, the availability of these features varies by tier and region, so you have to check what exactly you can get.

So, the best option if you want to really enhance your X strategy is to look for external tools. They can do more, like catching those untagged mentions and saving you time.

02 Using a social media monitoring tool

Social media monitoring tools like Brand24, Sprout Social, or Tweet Binder are fantastic for keeping track of X (Twitter) conversations about your brand. They track a wide range of keywords, including your brand name, specific hashtag mentions, and any other relevant terms you choose to track.

One thing to keep in mind – these tools can only track public mentions.

The real game changer is Brand24 and how this analytics tool monitors not just X but multiple sources like:

• Social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, Quora, Telegram, and Twitch
• Review sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, Booking, App Store, Google Play, Trustpilot
• Blog post
• Video platforms
• Podcasts
• Discussion forums
• Newsletters
• Online news sources
• Other publicly available sources

Thanks to this extensive data, you can get a full picture of how your brand is being discussed across the internet.

Also, Brand24 offers real-time updates on brand mentions and keywords. This knowledge allows you to understand the tone of the conversation and conduct accurate sentiment analysis.

This can be particularly useful for identifying key opinion leaders or influencers in specific industries or topics and for keeping an eye on your competitors’ online presence.

Let’s talk a bit about the Brand24’s Anomaly Detector. It is a game-changer for monitoring X mentions!

Have you ever struggled to detect what caused the sudden increase in mentions? This feature does it automatically. You receive notifications with ready-to-use conclusions.

For instance, Nike recently experienced a sharp increase in #sneakers and #jordan mentions. This buzz was notably influenced by the release of the new Nike Dunk models.

How do I know that? 

The Brand24 Anomaly Detector quickly picked up on this trend, highlighting the importance of multiple mentions in general social media dynamics. This is what it looks like in the dashboard:

This feature makes it possible to engage effectively with your audience during peak (or low) moments.

With it, you can quickly engage with new positive comments and followers. And, in the long run, turn this surprising moment into a major opportunity for engagement and growth.

Another worth mentioning feature is the Comparison.

It allows you to compare data from different time periods and compare your performance with competitors.

The first one (compare periods) is especially useful in tracking the progression of mentions.

This feature enables you to see how your brand or campaign has evolved over time. By offering clear charts of different datasets.

It’s a powerful tool for understanding trends, measuring the impact of specific campaigns, or identifying any changes in public perception or engagement related to your brand.

The second one (compare projects) may give you insights into the content gap, sentiment, influencers’ potential, and an overall view of how you’re doing on the market.

Benefits of tracking mentions using an advanced Twitter monitoring tool:

• Real-time mentions analytics
• Twitter sentiment analysis
• Competitor analysis
• Trendspotting
• Top influencers identification
• Comprehensive analytics
• Brand’s reputation management
• Customers mention insights
• Advanced filtering options

How to analyze Twitter mentions to gain insights?

Digging into Twitter mentions for insights can feel like a never-ending task. That’s where Brand24’s AI Insights and Metrics Analysis functions come in handy.

These tools automatically process data and metrics from your Twitter mentions and deliver actionable conclusions.

Take a look below. This is how AI-based insights by Brand24 look like:

These insights enable you to quickly understand trends, sentiments, and the overall impact of conversations about your brand without spending hours on manual analysis.

So, you get to skip the headache of manual analysis and jump straight to the fun stuff – the insights!

Conclusion

To sum up, while internal analytics by social media apps are perfect for small brands, they definitely fall short for larger brands. I believe the line stands somewhere around 1,000+ impressions per month.

An external monitoring tool like Brand24 becomes essential for big brands with such complex analysis. They automate the collection and analysis of mentions and provide a more comprehensive insight than native X (Twitter) analytics.

Final thoughts:

• Regularly compare current X (Twitter) campaigns with past performance.
• Prioritize metrics like engagement, reach, and sentiment to better understand your brand’s performance on X.
• Use tools like Brand24 for tracking mentions across various platforms, not just X (Twitter). This holistic view provides valuable insights into your brand’s online presence.

Ready to boost your X (Twitter) strategy? Click here for a free Brand24 trial!