Social Media Monitoring is bit like finding a needle in a haystack, or lots of needles but in a big haystack. For most brands there are dozens or hundreds of interesting mentions every day, but the problem is that they are hidden among thousands of less interesting or completely irrelevant mentions. Defining the query properly, with Boolean words like AND, NOT, OR etc., can reduce this problem so that it feels more like looking for needles in a mere handful of hay. Here are a few top tips for advanced query writing we wanted to share with you.

1. Masterclass /Advanced query creation tips
Aude Eberlin aude@brandwatch.com | Tel: +44 (0)1273 234 290
21/03/2014

2. Contents
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● How to efficiently test queries
● Spam
● Research queries
● Questions

3. Query Testing 1/2
Query testing is an important part of the monitoring process
Challenges:
● High volume
● Identify query issues
Solutions:
● Test each part on its own
● Use operators to filter down the volume (e.g. NOT)
● Check results in a dashboard
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4. Query Testing 2/2
British Airways query
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BA
NOT terms

5. Removing Spam 1/3
● Spam vs Irrelevant
● What is Spam?
Spam sites are fake sites that appear to be genuine. The purpose of spam sites is to manipulate
search engine rankings by increasing traffic to other sites. The agenda behind spam is almost
always commercial but can also be religious or political.
There are several methods used by spammers to influence search engines, including keyword
stuffing, forum spamming and blog reposting.
Spam is normally quite easy to identify because it is usually nonsensical and random, but
occasionally it can be harder to recognise.
Spam is presented in various forms, and not always as independent spam web sites. It can also
appear within sites as forum posts or blog post as well as on twitter.
© 2013 Brandwatch | www.brandwatch.com

6. Removing Spam 2/3
© 2013 Brandwatch | www.brandwatch.com

7. Removing Spam 3/3
● Spammy industries: fashion, automotive, pharma, cosmetics, finance
● Detect language patterns instead of removing authors or site
● Example terms: viagra OR porn* OR outlet* OR wholesale* OR moncler OR vuitton
OR vuiton OR pandora OR ugg* OR louboutin OR oakley* OR cialis OR levitra OR
"air jordan" OR ((cheap OR free) NEAR/3 (online OR shipping)) OR ((buy OR
pharmacy) NEAR/3 ("on line" OR online)) OR jersey*
● Using repetition pattern: "cheap cheap cheap"~40 OR "buy buy buy"~40 OR "sell
sell sell"~40
● Twitter bots
© 2013 Brandwatch | www.brandwatch.com

8. Research queries
● Need clear objectives before starting
● Different from brand queries
● Research and a lot of testing
● Linguistic patterns
● Need to understand the limitations (accuracy, too broad is too much)
● Need more manual work for analysis
Some tricks
● Pronouns technique to remove spam and marketing/promotional posts
● Use of combination of verbs to “personalise” topic
● Force order of key words using NEAR/xf
© 2013 Brandwatch | www.brandwatch.com

9. Questions
© 2013 Brandwatch | www.brandwatch.com