masterclass: how to research and build a query

Brandwatch Query WritingHow to Research and Build a Query

Maria Cianfichi [email protected] | Alyssa Edelman [email protected]

April 10, 2015

mailto:[email protected]

Agenda

© 2014 Brandwatch | www.brandwatch.com 2

1. Getting to know your Operators

2. To Contextualize or NOT to Contextualize

• Unique Brand Names

• Vague Brand Names

3. Researching your brand names for context

• Research Owned Content (Brand Website, Brand Social Channel etc.)

• Research Google

• Research Wikipedia

4. Test & Build – Finalize the query with all the information from the

research and actually building a Brandwatch query

• Research in Brandwatch


Defining Boolean

Operators

Boolean 101

4

“A type of search allowing users to

combine keywords with operators such

as AND, NOT, and OR to further

produce more relevant results.”

Boolean operators help limit a search

to help find the information that’s most

meaningful. Think of them as

conjunctions.

Did you know? You can use Boolean

search terms on Google!

© 2014 Brandwatch | www.brandwatch.com


Basic Operators

What are your Go-To Operators?

6

These are your most basic operators: AND, OR, and NOT

These must be capitalized to work within a query.

To use these as an actual keyword in your search, they must be in quotes or you’ll receive an error message.



Proximity Operators

NEAR/x and NEAR/xf

8

The NEAR operator is used to find keywords within x number of

words of each other.

Adding a lowercase f at the end searches for the keywords in the

order you’ve written them.

This leads to more targeted results than the AND operator.



Linguistic Operators

hashtags:

12

The hashtags: operator will search for any keywords you put after it

that are preceded by a # symbol, such as #puppylove

You can use parentheses with an OR operator between keywords to

link together hashtags you’re searching for:

hashtags:(puppies OR corgis OR ilovepuppies)


at_mentions: and author:

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The at_mentions: operator will return Twitter mentions containing reference to a specific Twitter handle, such at @ASPCA

The author: operator will return mentions across all pages (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Blogs, etc.) written by a specific author name such as @DailyPuppy

Note: You don’t need to write the @ symbol!

at_mentions:aspca OR (site:twitter AND author:dailypuppy)

Wildcards: * and ?

16

Adding a * to the end of a keyword will add any appropriate suffixes

to the keyword when searching:

pupp* would search for puppy, puppies, puppying?

The ? wildcard is used within a word to account for spelling

variations and common misspellings:

prioriti?e would search for prioritize and prioritise


Location

Location

Narrow down your results to continent, country, city, state, or county

Use the Locations drop-down to search for the abbreviation and

copy/paste into your query



Adding Context

To Contextualize or Not to Contextualize


• Answer to this soliloquy is

pretty simple

• Can you think of multiple

ways this brand name is

used in English (or other

languages)?

• Yes: Contextualize

• No: Probably no need to

contextualize

Didrex

Didrex – Nope, no need to contextualize


Didrex the Obesity Treatment Pill

Often mentioned together with terms like "Benzphetamine hydrochloride" OR

"exogenous obesity management"

Example of Apple – Yes, Contextualize


Apple

Apple the Fruit

Often mentioned together with

terms like fruit, oranges, Fuji

etc..

Apple the

Computer

Company

Often mentioned together

with terms like iPhone,

Mac

“Apple of my

eye”

Mentions of Apple Fruit

in the literal sense that

actually means Apple

the Computer

Company (or vice

versa)

Contextualizing


• Using either the AND or NEAR

operator, define the brand name or

inclusion keywords to pull in the most

relevant mentions

• Context words are collection of

keywords that are often mentioned

with the brand (or your topic of

interest)

• Until the day that Artificial Intelligence

becomes advanced enough for a

Spielberg movie, you have to actually

work to build these contexts


Research

Befriending the Website


1. If you're building a query

about Monster.com, then

browse Monster.com, the

job search engine website

2. There will be myriads of

unique keywords

• What's unique?

• Keywords like "project", "help &

security" or "search tips" are

probably not unique to Monster the

job search engine

• Keywords like "resumes", "jobs" or

"career resources" ARE probably

relevant for Monster the job search

engine

http://www.monster.com/

http://www.monster.com/

Befriending Google


• Google the Brand name to see what's said online about the brand

• Google also has boolean – use the info: operator for deep insights

Befriending Wikipedia


• Wiki was your friend in college and once you're friends with wiki, you're forever BFFs with it

• Look for Disambiguation page!

• Example of Chase

Befriending freedictionary.com (or any other

Dictionaries)


• You can search idioms here

• If your brand name is "All" phrases like "all the time", "all this while", "all he does" should probably go away

• freedictionary.com might be a good place to start

Gold


FinalizingYour Query

Befriending Brandwatch


1. Start with the BROADEST search possible

2. It's probably a bit chaotic at first, but just have patience

3. Add context words and begin to create your inclusion keywords

4. Using the knowledge you’ve gained from your research, start to

add in exclusion terms

5. Skim through the pages of search results within the query

builder to gut-check that your query is pulling in relevant

mentions

6. Check the *NEW* topics cloud within the query builder

7. Test, repeat, refine as needed!

Example of Monster


Monster

Monster the

Job Search

Company

Often mentioned

together with terms

like jobs OR

resumes

Monster the

Energy Drink

Often mentioned

together with terms

like energy, drink,

flavor

Monster the

Pixar

Animation

Often mentioned

together with terms

like Pixar

Example Monster Query


(

(Monster NEAR/10 ((job OR jobs OR resume OR resumes OR career OR careers OR (interview NEAR/0f question*) OR hotjobs OR jobsearch* OR recruit* OR hire OR hired OR hiring OR (attract* NEAR/1 talent*))))

OR

(Monster NEAR/15 ("monster.com" OR mww OR (Monster NEAR/0f ("World Wide" OR Worldwide))))

)

NOT (("joomla-monster.com" OR site:"joomla-monster.com") OR (monster NEAR/10 (film OR "space panic" OR spacepanic OR "Jonathan Kellerman" OR "Naoki Urasawa" OR Manga OR "walter dean myers" OR "frank peretti"~1 OR "sanyika Shakur" OR "B'z" OR "David Thomas" OR "Fetchin Bones" OR "Herbie Hancock" OR "Killer Mike" OR "Kiss" OR "Oomph!" OR "Usher" OR "R.E.M." OR "Steppenwolf" OR "D'espairsRay" OR "Meat Puppets" OR "Cable Products" OR Cables OR "Energy Drink" OR EnergyDrink)) OR "Monster INC")

List of Keywords from Their Website

List of Exclusion Keywords from

Google & Wikipedia


Now You Know

#brandwatchtips#mariaandalyssarock


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