Masterclass: How to Research and Build a Query

Brandwatch Query Writing
How to Research and Build a Query
Maria Cianfichi maria@brandwatch.com | Alyssa Edelman alyssa@brandwatch.com
April 10, 2015

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:
14
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

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

Finalizing
Your 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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Masterclass: How to Research and Build a Query

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