🔑Choosing keywords

Some tips for what types of keywords to choose

Selecting the right keywords is one of the most important steps for successful social listening. Here’s how to make smart choices:

General Tips

🎯 Be specific Avoid overly broad industry terms like “open source,” “strategy,” or “software.” These will clutter your feed with irrelevant posts and quickly use up your monthly quota.

🔍 Test and tweak If you’re not seeing any hits after a few hours or days, try broadening your keyword. If you’re getting too much noise, narrow it down. This process often takes a few rounds to get right.

🪙 Use long-tail keywords As with SEO, long-tail keywords (e.g., “how to track Reddit comments”) are often more valuable. They may generate fewer hits, but the posts they surface typically have higher intent or relevance.

🚫 Avoid common words If your brand name is also a common word (e.g., “Apple”), try adding context like your domain (“Apple Inc.”) or social handle (“@AppleHQ”) to reduce irrelevant matches.

Types of Keywords to Monitor

1. Your Brand and Product Names

Your own name is one of the most important keywords to track. If someone mentions your company, you want to know.

Example: We monitor for “Octolens,” “Octolens.com,” and “@Octolens_HQ” to catch brand mentions across platforms.

2. Keywords Related to the Problem You Solve

These are terms your audience uses when talking about the space you're in—even if they don’t mention your product directly.

Example: At Octolens, we track “social listening,” “keyword tracking,” and “social media monitoring.”

If you offer a project management tool, you might monitor “project planning tool” or “task tracking strategy.”

These are great for finding users sharing pain points or asking for recommendations—prime moments to engage.

3. Your Competitors' Names

Tracking your competitors can uncover powerful insights and opportunities:

• Spot user complaints—jump in with a better alternative.

• Get content inspiration from their social strategy.

• See what customers love—use that to inform your roadmap.

Example: A post saying “Looking for alternatives to [Competitor]” is a perfect chance to join the conversation.

Final Tip: Start Small, Then Expand

When starting out, don’t track everything at once. Begin with 3-10 focused keywords and refine as you go based on the types of posts that come in.

With smart keyword tracking, you’ll uncover better leads, gather valuable feedback, and protect your brand—without the noise.

When you first sign up to Octolens and choose keywords during the onboarding process, we go as far back as 7-days in your chosen platforms and find up to 100 posts per platform.

For any new keywords you add after onboarding, we also go as far back as 7 days in your chosen platform and find up to 10 posts per platform.