Mentionlytics: Own Your Earned Media in 2026

Are you struggling to track and measure the impact of your earned media efforts? In 2026, simply hoping your brand mentions translate into tangible results is no longer enough. We need data. I’m going to show you how to use Mentionlytics to not only track, but also actively manage your earned media strategy like a pro.

Step 1: Setting Up Your Brand Monitoring Project in Mentionlytics

The first step is setting up your project within Mentionlytics. This involves defining what you want to monitor. I had a client last year, a small bakery in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta, who thought just monitoring their name was enough. They missed tons of mentions of their signature “Poncey Pie” because they didn’t include that specific product name in their project. Don’t make that mistake!

Define Your Keywords

1. Log in to your Mentionlytics account. If you don’t have one, create a free trial.
2. Click on the “Projects” tab in the left-hand navigation menu.
3. Click the “Create New Project” button.
4. In the “Project Name” field, enter a descriptive name (e.g., “Acme Corp Brand Monitoring”).
5. In the “Keywords” section, enter all relevant keywords related to your brand, products, services, and key personnel. Separate each keyword with a comma. Examples: “Acme Corp”, “Acme Software”, “John Smith CEO Acme”, “Acme Support”.

Pro Tip: Think beyond your company name. Include common misspellings, product names, slogan variations, and even competitor names (to see where you’re being compared). I’ve found that monitoring common industry terms related to your offerings can unearth unexpected opportunities.

Add Negative Keywords

1. Scroll down to the “Negative Keywords” section.
2. Enter keywords you want to exclude from your mentions. This is crucial for filtering out irrelevant noise.

Common Mistake: Skipping negative keywords. If your company name is also a common word (like “Apple”), you’ll be flooded with irrelevant mentions. Add negative keywords like “fruit”, “recipe”, “orchard” to filter those out. I’ve also used it successfully to filter out mentions in languages we don’t serve. For example, if you’re only targeting the US market, exclude keywords in Spanish or French.

Expected Outcome: A clean feed of mentions that are highly relevant to your brand. This saves you time and ensures you’re focusing on the most important conversations.

Step 2: Configuring Your Sources

Mentionlytics pulls data from a variety of sources. You need to tell it where to look.

Selecting Your Sources

1. In the “Project Settings” section, click on the “Sources” tab.
2. You’ll see a list of available sources, including:
   • Websites & Blogs
   • News Sites
   • Social Media (X, Threads, etc.)
   • Forums & Communities
   • Review Sites
3. Select the sources that are most relevant to your business. For a local business like the bakery I mentioned, I prioritized local news sites and review sites like Yelp and Google Maps.

Pro Tip: Don’t underestimate the power of niche forums and communities. These can be goldmines for finding genuine conversations about your industry and identifying potential brand advocates. Make sure to check the “Forums & Communities” box.

Setting Source Priority

Some sources are more important than others. A mention in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is far more valuable than a random blog post.

1. Within the “Sources” tab, you can prioritize sources by dragging and dropping them in the list. Sources at the top will be given higher weight in sentiment analysis and overall reporting.

Common Mistake: Ignoring review sites. These are critical for managing your online reputation. A negative review can spread quickly, so it’s essential to monitor them closely and respond promptly. According to a Nielsen report, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from others, even if they don’t know them personally. Nielsen

Expected Outcome: Data from the most important sources is prioritized, giving you a more accurate picture of your earned media performance.

Step 3: Analyzing Sentiment and Engagement

Simply tracking mentions is not enough. You need to understand the context and sentiment behind them. Is the mention positive, negative, or neutral? Are people engaging with it?

Using Sentiment Analysis

1. Go to the “Mentions” tab in your project.
2. Each mention will be automatically tagged with a sentiment score (positive, negative, or neutral).
3. You can manually adjust the sentiment score if you disagree with the automated analysis. This helps improve the accuracy of the system over time.

Pro Tip: Pay close attention to negative mentions. These are opportunities to address concerns, correct misinformation, and improve your brand reputation. Don’t ignore them! Respond promptly and professionally. We had a client in the legal field who was getting slammed on a local forum for a perceived error. By responding directly and explaining the situation, they turned a potentially damaging situation into a positive one.

Tracking Engagement Metrics

1. For each mention, you’ll see engagement metrics such as:
   • Reach (estimated number of people who saw the mention)
   • Engagement (likes, shares, comments)
   • Potential Impressions
2. Use these metrics to identify the most impactful mentions and understand which channels are driving the most engagement.

Common Mistake: Focusing solely on the number of mentions. A single, highly negative mention with high engagement can be far more damaging than dozens of positive mentions with low engagement. Pay attention to the quality of the mentions, not just the quantity.

Expected Outcome: A clear understanding of how your brand is being perceived and which mentions are having the biggest impact.

Step 4: Creating Custom Reports and Dashboards

Mentionlytics allows you to create custom reports and dashboards to track your earned media performance over time. This is crucial for measuring the ROI of your efforts and identifying areas for improvement.

Building a Custom Report

1. Click on the “Reports” tab in the left-hand navigation menu.
2. Click the “Create New Report” button.
3. Choose the metrics you want to track, such as:
   • Total Mentions
   • Sentiment Score
   • Reach
   • Engagement
   • Top Sources
   • Keyword Performance
4. Select the date range for your report.
5. Choose the report format (e.g., PDF, CSV).
6. Click “Generate Report”.

Pro Tip: Create different reports for different purposes. For example, you might create a weekly report for internal stakeholders and a monthly report for senior management. Tailor the metrics and format to the specific needs of each audience.

Designing a Custom Dashboard

1. Click on the “Dashboards” tab in the left-hand navigation menu.
2. Click the “Create New Dashboard” button.
3. Give your dashboard a descriptive name (e.g., “Earned Media Performance”).
4. Add widgets to your dashboard to visualize your key metrics. Available widget types include:
   • Line charts (for tracking trends over time)
   • Bar charts (for comparing different sources or keywords)
   • Pie charts (for showing sentiment distribution)
   • Number widgets (for displaying key metrics like total mentions or reach)
5. Arrange the widgets on your dashboard to create a clear and concise overview of your earned media performance.

Common Mistake: Overloading your dashboard with too much information. Focus on the metrics that are most important to your business goals. A dashboard should be easy to understand at a glance. Here’s what nobody tells you: less is more. A simple dashboard with 3-4 key metrics is far more effective than a cluttered dashboard with dozens of metrics that nobody looks at.

Expected Outcome: A clear and concise overview of your earned media performance, allowing you to track progress, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.

Step 5: Integrating with Other Marketing Tools

Mentionlytics integrates with a variety of other marketing tools, allowing you to streamline your workflow and get a more complete picture of your marketing performance.

Connecting to Your CRM

1. Go to the “Integrations” tab in your Mentionlytics account settings.
2. Connect to your CRM system (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot).
3. Map your Mentionlytics data to your CRM fields. This allows you to track the impact of earned media on your sales pipeline.

Integrating with Social Media Management Tools

1. Connect to your social media management tools (e.g., Buffer, Hootsuite).
2. This allows you to respond to mentions directly from within Mentionlytics and track the performance of your social media campaigns.

Pro Tip: Use Mentionlytics’ Zapier integration to connect to thousands of other apps and automate your workflow. For example, you could automatically create a task in your project management system when a negative mention is detected. According to the IAB’s 2025 State of Marketing Technology report IAB, companies using integrated marketing tech stacks saw a 20% increase in marketing ROI.

Common Mistake: Not integrating Mentionlytics with other tools. This creates silos of data and makes it difficult to get a complete picture of your marketing performance. Integration is key to unlocking the full potential of Mentionlytics.

Expected Outcome: A streamlined workflow and a more complete picture of your marketing performance.

Understanding sentiment is also critical. To dive deeper, read about marketing authority in 2026.

Mastering Mentionlytics’ features is an ongoing process, but by following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to effectively managing your earned media and unlocking its full potential. Don’t just collect data; use it to refine your marketing strategies and build a stronger brand reputation. Start with a focused approach: identify your most critical keywords and sources, then gradually expand your monitoring as you become more comfortable with the platform. This will ensure you’re not overwhelmed and can effectively manage the insights you gain. And remember to craft a communication strategy to maximize those mentions!

To further boost your brand, also consider executive visibility to amplify your message.