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Create an Advanced Alert
Create an Advanced Alert

Learn how to create and structure your Advanced Alert

Patricia Wroblewski ✪ avatar
Written by Patricia Wroblewski ✪
Updated over a week ago

The Advanced Alert is Mention's strongest online monitoring tool that is available in your your account. The alert's robust features will grant you the flexibility to monitor key topics in the manner that suits your preferences.

In this article, we will teach you how to create an Advanced Alert and provide you with some tips and resources to help you structure your alerts.

The Advanced Alert is a great tool to use when you are ready to monitor topics at the highest level possible using boolean language operators that are programmed into your search.

With that being said, here are the topics that will be covered in this article:

Configuration of the Advanced Alert

Before you begin creating an Advanced Alert, it is important to understand how your alert will monitor data online and what sources you can fetch. Here is a breakdown of the features available within the Advanced Alert:

Keyword Monitoring with Boolean Operators:

In an Advanced Alert, you will have access to keyword monitoring which is your primary method of monitoring data from the web and social media. When you add keywords or phrases to an alert, Mention will attempt to find the text in online publications and social media posts.

On top of this, Mention utilizes boolean operators to create complex search queries with your keywords in mind. In total, you have access to 20+ operators that will manipulate the text and data that you are interested in.

Altogether, your Advanced Alert is comprised of these features:

  • Access to 22 boolean operators.

  • Create queries with up to 2000 characters.

  • Preview mentions at any time to estimate your quota consumption in the alert.

  • Block any website URL that you do not want to monitor.

  • Fetch Historical Data for up to 2 years (Add-On Feature).

⚙️ Historical Data is an add-on feature. Please contact [email protected] for more information on this feature.

Sources:

The Advanced Alert offers the following sources that you can monitor:

  • Facebook

  • Instagram

  • Twitter/X

  • Forums

  • Reddit

  • Blogs

  • Videos

  • News

  • Web

  • YouTube

  • Pinterest

  • TikTok

  • Radio & TV*

⚙️ Radio & TV monitoring is an add-on feature. Please contact [email protected] for more information on this feature.

Historical Data:

The Advanced Alert offers the ability to fetch data from up to 2 years in the past for the content you are interested in monitoring. During alert creation, you will have access to the Historical Data button which will allow you to choose the time period of your data fetching.

This feature is available for the following sources:

  • Web

  • Blogs

  • Forums

  • News

  • Twitter/X

  • Facebook

  • Radio & TV

⚙️ Historical Data is an add-on feature. Please contact [email protected] for more information on this feature.

📖 For more information on Historical Data, please review this article: Activate Historical Data

Monitored Pages:

Monitored Pages act as a separate form of monitoring in your alert. This feature allows you to fetch all new posts directly from specific social media pages or review websites:

  • Social Pages:

    • Facebook Business Page URLs

    • Instagram Business Account URLs

    • Twitter/X Account URLs

    • LinkedIn Business Page Urls (Only available on Company Plans)

  • Review Websites:

    • Mention has a dedicated list of 50+ accepted URLs available in your Alert.

⚙️ The number of URLs that you can add to your ALERTt will be based on your Mention Subscription. Within your alert, you will have a quota bar to designate the number of pages available.

❗ Monitored Pages do not fetch Historical Data. Mention will fetch new content that appears on the web after your alert is created.

📖 To learn about this type of monitoring, please head over to this article: Monitored Pages in Alerts

Boolean Language Basics

In order to create an Advanced Alert, you will need to use boolean operators and have a basic understanding of how to structure queries using boolean language. In this section, we will provide you with some information regarding the AND, OR, and AND NOT operator which will be your foundational operators in Mention:

💡 Once you understand the basic operators, we recommend watching the next video to learn more about other operators available to you:

Overview of Alert Creation - Guide & Best Practices

Now that you have a basic understanding of the advanced alert's configuration, we can begin going over the steps to create your first alert. In this section, we'll go over the alert creation process and provide you with additional resources:

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1. Open the Alert Creation page

To get started with the Advanced Alert, please head over to the top of your Feed and click on the Add a New Alert button. From the list of alerts, click on the Advanced Alert option to open the creation page:

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2. Name your Alert

In the first tab, you can give your alert a title. The title of your alert will help you distinguish it in the Feed and in your Analytic dashboards:

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3. Create your Search Query

In the following section, you will see the Search Query tab. Within this tab, you will find the composer that will allow you to create your boolean query search:

The composer will be the main area where you can create your keyword searches using boolean operators. You have the option of creating broad or specific alert searches depending on how you structure your query.

📖 In order to build a search query, you will need to combine text with boolean operators using the boolean language format that consists of quotations and parenthesis groups.

For an introduction to search query structuring, please check out this article: Search Query Structures

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4. Alert Assistant

On the right-hand side, Mention will provide you with the list of boolean operators that are offered along with an example of how to use them. We recommend reviewing this list to see how you can enhance your alert:

📖 Pease check out this article for the full list of operators available in Mention with definitions and examples: List of Boolean Operators

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5. Mentions Preview

Next to the Alert Assistant, you will find the Mentions Preview which display an estimated number of mentions that your alert might fetch over the course of 30 days.

To activate the Preview, please click on the preview button that appears at the top of your alert composer:

You can use the preview an an indicator of potential quota consumption for your alert. As you modify your alert, please re-click on the preview button to review the new number of potential mentions.

Along with the preview number, Mention will provide you with a list of potential articles that your alert will fetch. If you hover over these articles, you will see a preview of the content.

📖 For more information on the mention preview, check out this article: Preview Mentions During Alert Creation

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6. Activate Historical Data

If you account has access to the Historical Data feature, you can activate it by clicking on the Activate toggle switch that appears at the top of your composer.

By default, Historical Data will be set to 30 days in the past and Mention will display the amount of mentions that will be deduced from your quota when you activate Historical data. You can change this option by clicking on the Calendar menu. Once you are set, you can click on the Deduce quota button:

Once your alert is created, Mention will reduce the estimated quota from your account and will begin fetching historical and new mentions at the same time.

❗Historical Data will take your monthly quota into your account. If you do not have enough quota to fetch historical mentions, you will see a warning message. If you need to add more quota to your account, please contact [email protected] or your dedicated account manager.

📖 For more information on Historical Data, please check out this article: Activate Historical Data

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7. Sources & Blocked Websites

Once your search query is set, you can head over to the Sources & Blocked Sites tab:

  • The Sources section will allow you to choose the platforms and type of websites that you want to monitor. These are the sources your alert will monitor when the alert is created.

  • The Blocked Website box is where you can paste the URLs of websites you want to exclude from your monitoring.

We recommend turning off the sources you don't want to monitor and excluding websites in order to preserve your Mention Quota.

💡 Mention Tip - The Mention Preview will take into account the sources you are monitoring in this section. If you remove a Source from your alert, you can update the preview to check the new number of mentions you will receive.

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8. Choose your Monitored Pages

In the next section, you can begin configuring the URLs for your Monitored Pages. This section is divided into two tabs:

  • Social Pages : monitor all new posts from social media pages

  • Review Websites : monitor all new posts from specific review websites

All you need to do is add the URL of the social pages or review websites that you want to monitor:

⚙️ To view the list of Review Sites that you can monitor, please head over to the Review Site tab and click on the button titled "list of supported sites":

📖 For more information on Monitored Pages, please check out these articles:

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9. Save your Alert

After all of that you can save your new Alert! Your new alert will begin fetching for content on the web immediately upon creation and you will be brought directly to the Mention Feed.

💡 Mention Tip - Apply a Quota Limit to Alerts

As an extra tip, we recommend going into your Account Settings and adding a quota limit to your alerts. This will allow you to manage quota consumption with ease and it is a great resource if your alert is predicted to fetch a lot of mentions.

For more information on adding a quota limit, check out this article: Manage Alert Consumption

Thank you! If you have any questions, please contact your dedicated account manager or reach out to [email protected].

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