Tip 1: Use spears, not nets.
Spears are specific alerts that consistently generate interesting and actionable results.
Nets are general alerts that capture lots of results, but not many actionable ones. PMAlerts is meant to be used with spears, not nets.
Tip 2: Use PMAlerts like a TODO list.
Try creating alerts that generate
specific and actionable signals so you can build a
habit of engaging with highly relevant results.
| Instead of |
Try |
Reason |
| Sendgrid |
"problems with Sendgrid" |
A lot of people talk about Sendgrid. A more specific query will help you filter through the general conversation and engage with more actionable conversations. |
| noodles |
"noodle recipe" |
A lot of people talk about noodles. But if what you really want is noodle recipes, think about the phrases that people use when they're talking about noodle recipes. |
| RSS |
"RSS reader" |
A lot of people talk about RSS. But far fewer people talk about RSS readers. Increasing specificity will decrease noise. |
Tip 3: Use quotes and URLs to increase specificity.
If you create an alert query that contains "quotes", you'll only ever see results that contain the text exactly as it appears between the quotes (case-insensitive). If you're searching for a product, try searching for your product name
and your product URL to make sure you're catching everything.
| What you use |
What you get |
What you don't get |
| Tesla stock |
Tesla split their stock |
NKLA Tesla.com |
| "Tesla stock" |
Tesla stock surges |
TSLA stock surges |
| "Tesla stock" NKLA |
Tesla stock beats NKLA |
Tesla Nikola stocks |
| "Tesla" "stock" NKLA |
Tesla sees surge in stock |
Tesla NKLA compared |
| tesla.com |
Tesla.com got updated |
Tesla's automating everything |
Tip 4: Tie your queries to your objectives.
For example: if your objective is to
generate leads, consider the language that your target demographic uses, and then listen to variations of that language.
| Objective |
Query 1 |
Query 2 |
| Generate leads for a social listening app |
"like google alerts" |
"launched today" |
| Manage your reputation |
"Elon Musk" |
"Musk" |
| Understand enterprise chat customers |
"use Slack" |
"uses Slack" |
| Support Teams customers |
"does teams" |
"can microsoft teams" |
| Engage with a hashtag |
#sociallistening |
#indiehacker |
Tip 5: Use PMAlerts to generate leads.
If you tell PMAlerts which results sound like leads, PMAlerts will tell you if they have their DMs open and will set you up with a templated cold message that converts.