Spotlight on Listening: How to Create Google Alerts in HootSuite

by Carol Stephen June 24, 2016 Follow @Carol_Stephen

June 24, 2016

If you haven’t seen my post about Social Media Listening, you might want to read it first: Five Quick Ways to Boost Your Social Media Listening.

In my post on listening, I mention Google Alerts in Hootsuite briefly, and decided to expand that point. Seeing your alerts all in one place in Hootsuite allows you to listen to what’s being said about you. I’ve never seen all the steps for setting up a Google Alert in Hootsuite together in one place, so here you go!

As You Create An Alert, You’ll See a Preview

Set up Google Alerts

If you’ve never set up a Google Alert, first visit Google Alerts. Create alerts for any keywords, your name, your company name, etc.

You might want to set up alerts for misspellings of your name, too. Note: One cool thing is as you’re creating an alert, you’ll see a preview. Above, a snippet for a Google Alert for “startups.”

Make Sure to Choose “RSS Feed” As Your Delivery Option

Decide Frequency & Delivery

Next, under “Show Options,” choose how often you want the alerts. Mine are set for once a day. Note: Under “Deliver to,” make sure to choose “RSS feed” here.

Get the RSS Feed

Once you’ve set up your Google Alert, you’ll get an RSS Feed. In a minute, you’ll copy that URL. By the way, you can always go back and change the frequency with which you get your alerts later. Or delete your alert and go have a drink! Whatever!

HootSuite Syndicator

HootSuite Syndicator is a free app that helps you set up RSS feeds in your HootSuite dashboard. Install it now. The Syndicator is a pretty nifty tool to help you cut through the noise and see who’s talking about you or your company. Or startups, in this case.

Add Your RSS Feed to Hootsuite

Set up a stream with the Hootsuite Syndicator within Hootsuite. Click on the RSS Feed icon within the Syndicator.

Subscription Manager Screen

Add Your Feed to the Subscription Manager Screen

Once you click on the RSS Feed icon, the Subscription Manager screen opens. Now paste that RSS feed URL into the “Add Subscription” spot, click “Add Subscription, and click “Done!”

You’re Not Done Yet

Details

There’s a little right arrow under “Actions,” at the top of the screen. Click it so that your alerts appear.

Set up a Stream in Hootsuite

Set up a Tab in Hootsuite

I recommend that you set up a tab with all your streams in one place. If you don’t know how to do that, Hootsuite has some articles and videos to help with that. My startup stream is above. You may want to add additional keywords on the same tab, so they’re all in one spot.