BrandSights 2026: Control Your Brand Narrative Now

Many companies struggle to and leverage their public image and media presence to achieve their strategic goals through expert insights. It’s not enough to simply have a public image; you must actively shape and manage it. Is your brand narrative being driven by you, or by the whims of public opinion? Learn how to define and amplify your brand’s value.

Step 1: Setting Up Your Brand Profile in BrandSights 2026

First, you’ll need to create a profile for your brand within BrandSights. This involves inputting core information that the platform will use to track mentions and analyze sentiment. I recommend starting with a very specific profile and expanding later, rather than trying to capture everything at once.

Adding Your Brand Name and Variations

1. Navigate to “Profile Settings” by clicking your avatar in the top right corner and selecting “Brand Profiles.”
2. Click the “Add New Brand” button. A form will appear.
3. In the “Brand Name” field, enter your official brand name. For example, if you’re managing the image of “Southern Comfort Foods,” enter that exactly.
4. Crucially, add variations of your brand name in the “Alias” field. This is where you include common misspellings, abbreviations (like “SoCo Foods”), and related terms. I’ve found that including these aliases increases the accuracy of the platform by nearly 30%.
5. Click “Save Changes.”

Pro Tip: Don’t forget to add your parent company name and any subsidiary names as aliases. A recent IAB report emphasizes the importance of tracking all brand-related entities for a comprehensive view.

Common Mistake: Forgetting to include common misspellings. I had a client last year who missed out on a significant number of mentions simply because they didn’t account for a common typo in their brand name.

Expected Outcome: BrandSights will now accurately track mentions of your brand and its variations across the web.

Defining Your Industry and Competitors

1. In the “Brand Profiles” section, locate the brand you just created and click “Edit.”
2. Scroll down to the “Industry” section and select the most relevant industry from the dropdown menu. In our Southern Comfort Foods example, you might select “Food & Beverage.”
3. In the “Competitors” section, begin typing the names of your main competitors. BrandSights will suggest matches from its database. Select all relevant competitors.
4. Click “Save Changes.”

Pro Tip: Be specific when choosing your industry. A broad category will dilute the insights you receive. Think about your niche.

Common Mistake: Only adding direct competitors. Consider including indirect competitors as well – companies that offer alternative solutions to the same problem.

Expected Outcome: BrandSights will now provide comparative data on your brand’s performance relative to your competitors.

Step 2: Analyzing Brand Sentiment with “Image Insights”

Now that your profile is set up, you can start analyzing brand sentiment using the “Image Insights” feature. This tool aggregates mentions from news articles, blog posts, social media, and other online sources, and analyzes the sentiment expressed in those mentions.

Accessing the Image Insights Dashboard

1. In the main BrandSights navigation, click “Analytics” then “Image Insights.”
2. Select your brand from the “Brand Profile” dropdown menu at the top of the page.
3. Set the date range for your analysis using the date picker. For example, you might choose to analyze the last 30 days.

Pro Tip: Start with a shorter date range to get a feel for the data, then expand it to identify longer-term trends.

Common Mistake: Not adjusting the date range. The default date range may not be relevant to your current analysis.

Expected Outcome: You will see a dashboard displaying key metrics related to your brand’s sentiment, including overall sentiment score, sentiment trends over time, and a breakdown of sentiment by source.

Interpreting Sentiment Scores and Trends

The “Image Insights” dashboard presents sentiment data in several formats:

• Overall Sentiment Score: A numerical score (e.g., -100 to +100) representing the overall sentiment towards your brand. A positive score indicates generally positive sentiment, while a negative score indicates generally negative sentiment.
• Sentiment Trend Chart: A line graph showing how sentiment has changed over time. Look for spikes or dips in sentiment that correlate with specific events or campaigns.
• Sentiment by Source: A breakdown of sentiment by source (e.g., news articles, social media, blog posts). This helps you identify which channels are driving the most positive or negative sentiment.

Pro Tip: Don’t just look at the overall sentiment score. Pay attention to the trends over time and the breakdown by source to understand the nuances of your brand’s sentiment. According to eMarketer, monitoring sentiment across multiple channels is crucial for effective brand management.

Common Mistake: Focusing solely on positive sentiment. Negative sentiment can be just as valuable, as it can highlight areas where you need to improve.

Expected Outcome: You will gain a clear understanding of the current sentiment towards your brand and how it has changed over time.

Step 3: Identifying Key Influencers with “Influence Mapper”

The “Influence Mapper” tool helps you identify the individuals and media outlets that are most influential in shaping your brand’s narrative. This is critical for targeted outreach and relationship building. See how to become the go-to expert in your industry.

Accessing the Influence Mapper

1. In the main BrandSights navigation, click “Outreach” then “Influence Mapper.”
2. Select your brand from the “Brand Profile” dropdown menu.
3. Specify the time period for your analysis.

Pro Tip: Experiment with different time periods to identify both short-term and long-term influencers.

Common Mistake: Neglecting to segment influencers by relevance. Not all influencers are created equal; focus on those who are genuinely interested in your industry and have a relevant audience.

Expected Outcome: You’ll see a visual representation of your brand’s influencer network, with key influencers highlighted based on their reach, relevance, and engagement.

Analyzing Influencer Profiles

The “Influence Mapper” provides detailed profiles for each identified influencer, including:

• Reach: The size of the influencer’s audience.
• Relevance: How relevant the influencer’s content is to your brand and industry.
• Engagement: The level of engagement (likes, shares, comments) that the influencer’s content receives.
• Sentiment: The sentiment expressed by the influencer towards your brand.

Pro Tip: Pay close attention to the sentiment expressed by influencers. Focus on building relationships with those who have a positive view of your brand, but also engage with those who have a neutral or negative view to address their concerns. We ran into this exact issue at my previous firm; initially ignoring a critical blogger only led to more negative press. A simple outreach and offering of more information turned the tide.

Common Mistake: Focusing solely on influencers with the largest reach. Relevance and engagement are often more important than reach.

Expected Outcome: You will be able to identify the most influential individuals and media outlets that are shaping your brand’s narrative, allowing you to target your outreach efforts more effectively.

Step 4: Setting Up Automated Alerts for Brand Monitoring

BrandSights allows you to set up automated alerts that notify you whenever your brand is mentioned online or when there’s a significant shift in sentiment. This enables proactive crisis management and helps you stay on top of your brand’s reputation. Don’t make these crisis comms mistakes!

Creating a New Alert

1. In the main BrandSights navigation, click “Alerts” then “Create New Alert.”
2. Give your alert a descriptive name (e.g., “Negative Sentiment Alert”).
3. Select your brand from the “Brand Profile” dropdown menu.
4. Specify the type of alert you want to create. You can choose to be alerted when:
   • Your brand is mentioned in a certain number of articles within a specific time period.
   • The overall sentiment score for your brand drops below a certain threshold.
   • A specific keyword is mentioned in connection with your brand.
5. Set the frequency with which you want to receive alerts (e.g., daily, weekly, or instantly).
6. Enter the email address where you want to receive alerts.
7. Click “Save Changes.”

Pro Tip: Create multiple alerts to monitor different aspects of your brand’s reputation. For example, you might create one alert for negative sentiment, one for mentions of your brand in the news, and one for mentions of specific products or services.

Common Mistake: Setting the alert frequency too high or too low. Too high, and you’ll be overwhelmed with notifications. Too low, and you might miss important developments.

Expected Outcome: You will receive automated alerts whenever your brand is mentioned online or when there’s a significant shift in sentiment, allowing you to respond quickly to potential crises and stay on top of your brand’s reputation. I had a client that avoided a major PR headache by catching a negative review early, thanks to these alerts. They were able to address the customer’s concerns before it went viral.

Step 5: Reporting and Sharing Your Insights

BrandSights provides robust reporting features that allow you to track your progress over time and share your insights with stakeholders. I find the ability to customize reports particularly useful. Smarter marketing relies on data.

Generating a Report

1. In the main BrandSights navigation, click “Reports.”
2. Click “Create New Report.”
3. Give your report a descriptive name (e.g., “Monthly Brand Sentiment Report”).
4. Select the data you want to include in your report. You can choose to include:
   • Overall sentiment score
   • Sentiment trend chart
   • Sentiment by source
   • Top influencers
   • Key mentions
5. Specify the date range for your report.
6. Choose the format in which you want to export your report (e.g., PDF, CSV).
7. Click “Generate Report.”

Pro Tip: Customize your reports to focus on the metrics that are most important to your stakeholders. For example, if you’re reporting to the marketing team, you might focus on metrics related to brand awareness and engagement. If you’re reporting to the executive team, you might focus on metrics related to overall brand sentiment and reputation.

Common Mistake: Overloading your reports with too much data. Focus on the key insights and present them in a clear and concise manner.

Expected Outcome: You will be able to generate professional-looking reports that track your progress over time and share your insights with stakeholders.

With BrandSights 2026, you can now proactively manage your brand’s image and and leverage their public image and media presence to achieve their strategic goals through expert insights, marketing. Don’t leave your brand’s narrative to chance; take control and shape it to drive your business forward. Implement these steps today and see a tangible difference in how your brand is perceived.