VibeMetrix: FAQ

WHY VIBEMETRIX

What is the purpose of VibeMetrix?

VibeMetrix is a web-based tool to facilitate conversational marketing. VibeMetrix finds bloggers interested in your company and products, and helps you track what they're saying and carry on conversations with them and their readers. The goal of this conversational marketing is to develop an active community of bloggers who write about and link to your company and product pages on the Web. These links have the additional benefit of improving your search engine rankings for keywords related to your products. Over time a virtuous cycle develops, in which you gain a larger following and a more positive online profile. This results is greater traffic from better qualified customers. Who should use VibeMetrix?

VibeMetrix users typically come from several groups:

Marketing and PR firms looking for a more efficient way to manage and report on conversational marketing carried out for their clients.
Search Engine Optimization consultants who need to develop organic links for their clients now that Google is rejecting sites that use paid links.
Google Adwords users who want an economical way to test keywords to discover the most useful phrases and avoid phrases that don't apply to their customers.
Product managers in large companies who want to target their marketing efforts more effectively than simply buying Google keyword ads that appear throughout the Web.
Small businesses that need an inexpensive way to develop a circle of devoted bloggers who will promote their products for free.

How does the 14-day free trial work?

It is truly a free trail with no commitment and no strings attached. Get this: We don't even ask for your credit card information. And it is a full-featured trial - nothing is disabled. At any time during the 14-day free trial period you can upgrade to a paid account by going to the Account page and entering your credit card information. If you don't sign up for a paid account by the end of this trial period, we'll save all of your work and all your results for 14 additional days, but you'll no longer be able to log into your account. At the end of this grace period, we delete your account and your work is lost and cannot be restored. So really - upgrade!

Can't I just use free services to find blog posts for a keyword and comment on them?

Of course you can, but you'll get tired in a hurry. Certainly there are some excellent blog search engines and alert services, but they don't provide the recording, tracking and reporting that VibeMetrix does.

For example, search engines don't provide filters for refining results. VibeMetrix not only provides up-to-the-minute search results continuously, it also allows you to filter those results by keyword and by date.

In addition, when you run a social marketing campaign, you'll want to record notes on the comments you leave, and save the URLs for these posts somewhere so you can follow up. Most people find that they end up using Excel or a text editor for this, but VibeMetrix lets you do this as part of the item flow right in your workspace.

Also, you may need formatted reports to show your boss or client what you've been doing. VibeMetrix provides a range of detailed reporting tools and charts so you can track your results and activities over time and produce spiffy looking graphics for your status updates.

Because of the time it saves them, our users tell us that VibeMetrix pays for itself each month in the first hour or two they use it.

USING VIBEMETRIX

How do I change my keywords or create new campaigns?

The control panel in the Search and Saved tabs allows you to create campaigns and edit the keywords in each campaign. You can also edit this information using the Keywords link in the top menu.

What type of keywords should I use?

Start with the obvious - your brand names, your competitors’ names, words that define your category. Using VibeMetrix you'll quickly learn which keywords are relevant to your interests - and by reading posts you'll get an idea of other keywords you might not initially have thought of.

What are the rules for entering keywords for searching?

Each line in the keyword entry form represents a separate search, so if you enter:
```
american
airlines
```
You will see blog posts that either contain the keyword american OR airlines.
Keywords are not case sensitive, so upper and lower case keywords match the same blog posts.
If you want to search for more than one word, you can put them on the same line:
```
american airlines
```
This will find blog posts that contain american AND airlines. These words can be anywhere in the post, in any order, and do not have to be next to each other. There is no limit on the number of words you can put in a single line.
If you want to match a phrase, you can put the words in quotes:
```
"american airlines"
```
This will find posts where american AND airlines are next to each other. Although the words must be together, they can be in any order, so this will find both american airlines and airlines american.
If you want to specify an exact match where the order of words matters, you can use square brackets instead of quotes:
```
[american airlines]
```
You can also combine quoted or bracketed phrases with individual words:
```
[american airlines] meals
[delta airlines] meals
```
This will find posts with (american airlines AND meals) OR (delta airlines AND meals).
A shortcut for adding the same keywords to multiple phrases is to use the + syntax on its own line:
```
[american airlines] 
[delta airlines] 
+meals
```
This will also find posts with (american airlines AND meals) OR (delta airlines AND meals). Multiple words can also be used with the + syntax.
```
[american airlines] 
[delta airlines] 
+good meals
```
One limitation is that you cannot use quoted or bracketed phrases with the + keywords, so this would not work:
```
[american airlines] 
[delta airlines] 
+"good meals"
```
Which is OK, because you weren't likely to find many matches anyway. Sorry, airline humor.
The opposite of the + syntax is (oddly enough) the -. This will exclude posts that contain one or more words:
```
[american airlines] 
[delta airlines] 
-baggage
```
This will find posts with (american airlines AND NOT baggage) OR (delta airlines AND NOT baggage). You cannot use quotes or brackets around the - keywords either.

Are plural and singular keywords the same in a search?

Good question. This involves a powerful form of VibeMetrix searching called stemming. When you search for airlines, we also find airlines and airliner. If you search for swim, we also find swimming, and vice versa. We even find anchovy when you search for anchovies. So if you enter the phrase:

american airlines

Here are some of the possible matches:

american AND airlines
americans AND airline
airlines AND americans

Stemming works for all forms of searching, except bracketed phrases. So if you don't want stemming when using keywords, just put them in brackets, such as:

[american airlines]

This format is most often used for brand names and company names, where an exact match is needed.

What is the difference between a campaign and keywords?

A campaign is a collection of keywords pooled together for results and reports.

Small businesses may only need a single campaign, but larger companies typically want to create separate campaigns for each product. Marketing and PR firms will need to use separate campaigns for each client.

How many campaigns can I create?

VibeMetrix offers up to five campaigns per account. If you need more campaigns, you can create multiple accounts. We are planning a version that allows more campaigns and multiple users. If you think this would be useful for your marketing needs, please contact our sales department; you may be able to beta test this version before it is publicly released.

How many keywords can I have in each campaign?

You can have up to 100 keywords or phrases to each campaign.

Can I manage items in a tab using just the keyboard?

Certainly. VibeMetrix is all about productivity, so we have keyboard shortcuts that let you fly through an item list in the Search and Saved tabs. You can move to previous items with the Up Arrow or letter I. You can move to the next item with the Down Arrow or letter M. Items can be expanded with the Right Arrow or letter K, and collapsed with the Left Arrow or letter J. Items can be removed by pressing the Delete key, and the letter Z or Ctrl-Z will undo a removal.

After I move an item to the archive, how can I see it again?

You can run a report from the Reports tab, selecting "Archived" as your report type, to display any archived item and its associated notes. This report also lets you restore an archived item to the Saved tab.

Can I get an item back after I remove it?

There are two ways to restore an item after you "Remove" it. If you immediately press either the Z key or Ctrl-Z you will undo the removal. This restores only a single item, and only while you are on the current tab. You can also go to the Reports tab and select Removed Items as you report type. This will allow you to restore any removed items. When an item is restored, it is returned to the Saved tab, and all of its associated notes are again available.

When are searches done for new blog posts?

Always. They're being done right now. VibeMetrix searches blogs continuously for new posts that match your keywords. As soon as we find them, we add these items to your Search tab.

How does the Search tab work?

The Search tab works in real time - results are always up to the minute. Newest items are always placed at the top. You can filter those results by keyword and by date. And you can save a copy of an item to your Saved tab - it stays in your Search tab as well.

Can the same item appear in multiple campaigns?

Yes, the same keyword can be used in multiple campaigns, so the same search results can appear in different campaigns. When we find a match for a keyword, we place a copy of that item in every campaign requesting it. This allows you to manage a single item differently depending on the needs of each campaign.

What does the star mean?

What do you think it means? No, seriously, the star means whatever you want it to. Typically people use it to indicate particularly interesting items.

BILLING AND SUPPORT

How much does VibeMetrix cost?

Standard price is $249 per month, however, right now there is a promotion and we are offering it for $199 per month.

How do you bill my account?

Your credit card is billed when you register for a paid account, and every month on the anniversary of your initial registration date. No, we do not send you flowers on your anniversary.

Do you accept purchase orders?

Sorry, we are only able to accept payment through MasterCard and Visa.

Can I cancel my account without any penalty fees?

Of course. You can cancel at any time by contacting our billing department. You will receive a confirmation of your cancellation by email, and will never be billed again. There are no cancellation fees of any kind.

Is there someone I can call to discuss my online marketing needs?

We are always happy to discuss the ways VibeMetrix can be used to improve your marketing efforts. Call our sales department whenever you want to chat during our regular business hours.

How do I get technical support or report bugs?

You can email our support department at any time, or call us during our regular business hours.

vibemetrix More buzz, More traffic, More sales