When someone mentions a competitor online, it means they're either already using the product or actively thinking about it. Both are high-value intercept moments.
The goal isn't to monitor everything — it's to catch the specific moments where someone is frustrated, comparing options, or publicly switching.
Choose Your Monitoring Tool
| Tool | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Brand24 | From $49/mo | Best price-to-coverage for SMB; AI sentiment; Slack integration |
| Awario | From $24/mo | Boolean search operators; cheaper than Brand24 |
| Mention | From $41/mo | Strong multi-language; collaborative inbox for teams |
| Talkwalker | $1,000+/mo | Enterprise — adds broadcast, print, podcast monitoring |
For most teams: Brand24 at $49/month covers news, blogs, forums, X, Reddit, and YouTube. Start there. Connect it to Clawdbot via webhook or Zapier.
Set Up Keyword Groups
Track four types of mentions — prioritized by intercept value:
P1 — Immediate
"[competitor] alternative", "[competitor] vs", "switching from [competitor]"
P2 — Same day
"[competitor] bad", "[competitor] down", "frustrated with [competitor]"
P3 — Daily digest
[competitor brand name] mentions broadly — track sentiment trends
P4 — Weekly review
Category terms broadly — understand what customers are saying about the space
Alert Routing in Clawdbot
Connect Brand24 or Awario to Clawdbot via webhook. Clawdbot then:
Scores the mention for intercept value (comparison vs. general mention)
Categorizes by platform (Reddit, X, blog, forum)
Generates a draft response calibrated to the mention type
Routes to your alert inbox with priority label
Clawdbot inbox: competitor mention with priority score, platform, and draft response
When and How to Respond
Not every mention warrants a response. Use this decision tree:
| Mention type | Respond? | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluating alternatives | Yes — immediately | Position fairly; don't bash; offer a genuine comparison |
| Frustrated with competitor | Yes — same day | Acknowledge the frustration; mention your product if fit is clear |
| General positive mention | No | No value in inserting yourself here |
| Competitor outage/incident | Yes — within hours | Offer your product as an alternative; keep it respectful, not opportunistic |
| Casual mention in content | No | Too low-intent to justify response effort |
Don't trash competitors. People evaluating options don't trust brands that talk poorly about competition — they trust brands that give them useful information.
Metrics That Matter
Response rate
% of P1/P2 mentions responded to within target window
Profile visits per response
Are your replies driving investigation?
Demo bookings from intercept
Attributable pipeline from competitor mentions
Competitor sentiment trend
Are competitors getting more negative mentions over time?
Foundation
Haven't set up Clawdbot yet?
OpenClaw + Telegram + Claude. Takes ~20 minutes.
