Booleans also known as queries or search terms refer to the combination of keywords that you are looking to track across social media and other online sources.

These can be created in multiple forms/keywords and combinations using Operators. Creating effective booleans involves using the right combination of operators along with a comprehensive set of search terms/keywords.

To begin creating an effective booleans/query, you need to identify the objective for your search and kind of data you would like to track.

Let’s define our purpose of tracking the data, Let’s assume we want to track the mentions around Jaguar car 

These can be as simple looking as this:

Simple Boolean Query 

"Jaguar" OR "#Jaguar"

OR

Advanced Boolean Query

(("Jaguar" OR "#Jaguar" OR "@jaguar" OR "@jaguarsingapore" OR "#JaguarMena" OR "@JaguarMena") NOT ("@MeetAnimals" OR "river safari" OR "riversafari" OR "@tiny_jaguar" OR "@Jaguarpawdj" OR "@jaguarpaw" OR "paw" OR "attacks" OR "mature" OR "cougar" OR "fishing" OR "skull" OR "@NatGeo" OR "#AtariJaguar" OR "@ChooseWild" OR "save Jaguar" OR "el jaguar" OR "@BiancaJaguar1" OR "@Jaguar_4_life" OR "@nedthetoothpic" OR animal))

The premise is simple. Simple Query is too broad and can result in too many irrelevant posts(As Jaguar is also animal) whereas Advanced Boolean Query will result in more accurate and relevant results as the query has been optimized and has been designed with a more comprehensive listing of keywords/phrases/search terms that need to be included and excluded.

Use of exclusions are not always necessary. But it helps to exclude the mentions which are not relevant to our purpose of tracking.

Variations you need to look out for an ensure you are covering include the following:

• Slangs (Different way of naming a brand)

• Translations in other languages for more coverage

• Hashtag versions for your keywords (#ilovejaguar,#jaguarstories)

• Handles (@jaguar – names of social media pages or accounts)