Mention Triage and Escalation Routing (Delivery)

Mention Triage and Escalation Routing (Delivery)

1. 01

   Define the escalation tiers in writing before the first monitoring window opens

   Three tiers work for most retainers: Tier 1 is a logged mention with no action, Tier 2 is a client notification within 4 business hours, Tier 3 is a live call plus a drafted holding statement. Get the client to sign off on the tier definitions, not just the tool configuration.

2. 02

   Assign a named human owner to each tier and a backup for the backup

   A monitoring feed with no rostered owner is a dashboard, not a service. Publish the roster in the shared client workspace so the client knows who to call at 9pm on a Saturday.

3. 03

   Set the alert thresholds against the client's actual risk surface, not the platform default

   Volume spikes, sentiment drops, and keyword hits all fire differently. A negative mention from an account with 40 followers and one from a national news outlet should not land in the same inbox queue.

4. 04

   Run a 10-business-day calibration window and log every alert that fired

   Record true positives, false positives, and misses. Brand24 and Awario both surface reach and sentiment scores per mention, which gives you a defensible basis for arguing a threshold up or down rather than guessing.

5. 05

   Cut the noise floor by suppressing known-benign sources

   Competitor comparison pages, reseller listings, and your own client's scheduled posts generate recurring false positives. Whitelist them explicitly and document the exclusion so the next analyst does not re-add them.

6. 06

   Draft the response playbook per tier with pre-approved language

   Tier 3 needs a holding statement the client has already approved. Writing it during a live incident costs hours the client will remember. Keep the approved text in the shared workspace and version it quarterly.

7. 07

   Close the loop with a written incident record after every Tier 2 and Tier 3 event

   Capture what fired, when it was seen, who responded, what was published, and what the mention volume looked like over the following 72 hours. This record is the evidence base for the next retainer renewal conversation.

8. 08

   Review tier definitions and thresholds at each monthly client review

   Brand risk shifts with product launches, funding rounds, and regulatory news. A threshold set in month one is usually wrong by month six, and the client will notice before you do.