How to Collect & Organize Positive Mentions to Build Authority

Most marketers are so focused on selling that they forget the most powerful tool in their arsenal: gratitude. When you say thank you, whether it’s a 15-second video, a Cameo, a gift card, or a LinkedIn recommendation, you trigger something deeply human: reciprocation.

When you put positive energy out there, people respond in kind. They leave reviews, they tag you in posts, they record videos saying nice things about you. This isn’t theory, it’s basic human psychology. Gary Vaynerchuk calls it “jab, jab, jab, right hook.” You give first, and the returns follow naturally.

The problem? Most people never collect these positive mentions. They scroll past them, forget about them, or don’t realize how valuable they are. That’s what this system fixes.

Understanding the why, how, what framework

Before you start collecting mentions, you need to understand how to categorize content. Every piece of content falls into one of three categories.

Why content tells a story. It captures a specific moment in time that carries an emotional payload. A video of someone expressing gratitude, a memory from a conference, a heartfelt thank you. These are all “why” content. They work because they make people feel something. It’s the same reason reality TV is so addictive. The emotional content is what drives engagement, even when the scenarios are staged. We had clients like TBS and WWE, and I didn’t realize until later that all of it is staged because they’re engineering the emotional payload.

How content shares knowledge. It’s step-by-step, educational, and practical. For example, Dr. Jordan Bowen, a chiropractor, posts videos showing stretching exercises to help people avoid injury. That’s a perfect “how” video. He’s demonstrating his expertise so that people watching naturally think, “I need this guy to help me.” This is where most of your effort should go, like the meat in a hamburger.

What content is your call to action. It’s your X, Y, Z statement: “I’m [name] and I help [audience] achieve [result].” It’s direct and clear about what you offer.

The biggest mistake people make is mixing these together. A video titled “Why You Need to Hire Me” isn’t a why video, it’s a what. Getting this distinction right is critical because your entire content library depends on proper categorization.

Building your Content Library from scratch

Here’s where the real work begins.

Open a Google Sheet (or any online spreadsheet, the key is that it’s shareable so virtual assistants can help later) and create these columns:

URL for the link to the mention. Who for the person who said it. Date in year-month-day format for easy sorting. Topic for how it ties to your topic wheel. Category for whether it’s a why, how, or what. Comments for any notes. Edited for whether you’ve processed it. Flag for follow-up. Then three authority columns: Authority who scored 1 to 10, Authority where scored 1 to 10, and Authority what scored 1 to 10, plus an Authority total that sums the three.

Don’t overthink the scoring. A 10 means top-tier authority, a 1 means minimal. You’re looking at three dimensions: how important is the person saying it, how prominent is the platform where it appears, and how strong is the actual endorsement.

For example, Eric Swanson, a major conference organizer, recorded a casual phone video in his backyard saying “you’re the best” six times in eight seconds.

That scores about an 8 for who, a 2 for where, and an 8 for what, giving 18 out of 30 points. Compare that to Heather Dopson, who ran social media globally for GoDaddy, interviewing you on the GoDaddy Facebook page about your digital marketing process. That might score 26 or 27 out of 30 because the who, where, and what are all high authority.

Mining your existing content for hidden mentions

Here’s the part most people skip: you already have a goldmine of positive mentions sitting in your history. You just need to dig them up.

Facebook Memories at facebook.com/memories is one of the most underrated tools for this. Every day, Facebook surfaces posts from one, two, five years ago. When a memory pops up showing someone saying something positive about you, grab it. Put it in your spreadsheet. Then re-share it, which rekindles the relationship and often generates fresh engagement. I do this every single day.

Podcasts are another massive source. If you’ve been interviewed on a podcast, think about how many positive mentions are embedded in that episode. The host reads your bio, which is essentially an endorsement. They say nice things to make you look good because why would they interview someone they don’t respect? Throughout the conversation they’re validating your expertise. I was on the Escape Your Limits podcast with Matthew Januszek, who runs Escape Fitness and has interviewed people like Mr. Olympia and Olympic World Champions. That single interview, which ran an hour and 46 minutes, contains roughly a hundred collectible positive snippets.

I also appeared on the GoDaddy blog with Heather Dopson, and that one conversation alone scored nearly 27 authority points.

LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social platforms are full of notifications you’ve probably ignored. People tagging you, commenting on your posts, sharing your content. Mary Henderson, for example, is someone to follow for LinkedIn and personal branding. She tagged me in a post and made a one-minute video about it. Ryan Deiss, who runs Digital Marketer, even joked about me in a comment thread. All of these are collectible mentions that most people never bother to save.

Working with others to multiply mentions

One of the most powerful things about this system is that it works even better when you collaborate. Travis Chambers, who runs Chamber Media (they’re known for high-end Harmon Brothers style video production), brought his entire team to one of our workshops. He posted about it, said great things, and his people learned alongside ours. Is he a competitor? Not at all. We refer high-end video work to him, and he refers analytical and ad-tuning work to us.

Chandler Bolt, who teaches people how to publish books through Self-Publishing School, was another great example. I interviewed him about how to publish a book, said thank you multiple times throughout the conversation, and those snippets became shareable content for both of us. It’s a mutual admiration society, and it works because the endorsements are genuine.

The key insight is this: when you collaborate with others in your space, you’re not competing, you’re creating a network of mutual endorsements that makes everyone more credible.

Scaling with virtual assistants

Once you understand the system, you don’t have to do it all yourself. An AI tool can go through a one-hour podcast and pull out every positive mention, categorize it, score it, and add it to your spreadsheet.

But here’s the important part: do it yourself first. Spend a few days filling your spreadsheet to at least 50 items. You need to understand the process before you can delegate it effectively.

The magic box mindset

Think of your Content Library not as a tedious spreadsheet, but as a magic box. Everything you put in, you get 10 times more out of. Every positive mention you collect becomes fuel for social proof, blog posts, social media content, and ultimately, client acquisition.

You wouldn’t leave money lying on the ground. Don’t leave positive mentions uncollected either. Dollar bills, quarters, hundred dollar bills, put them all in the box. Close the lid, press the button, and watch the returns multiply.

The system is simple: say thank you, collect the positive mentions that come back, organize them, score them for authority, and let them work for you. Start today, even if you’re starting from zero. The momentum builds faster than you think.