📊 Create a Brand Dashboard You Can Schedule in Minutes

Have you built your Explore search and trying to figure out how to build a dashboard in Meltwater that shows your brand’s performance? You’re in the right place.

Today, we’re building a beginner-friendly dashboard using Universal Dashboards (UDS) in Analyze that shows:

• AI-powered Analysis

• Volume + Sentiment trends over time

• Brand vs. competitor performance

• How to share your report

For this walkthrough, we’ll follow the marketing team at Chipotle, who want to see how their brand is performing during Super Bowl season — and how they stack up against QDOBA and Taco Bell.

🧱 Step 1: Start with a Template

First, go to Analyze, then select Create Unified Dashboard. You’ll be prompted to choose a template.

For this workflow, we recommend to start with the “Brand ” report template.
It’s pre-loaded with helpful widgets like top themes, average sentiment, and coverage over time.

Then:

1. Select your saved Explore search (Chipotle)

2. Name your dashboard (e.g., “Chipotle Brand Performance – Q1 2026”) and choose the folder to save it in

3. Hit Create

   

    

💡 Pro Tip: You can always add a second brand (like Taco Bell) as a separate tab later.

🎛️ Step 2: How to Customize a Dashboard in Meltwater

Now that you’ve created your dashboard, you’ll land on a pre-populated view using the template you selected.

To customize:

1. Click Edit at the top right of the dashboard

2. Hover over any hamburger menu on a widget to delete, resize, or move it

3. Want to add something new? Insert a new row and click ➕ Add Widget

If you’re wondering how to add sentiment or volume widgets to a dashboard — this is where you do it.

You’ll see widget types grouped by purpose. To visualize brand performance, we recommend:

• Mentions and Engagement Trend → to track spikes and dips in volume & engagement

  

   

• Total Sentiment Trend → for positive and negative perception shifts

  

   

• AI Positive & Negative Analysis → for summarizing what’s driving the conversation

  

   

• Top Publications by Mentions → to see where you're being mentioned most

  

   

These widgets auto-populate based on the saved search you selected (e.g., Chipotle).

📂 Step 3: How to Add Competitor Comparison in a Dashboard

Now, let’s say Chipotle wants to track how they stack up against Taco Bell.

Here’s how:

1. While in Edit mode, click the drop-down arrow at the top left next to “Brand” tab

2. Select Duplicate (This will keep all your same widgets intact)

3. Name the tab (e.g., “Taco Bell – Q1 2026”)

4. Click the drop-down arrow next to the new tab

5. Select Edit Inputs and pick the competitor search (Taco Bell)

6. Click View at the top right to see it in action!

You now have the same widgets from Step 2 so your comparisons stays consistent.

📂 Step 4: How to Share a Dashboard Report in Meltwater

Once your report looks good, you should share it!

While in View mode, in the upper right corner, click Share to choose from:

• Interactive Link → live dashboard view (great for leadership)

• PowerPoint or Google Slides → quick drop into reporting decks

• PDF → static summary to send via email

• Schedule Export → to send reports on a recurring basis

📌 Learn more in this guide: Sharing Your Unified Dashboard

🗣️ How do You like to Share?

Have you created a dashboard you’re proud of? What’s your go-to widget or way to share?

👇 Drop your favorite tips in the comments — and if you're just getting started, join our live Report Building Workshop to see it in action.