Everyone has “Googled” prospective employees, friends, and significant others, but have you ever Googled your own business? If not, you should! In fact, this should be a task done at least weekly to help monitor your online marketing presence.
In today’s age, society is so concerned about protecting their personal identity but rarely think about protecting their own business’ identity or brand image. You should be aware if your name or your business’ name is associated with anything online, positive or negative. Google has made this easy with Google Alerts.
Google Alerts are exactly what they sound like. It is a way to set up alerts to let you know when new content from news, web, blogs, video, and/or discussion groups matches a set of search terms that you select. You can receive notifications by email, as a web feed, or they can be shown on your Google Portal.
I recommend you utilize this valuable tool for yourself, your associates, your business, and your competitors. With technology advancing every day why not get on board with something as simple and easy to use as this?
What should you monitor?
- Monitor mentions of your business and associates
- Keep tabs on your competition
- Getting the latest news
- Share positive mentions of your business on social media
- Monitor industry trends
- Track marketing efforts
- Find sources for blog posts and presentations
How do you set this up?
- Go to http://www.google.com/alerts
- Fill out the search criteria you would like to monitor
- Click Create Alert
- An email will be sent to the email address you submitted for confirmation
Isn’t it better for you to know what is found when your name is “Googled” before your clients do? It is very important that you protect your business’ image online and know anything your potential clients may find. The internet is a vast world of information where pretty much anything can and will be discovered. Remember knowledge is power.