What are people saying about you?

Your brand reputation (either personal or professional) is an important aspect of your business.  Being "in the know" about what people are saying about your brand is important.  Unfortunately, branding is not like the world of glitz and glamour where any publicity is good publicity. 

For instance, you may be one of the top players in professional baseball, a role model for kids, and yet admit to taking steroids to gain a professional advantage. While when Alex Rodriguez took the drugs, they were not banned by Major League Baseball, he still tarnished his reputation and that of the sport. It's the same for organizations. If you are a financial institution and you require assistance to maintain your ability to do business, it does not project stability. You may scare your current and potential customers away. General Motors is the same. People are concerned about buying cars from a brand that may no longer exist in a few years. Branding is sensitive to public opinion. These examples show how your brand can be severely damaged or even ruined.  

In the always competitive market of business, you may want to know what your competitors are doing. You may want to know what people have to say about your products and services. You may want to find out how you can improve. Or, you may just want the opportunity to reach out to your customers.

Enter Google Alerts! Google Alerts is a great tool that will send you an alert (you set up) whenever any of your search criteria is mentioned on the Internet.  Pretty simple right?  By being constantly vigilant about what is being said, you can stay current with damage control, be aware of what people like and dislike, improve your products, or maintain a close watch on your competitors. You can set up alerts for anything your heart desires including watching the news for when the iPhone goes open source (I can dream!).

Twitter is another great resource for monitoring your brand.  With nearly six million unique visitors a month (according to compete.com), you can assume the number of active users is massive. Those active users represent current customers or potential customers. They also represent a powerful social network who can spread information instantly to a domino network. Reach out to them and be aware. Practice listening and responding to feedback even when it's bad. Acknowledge potential for improvement if needed. You don't have to be perfect, just transparent, honest, and willing to improve. Besides developing a network of followers, you can search Twitter for key information. As well, Monitter is a great site for seeing real time tweets of your key words. Enter in up to three key words on the page and see a live stream of what people are saying. A great resource if you want live feedback.

With Google Alerts and Twitter, why waste time crawling the web to see what people have to say. Instead, spend the time wisely listening and then use it to improve your brand, your products, and your services. Afterwards, you can reap in the praise and rewards. When that happens, you can come back and thank me.  

Co-Authored By: Lindsey Robbins