Google Alerts, A Branding Strategy MUST HAVE!
Using Google Alerts should be as common as checking Facebook; after all, we monitor our personal brands on Facebook obsessively don’t we??? However we often forget to do the same for our professional lives.
The Google Alerts tool allows you to stay on top of what people are saying about your company and your brand, with one simple button. By using Google Alerts you can stay on top of what people are saying about you, your company, your brand, your competitors, even your favorite football team!
Checking Google Alerts may never become as consistent as checking your Facebook updates, and you may cringe at the thought of adding yet another item into your already crowded schedule. Never fear, Google is way ahead of you. With Google Alerts you can set email alerts that will send you updates if and when your brand is mentioned. You can even control the frequency of alerts, the volume and even the type of alerts you receive.
Through the tool's advanced settings you can:
- Choose your specific delivery rate.
- Choose specific sources for your alerts to come from (ex. Google News, Google Web Search, Google Blog search).
- Deliver to your RSS feed.
- Manage and export your alerts.
- Subscribe in multiple languages if you have a global brand.
- Change/Update your email address(es).
Using Google Alerts should become part of your routine, after all your company brand is everything.
Action Items
The best part about using these alerts is that it can give you actionable items. If your business or brand receives a poor review you can follow up with good (and timely) customer service. If your industry or specific vertical is mentioned in a news stream, blog or forum you can use those sources to write comments and become involved in your community. The linking and customer service potential is endless. If you find that your brand is not being mentioned and you receive very few alerts then you should get to work on how to get your name out there.
Other Brand-Watching Tools
If you are deciding to give your branding strategy an overhaul, then consider some of these other powerful tools to monitor and improve branding, marketing, customer service and public relations:
- Addictomatic
- Social Mention
- Trackur
- Summify
- Backtype (for monitoring blog comments)
- BoardTracker (for monitoring forums and discussions)
- HUBSPOT!
Did you know that Hubspot CMS has a brand mentioning tool as well, (of course it does a whole lot more) if you are a Hubspot client, or thinking about becoming one, that’s just one more fantastic reason to get in to Hubspot and use it to your brand advantage!
