| The increasingly socially-responsive Web has made it | | | | search for your brand name or a specific industry |
| more important to continually monitor your business or | | | | term using the search box provided. Take a look at |
| brand's reputation online. As your customers, potential | | | | the results that are returned. Are these results relevant |
| customers and the media increasing use the web to | | | | for your business? That is, does Technorati return |
| talk about and learn more about your business, you | | | | sample blog posts that people wrote about your |
| need to be proactive in monitoring what's being said. | | | | company or industry? If not, try searching for your |
| Knowing how your brand or business is perceived is | | | | brand name using quotation marks. For example, we |
| critical in improving your product/service and customer | | | | would search "that agency". Other search options |
| relations. On the Web, there are a number of great | | | | allow you to determine where to search and what |
| tools available that can help webmasters gain a view | | | | levels of authority results have to have. |
| of who's out there linking to and talking about their | | | | Next, you can subscribe to receive an RSS update |
| website and brand. | | | | each time something new about your company |
| What You Can Expect to Find | | | | comes across Technorati. When subscribing to the |
| Most of the time, businesses are shocked to see the | | | | RSS feed, you'll have a choice of several options for |
| frequency and types of places that there brand name | | | | receiving the feed. Once you've set this up, all you |
| appears. Expect to find bloggers, customer review | | | | need to do is periodically check your RSS feed for |
| websites and press releases that mention your brand. | | | | updates. As updates come through, you'll receive a link |
| While you won't be able to find anywhere near every | | | | that will give you information on the blog posting |
| occurrence and mention of your business, you will get | | | | content about you so you can check it out. Hopefully, |
| a taster of what's out there. | | | | most of the updates that you get will be relevant to |
| What You'll Learn: | | | | whatever you're trying to monitor. Of course, there will |
| * If you're trying to get the buzz out about your brand | | | | always be a little 'noise' in the results. |
| or a new product, you'll get a feel for how successful | | | | Using Twitter as a Reputation Management Tool |
| your campaigns have been by seeing who's talking | | | | Twitter is an interesting social networking platform that |
| about it based on how many places Google finds it. | | | | allows individuals to communicate short thoughts about |
| * If you're monitoring customer reaction toward a new | | | | activities they are participating in at any given moment. |
| product, you may see reviews and blog posts written | | | | The appeal for most users is that Twitter provides a |
| about it. | | | | good way for friends to keep each other up to date |
| * If you find no mention of your brand or products, you | | | | with what everyone in the group is doing at any one |
| may want to consider a stronger online marketing | | | | time. In a way, Twitter is like a mini-blog post, no more |
| campaign. | | | | than 140 characters in length. |
| Using Google Alerts for Reputation Management | | | | A typical Tweet (what you call it when a user posts to |
| As you may already know, the Google search bots | | | | Twitter) may say something like, "On my way to |
| are constantly running around the internet in search of | | | | work," or "At the dentist, can't wait to get cavities filled." |
| information to index. You can use this to your | | | | Of course, the Twitter platform is used many other |
| advantage by having Google notify you every time it | | | | ways, but this is the basic purpose. |
| finds something related to your brand or business. The | | | | Because Twitter has become such an important |
| easiest way to do this is to setup a Google Alert. This | | | | medium of communication for real people, you can |
| can be done by creating a free account with Google | | | | expect to find all types of conversations. You may |
| and clicking on 'Alerts'. | | | | even notice that Twitter users utilize the platform to |
| With Google Alerts, you can setup automated | | | | talk about consumer issues like restaurants they've |
| notifications to be sent to your inbox each time Google | | | | been to, products they are using, likes and dislikes, etc. |
| comes across any given keyword phrase, such as | | | | For this reason, Twitter is a good resource to monitor |
| your business name or product(s). When you receive | | | | what real people are saying about your brand. |
| a notification, you'll also receive a link to the location | | | | Using the Twitter search tool, execute a search for |
| where your keyword phrase was found. Once you | | | | your brand name. The search tool will bring back |
| set this up, you'll receive immediate, daily or weekly | | | | instances where Twitter users have mentioned your |
| notifications which make it easy to review instances | | | | brand name. The advanced search tool will also let |
| where other websites talk about you. | | | | you search by location. Once you've fine tuned your |
| Using Technorati for Reputation Management | | | | search, again, you can sign up to receive an RSS feed |
| In short, Technorati is a blog search engine. Technorati | | | | of the results. This is another example of reputation |
| indexes content from over 1 million blogs in real time. It's | | | | management delivered to your doorstep. |
| probably the best resource to use when trying to | | | | No matter which tools you use, monitoring online |
| track global blogger conversations. You can use | | | | conversations related to your brand or business can |
| Technorati's massive database and tools to your | | | | help you improve in ways not possible before the |
| advantage by tracking conversation related to your | | | | social web. Take a few minutes today and give it a |
| business or industry in just a few simple steps. | | | | try. |
| Once you've started a Technorati account (it's free), | | | | |