Most people are a little nosy when it comes to finding out what other people “really” think about them.  Socially, this can be an extremely bad pastime.  However, in business, you should always know what is being said about your brand and who/what you are being linked to.

One of the most simple and cost effective tools to use to gauge this activity is Google Alerts.  With Google Alerts you can select keywords to monitor.  Every time these keywords are used on the net, Google will send you an email notification.  I suggest using your company name/ products as keywords.  This is a valuable marketing for the following reasons:

  1. You can see who is mentioning your company.  Good reviews and comments can be used for publicity.  You can then post links on your own sites or social networks to these web pages.
  2. This may prove invaluable in the area of damage control.    You can find out about negative comments/ attacks immediately and start taking necessary actions.

The next tool that I recommend is Twitter Search.  With this tool, you can perform a search to see if you are being mentioned in the Twitterverse.  With tools like TweetLater, you can also receive email notifications when your keywords appear in Twitter posts.

If you’re interested in seeing who may be showing you “link love” check out Majestic SEO.  With this tool you can view the sites that are linking to your own.

When it comes to marketing, it pays to know what others are saying!