Social Media: Start by Listening

In the New Year, you may be considering whether or not to jump on the social media bandwagon. My suggestion is to start learning about social media by listening. Listen to what is being said about you, your business, and your competitors online. This is easily completed by setting up a Google Alert and reading your email.

Google Alerts allow you to monitor what is being said about any topic you can imagine. You determine if you want the alerts emailed to you daily or as the alert happens. My recommendation is to set up a Google Alert for your name, your company name, your industry keywords and your competitors' names. Utilizing Google Alerts in this manner, you will know what is being discussed online regarding your industry and your company and you can react accordingly. This is the first step in developing a Social Media Strategy.