Keeping track of what customers are saying about your brand or business online is now an essential part of running a small business.

Participating in discussions across forums, twitter and facebook helps you stay connected with customers and address any concerns or queries they have.

While this might seem like quite a daunting task, thankfully Google Alerts which is one tool which makes this job quite easy. Google Alerts is a service which provides email updates of new content that Google has found across the web.

Setting up a Google Alert for your brand is easy:

1. Visit www.google.com/alerts
2. Enter your business name or brand into the search terms box
3. Select your update frequency (live/daily/weekly)
4. Enter the email address to receive the alerts

Done! Google will now send you summaries of all online activity related to your brand. This can include forum posts, twitter updates, new sites linking to you and any other new content that mentions your brand name.

Bonus Tip: Don’t stop at your brand name, expand your Google Alerts to include some other search terms. Some examples include,

• Your name
• Your products
• Your URL
• Your competitors

The explosion of the internet and social media may be the fastest change in human history. No longer are individuals passively listening and viewing advertisements; now they’re “twittering” and posting their opinions on Facebook along with other social media sites. For little companies, social media’s ever-emerging presence is really a dramatic game-changer that can have a large impact on their bottom line.

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About eight plus years ago I got a piece of unsolicited child-rearing advice: always use positive language when talking to children. Don’t say, “stop jumping on the couch!” Instead, say “couches are for sitting.” Now, I’d like to say that I’ve taken that to heart, but when you see footprints all over the couches and cushions and throw pillows all over the floor it’s hard not to yell. (Sorry, kids!)

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Whether your business is totally online, part brick and mortar / part online, or totally brick and mortar, you could benefit from watching what some of the big brands are doing. And your business is much more nimble than they are so you can respond faster to changing trends. But it takes action to do it. Are you taking the right actions to make the most of internet marketing for your business?

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One of the biggest misconceptions with online marketing is that social media is only for large brands. Truthfully, a small business that invests its time wisely can improve customer (or client) loyalty and word of mouth marketing with an effective social media strategy.

Social media is useful for almost every type of business. Cafes, retail stores, and even professional services can build their online reputation and increase trust. By taking advantage of social media, businesses can make themselves more accessible, more personable, and maintain long term connections.

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The way we work has changed dramatically over the past few years.  I’m relatively young…turning 27 in a few weeks – yet even I can recall working for previous employers where there was just no way of getting things done without being present in the same location as my team (probably because for my first serious job I was occasionally asked to get coffee, can’t do that virtually…).   Today I think it’s safe to say that a majority of the tasks that an individual needs to complete can be done just as effectively sitting on a beach in Maui as they can sitting in a cubicle.

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