A Primer on Google Alerts

Here at RCG we love the world of social media and how it is transforming how people communicate with each other, how advertisers/marketers spread their message, and how it can connect us with each other in ways that makes the world seem smaller.

We could go on all day about the ins, outs and benefits of social media. But, today we want to touch on the first step into the world of social media: discovering what conversations are already happening (especially conversations about you – or your organization).

There are two ways to do this. First, you can spend hours each week searching the web for mentions of your organization. You may find a few news sources or blogs that make regular mention of your association, or a topic that is related to services you provide. But, it can be a very time consuming effort that gives you little information. So, we recommend the second option: using Google Alerts, a free tool that is praised by many.

The beauty of Google Alerts is that it searches the web for conversations about whatever topic you are interested in, and it brings those conversations to you – instead of you pulling your hair out while trying to rummage through inactive blogs and old forums.

It’s fairly simple to use and customize to how you prefer to receive information online. You can even set it up to “alert” you about your topic on specific websites, for example, if you are an association providing services related to victims of crime in the DC area, you can set a Google Alert for articles from the Washington Post’s website about “victim’s rights”. Whenever an article with that phrase appears, you will receive an email with a link to the article.

We hope you can see how this might be a useful tool for your organization. Here are some tips on how to get started:

• Set up an account by visiting Google.com and going to the “Google Alerts” page.
• Select your keywords or phrases that you want to be notified about.
• Use quotations around phrases. For example, “North Carolina Association of Chicken Farmers”.
• If you want to set up an alert for a specific site use this combination: “chicken farmers” site:washingtonpost.com.

This tool can help you easily target communities that are having conversations relevant to your organization. Without much effort, you have the opportunity to target your message to people who are interested and possibly in need of your services. So, go and hear what is being said about your organization. Then you can start to interact in these conversations and you might become as amazed with social media as we are.