Stalking Your Brand: Why Small Businesses Need to Monitor Google, Facebook and Twitter

Brand names, logos, slogans, even website content, are some of your company’s most valuable assets.  Though the internet and social media have allowed many businesses to enter the market at a relatively low cost, it also makes copying, stealing and misappropriating easier too. Small businesses can’t be afraid to make the most of their websites, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, but they must also be on their guard, and constantly on the lookout for infringers. Once infringement is found, you must be prepared to stop the infringement immediately to protect your brand.

Companies like Thompson Compumark offer trademark and domain name watch services. Reputation.Com also offers professional online reputation management services. You can also set up your own alerts, as well as run periodic searches for your trademarks, slogans and web content. It’s a good idea to use Google Alerts so that every time you, your slogan or your company name appears in the news, you receive notification. You can also search Twitter for any mention of your trademarks or logos using Twinitor.