The value of your company's brand name is at stake if you have not properly set up a platform to monitor what people are saying about you online. Word-of-mouth was the most amazingly effective yet most feared tool two decades ago. One bad remark out to your neighbor and you could lose the business of the entire neighborhood!

Fast forward two decades later and we have pretty much the same thing. But it's faster, it's fiercer and it now connects people from beyond the neighborhood. Now, one bad remark out there and you could lose customers from all around the world. If that is not frightening for you as a business owner, I don't know what is. It's called Web 2.0, and it’s the rumor mill of modern society.

As easy as it is for people to say things about your company online, you have tools to capture them and respond instantly. Don't believe me? Try going on Twitter and say something nasty about a big company like Google, Apple or Microsoft. We are pretty sure someone will come right up and try to make amends with you. And that is precisely how you are going to monitor your own brand. Once you have established how you want to monitor yourself online, make it a routine.

How can use listen to them?

Google Alerts. Google’s web crawler, Googlebot, is sent out into cyberspace in every single direction and to discover the latest news and information. You’ll want to subscribe to their feed for your name or brand so that whenever there is word out there in the cyber world, you get a notification. You can even tell Google Alerts to send you email alerts whenever someone is talking about you.

Technorati. In some ways, folks tend to believe blogs more than they believe websites. Word of mouth, remember? For most of the web, Google is apt in dealing with what is being posted out there. But, blogging is a whole different story. If you want to know who is blogging about you, search for your name or brand on Technorati. With this tool, you can also monitor other people's reactions towards blog posts via their comments, links, trackbacks, pings, etc.

Twitter Search. The fastest way to get word out is by way of Twitter; be it good or bad, one thing is guaranteed... it will spread like wild fire the world over within seconds after your tweet. I have known many people who have used to Twitter to get noticed by the big guys. You can search for your name or brand via twitter search or use a search engine that can give you a list of results from a variety of real time news sources. A good example is Collecta. If you just want to monitor for mentions of your brand on Twitter then Tweetbeep.com is a good tool to use.

Don't think that you are not big enough to care about your online image? Well, think of it this way...you have bigger competitors out there and they are bound to be online. In a way, you can use all the above mentioned tools to monitor your biggest competitor just to see what they are up to. Well, it might sound a little sneaky but hey, it's fair game for the social web.

A security crisis can make or break your enterprise. Most crises are unexpected and, unfortunately for most businesses, a crisis almost always finds them unprepared. There are natural disasters (i.e. floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires), man-made disasters (i.e. World Trade Center terrorist attacks) or technology malfunction (i.e. Hackers, failed power grid or network down). In fact, a crisis can strike a business in so many different ways that it’s not a question of if but when and how a security crisis will occur. Here are 5 crisis prevention tips for your business:

1. Conduct a Business Impact Analysis (BIA). This will identify the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in your business and assign a dollar figure to their impact on your bottom line.

2. Identify Preventative Measures. Assemble a team that would work through the various available options ranging from onsite/offsite backup, reciprocal agreements with other companies, technical recovery personnel and alternative sites for moving business operations in case of a natural disaster.

3. Select specific recovery strategies geared to the different parts of your business. For example, the mission critical areas will have a shorter maximum tolerable downtime than say back office operations so in the event of an emergency, they need to be given priority.

4. Document findings in a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that defines how your business will operate during a security crisis. Select a business continuity coordinator to take ownership and assign authority to the different roles indicated in the plan.

5. Run a practice drill of the plan at least once a year. Think of it as a mini-business fire drill. Because when an actual crisis hits, it’s way too late to find the plan much less read it!

This entry was written by a guest author. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of PressDr, Inc.

E.V.Orakwue, MPS, CISSP, DAWIA Level 1 Qualified is a senior analyst for a National Defense Contractor. E.V.Orakwue specializes in the emerging field of Unmanned Systems with a focus on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and currently hosts the blog www.unmannedsystemsblog.com. Previously published articles can be found in the International Management Consultants NCR ezine, The ISSA Journal and the WorldComp Proceeding of the 2009 International Conference on SWWS. Contact the author at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

It’s very clear that Twitter has become the place for public relations professionals. Twitter allows the PR specialists to connect with journalists and bloggers. When used tactfully, it allows those in media relations to learn about a journalists specific interests and preferences. This can help the PR professional prepare customized pitches for journalists that want to hear them.

Twitter, when used properly can be a powerful PR tool. But as with any communication, there are good ways and bad ways to approach it. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Compared to other methods, journalists are often more receptive to being pitched on Twitter, because it forces the public relations professional to be brief. In fact, he only gets 140 characters.
• Using a direct message for your first interaction with a journalist is rude—especially if it’s a pitch. If you’re off topic because you didn’t take the time to engage the journalist in dialog it’s even worse.
• If you take the time to discover what the journalist likes writing about, it will be much easier for you to pitch a story that’s relevant to him and his audience. Ideally, you’d follow the journalist for a while before making a push of your own.
• Keep in mind that you don’t always have to seek a placement in the journalist’s publication or land a spot on their show. Often times just demonstrating that you can be a valuable resource to them. When the time is right, they might approach you.
• Journalists write because the want people to listen. If you can express your interest by showing appreciation for stories you truly enjoy and respond to the journalists tweets, you’ll befriend them must sooner. Journalists will open they’re ear to you, if they know you do the same for them.

Above all else, the key to interacting with a journalist is respect. You should communicate with them in a professional manner and put your time in. Blindly pitching your story and pushing your agenda is a surefire way to lose the respect of a writer, broadcaster, or any one else in the news business. Instead you should consider their needs, interests, and preferred method of contact.

By following journalists, you can observe how other communications professionals successfully use Twitter. By noticing what works and what doesn’t for each individual journalist, you’ll be better prepared for your own approach. Following established PR professionals can benefit you too. Through conversation and observation you’ll find that Twitter can be a powerful Public Relations tool.

Twitter Lists just came out this month. This new feature will allow you to create and share lists of Twitter followers in your account. This will also create a stream of those individuals. This is great for the individual who wants to categorize users to read topic specific tweets.

Besides allowing you to create a list of Twitter users you want to share, you can make private lists to keep up with important contacts.

For journalists, this new feature offers a number of ways to monitor your sources and discover new ones. It could even help you keep up with the competition or interact with collaborators.

Here are 10 ways journalists can benefit from Twitter Lists:

1. You could create a list of the reporters or personalities at your news organization and you could share it with the public. This will help publicists and readers contact the right person at your company.
2. You can use a private list organize your sources by beat or topic. You might even want to keep a list of people you've interviewed, in case you need to follow up with them in the future.
3. For writers you compete with (internally or at another publication), you might want to create a private list. This will keep you up-to-date about what they are writing about and possibly discover some of their sources.
4. You could keep a list of industry experts. People working in the industry you are researching might clue you in to new story ideas and are always willing to provide a quote or opinion. Industry insiders are often the whistle blowers that can clue you into the big story and they can provide the validation you need to write with authority.
5. You can create lists for events or product launches, based around hash tags. This will allow you to keep up with the latest announcements and information available. Hash tags often center around a certain topic, industry, or conference.
6. If you work for a national publication, it might help to create geographic lists for sources in specific markets. When you need a local spin on a story, you’ll have a readily available list of local businessmen or other individuals to choose from.
7. If you write for more than one publication or on more than one beat. You can channel the conversations you see at any given time to just that news organization or beat, respectively. This can help reduce the distraction that Twitter can be.
8. If they left them public, you can use the lists of other journalists to discover their sources. Knowing who your competition is following can help you better identify the public relations professionals that really do provide good leads.
9. Similarly you can look at the lists of industry professionals, to discover those whom they follow. By noticing similarities between the lists of individuals in the same field, you’ll easily identify the known industry experts. You’ll improve the validity of your information by referencing those top names in the industry.
10. Knowing that individuals often follow their competitors, you might want to view lists created by those individuals you interview and identify competitors they follow. If you can include a quote from your subject’s competition, you’ve just made your article more balanced.