My friend and colleague Meg Guiseppi just posted a great article here on Google Alerts. She provided great advice, which you should follow.

I’d like to add my two cents to this discussion, since Google Alerts are also a favorite tool for me. Here’s my twist: use the Alerts to write about specific target companies. You see, most companies also run Google Alerts on their company name and on their product names (and competitors’, too).

This is a great way to get a job! Write about your target companies. Use Google Alerts and blog searches to do your research first. Then write something important about the company. If you don’t hear from them the first time you do this, keep writing about them. Eventually, they’ll notice and contact you.

You’ve probably heard about companies that offer a public face on Twitter. Comcast is famous for @ComcastCares. Bank of America has a similar service I’ve used – with incredible results. You may even have tried some of these online communication channels without ever thinking about using them to get visible to your target companies.

Here’s an example: I had a target company in my area. It’s a company that offers a wide range of cloud-based software solutions. I watched this company for a long time, and read about them extensively in blogs. (If you want to read about how you can use Google Reader for this type of research, see my articles here.)

I like to research companies before I approach them. I do that before interviews, and before pitching consulting or business deals. I even do it before cold-call sales calls. The objective is to find some common topic that you, the caller or emailer, have with your intended target. My favorite tactic is to research companies deeply before interviews so I can propose some solutions for the company I’m interviewing with.  But what if you never get that invitation?

That’s where your own publishing efforts can change the probability of success. When I wrote about the company I targeted, I also wrote about their founder, a man I really respect on many levels. I mentioned him (along with a short review of one of their products), and the next day, I had an email from the founder of the company. (In this case, I actually had no ulterior motive – I had already decided I wouldn’t pursue a personal relationship with the company.)

This isn’t the only time this has happened to me – and there’s really no magic here. Even if you’re just starting your career, you can do precisely the same thing. Remember to pick your target carefully. Research them thoroughly before you open your mouth. Write convincingly and meaningfully. Keep doing it until it works.

And yes, be prepared for them to contact you! Be sure to have something compelling to tell the person who calls you or emails you.

(Here’s a great telephone technique: if you receive a call from a headhunter or hiring manager, ask if you can call back in just a minute – say you have somebody on hold on your other line. There’s a slight, but important, advantage to the caller, and it also gives you a minute to get your thoughts together.)

And while you’re at it, make sure to do Google Alerts on your own name (unless it’s a very common name), because that’s a good way to get some objective measure of how much the world is talking about you.

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Your personal brand is an important part of your job search. Reputations can make or break opportunities for new position, new clients or contracts for your company. Here are five practical ways to manage your online brand:

1. Set up a Google alert. These can be set up easily on Google and will alert you by email to any websites that list your name or other keywords that people associate with your brand. Consider setting up Google alerts for misspellings of your name, your company’s or your competition. See Meg Guiseppi’s great article on Google alerts.

2. Secure your brand. Open up accounts on social media platforms you are not currently a member of even if you do not intend to use them. This allows you to control your name, your brand, and keep those from cybersquatting. This also includes setting up a gmail account to secure your name.

3. Create value. Develop and execute your product or service and differentiation strategy.  It’s important to give in order to receive.  Create value in what you by helping others and become a source for whatever it is you have an interest in.

4. Be bold. Don’t be afraid to get a little crazy, within reason of course. People remember those that take what I call “calculated risks.” These are risks that are thought out but present the opportunity for failure. People remember people that take chances and – people who learn from those opportunities – both successes and failures.

5. Be passionate and be found. Love and live what you do and let your online brand show for it. I promote my website and my brand, Blogging4Jobs and Xceptional HR wherever I go both online and offline. Do the same for your name, your brand, and you.  Take every opportunity to meet & network, cross post on websites, and be genuine about what motivates you.  Don’t hold back sharing your message and passion with others.

Photo Credit Think Big Revolution.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is an author, new mother, and human resources professional with a passion for recruiting and all things social media.  She has over 10 years of experience in human resources & recruiting.

Her company, Xceptional HR provides businesses with social media, recruitment, and human resources strategy and consulting.   Jessica’s book, Tweet This! Twitter for Business will be released in February 2010.  Follow Jessica on Twitter, LinkedIn, & FaceBook.

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More and more corporations are realizing that defining their role in social responsibility is an important part of the business.  This serves to empower the brand, as well as to increase revenue. This goes for the personal brand as well.  However, just as they do for corporations, social responsibility efforts have to be based on the core values and principles of the individual.

Every year around this time, I like to take a look at my personal development.  This includes activities such as setting goals and revising my personal mission statement.  This year, I focused especially on how I want to contribute to society by being more careful about the environment, mentoring entrepreneurs to success and being even more inspirational to the people I meet.

During this time of reflection was when I realized that the core values and principles defined in my personal mission statement are very consistent with my thoughts in the present moment. What I need is a Personal Social Responsibility (PSR) plan to empower my values even further and make them actionable. Let’s take a look at how you can use PSR to enhance your personal brand.

Differentiation through Personal Social Responsibility

Corporations cannot obtain a true culture of social responsibility without employees that are taking social responsibility seriously. This requires employees who transmit positive energy to others in the organization, make a positive contribution to corporate and social objectives, and do not excessively or unneccesarily contribute to atmospheric pollution and natural resource consumption.  But to be the employee that fits the profile, you first have to define your individual values and goals, and in doing so define the ways in which you want to be socially responsible. Is it about recycling? Showing respect to fellow humans? Reducing your carbon footprint?  Here are some steps to guide you:

1. What are you passionate about?  Make a list of the areas in which you would like to personally improve from a social responsibility perspective.  What are you interested in?  Where is your help most needed?
2. Define what you would like to do- Once you have defined what your social responsibility commitment is all about, figure out what you can do in that area to improve your everyday life, and that of others.  How can you incorporate it into your life and your work?
3. Do it!  Go out into the world and make it happen!  As Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”.  It is not enough just to have a nicely drawn out plan on paper.  You took the time to brainstorm and write out the steps, now see your plan through to completion.

Not only will this define your personal brand in a new way and add a new level of differentiation to it, but also help the world be a better place!

Ola Rynge is an entrepreneur with a passion for the personal development side of personal branding (covered in this blog) as well as the application of personal branding and social media for entrepreneurs and small businesses (covered in The Rynge Blog).

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I rely heavily on blogging and Twitter to build my own brand visibility and market my promise of value to potential clients. I count Google Alerts as an essential strategy in my personal brand toolkit.

Similarly, when job-hunting you’re in a sales and marketing campaign for your company, namely YOU, in which you’re pitching your value proposition to prospective employers.

Step one in your job search strategy is getting clear about what kind of job you want and where you’ll find it.

Step two – research companies and compile a list of 10-20 that will fulfill your needs, along with key decision makers within each one, which you’ll work on connecting with.

Now that you have your target list, set up an account at Google Alerts with Alerts for the following:

• Your name
• Your blog and website names
• Names of your target companies and/or those you want to be informed about
• Names of key decision makers in your target companies
• Key word phrases relevant to your niche
• Names of your target companies’ relevant products or services
• Names of subject matter experts in your niche
• Names of any people whose radar you want to get under.

When these words or names are mentioned in a blog post or online articles or anywhere online, Google Alerts promptly sends you an email with a link to the web page.

So what’s the big deal and what do you do with all these incoming Alerts?

Practically as it happens, you’ll get the latest news and information relevant to your chosen Alerts.

Not all the Alerts you receive will yield something of value, but many will, and some will lead you to information and sites you never would have found otherwise.

And Google Alerts will lead you to places where you can position your brand value, and hopefully generate interest in you and evangelism for your brand.

For career marketing and job search, use Alerts:

• To keep an eye on market trends and opportunities.
• To provide targeted industry and company research for due diligence, market intelligence, and to position yourself as an informed, engaged candidate in interviews.
• To help you track where your target key decision makers are hanging out, what they’re talking about, and what they’re working on.
• To uncover challenges facing your target companies, aiding you in communicating your value proposition to help them overcome those issues.

Use Alerts for better blogging and tweeting:

• If you quickly act on an Alert, you may be the first responder to a new post on a blog with good link weight. People reading blog comments are much more likely to notice, read your standout contribution, and click on the link you provide in your top-landing comments. And your blog comments build on-brand search results when people Google “your name”.
• Alerts generate ideas for blog posts and tweets.
• Get plenty of fuel for tweets and re-tweets which help build brand evangelism.
• If you receive an Alert on a blog post you’ve written within an hour or two of publishing it, you’ll know Google considers it highly relevant and will be sending other searchers to the post when they Google matching keywords.
• Be notified of relevant sites where you may be able to publish an article or guest blog, building online brand visibility.

In general, Alerts help you:

• Keep apprised of what, if anything, people are saying about you online and who is linking to your blog or website.
• Stay informed of what others in your company and industry are up to.
• Stay informed of the latest trends within your niche and areas of interest.
• Connect with new information, thereby expanding your knowledge base.
• Penetrate new communities of forward-thinking subject matter experts and extend your network.

What have Google Alerts done for you lately?

For more executive job search tips, see my post 2010 Top 10 Executive Personal Branding and Job Search Trends.

An Executive Personal Branding, Online Identity and Job Search Strategist, Meg Guiseppi is a 20-year careers industry professional and one of only a handful of people worldwide to hold both the Reach Certified Personal Branding Strategist and Master Resume Writer credentials.

“I love my work collaborating with savvy corporate leaders and entrepreneurs who know where they’re going, but need help differentiating their unique promise of value in the new world of work and executive job search, and positioning themselves to work their passion. My clients are typically C-suite, Senior-level executives and rising stars.”

Find out more about Meg at Executive Career Brand, and by viewing her LinkedIn profile and following her on Twitter.

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