Do you know how your brand rates online?

There is increasing pressure for SMBs to have an online presence. After all, Facebook alone claims consumers spend 700 billion minutes per month on the site, and Twitter has reported 190 million tweets per a day. But what does that really mean for SMBs? How can you tell if being online is helping or hurting your brand?

While people worldwide use the Internet daily to get information and interact, there is no one right way for businesses to approach their online presence. One thing you can do as a small business owner is understand what’s being said about your businesses online. From controlled information that you approve and publish, to user-generated information including customer reviews that can be true or untrue, it’s imperative that companies know how their brands are represented and perceived, digitally. Yet many small businesses avoid monitoring their online presence because it can be a time consuming, expensive and overwhelming endeavor.

Making it quick, easy and affordable (it’s free!) for small businesses to understand and manage their online presence is the promise of an exciting, new tool, Brandify.

§  It’s free. Brandify is so user friendly that small businesses won’t spend valuable time using and managing the tool. Brandify also will shed some light on new opportunities for your company to promote or enhance your online presence which could increase leads and sales.

§  It’s quick.  It only takes a few moments for Brandify to scour the Internet – pulling from more than 80 different sources – and provide your company’s online strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. It also checks competitors’ presence and recommends actions you can take to help improve your online presence.

§  It’s easy. Registration is simple as you log in through an existing Windows Live, Facebook or LinkedIn account and claim your company’s website. The assessment also offers clear recommendations for how to enhance your online presence; just review them and decide which opportunities seem like the best fit for you. You also can use Brandify for ongoing management, checking in routinely on your online presence status.

Part of running a successful business is making sure you are covering all your bases, as well as finding the right tools to help you get things done. After all, you simply can’t do it by yourself. If your core business is not networking socially, or specialized in managing online brands, Brandify can help your business today.

Seeing is believing. Take a few minutes to try Brandify and see for yourself how it can help your company.

For more tips and information on how technology can support you and your business, follow me on Twitter (@Cindy_Bates) or follow Microsoft SMB on Twitter (@MicrosoftSMB) and Facebook (Microsoft SMB).