5 Online Properties Every Business Should Claim Now

If your business has a brick and mortar, physical location – that's not the only property you should be concerned about. You have online properties. And if you haven't claimed them, you could have the wrong information about you out there or worse: squatters and impostors. So, if you haven't taken the time to check some of these area's for your company's place online, you definitely should. And soon.

Google Places. In most cases, if someone wants to know the physical location of your business, they're going to Google it. And, chances are, high up in the search results is a listing of your location with a Google map of it next to it. Many people will click on that. Where they will go is your Google Places location. If you haven't claimed your Google Places location it will be put together with whatever information Google was able to glean from the internet. It is also possible that someone else has put it together for you with with good intent, if they're an employee or fan or with ill intent, if they're a competitor or just a hater. 

By claiming it, you can make sure that all the information is correct and that it is connected to all your other online properties, like your website. You would be surprised at how often the info on these unclaimed Google Places is wrong. I've seen it many times. So, claim yours today and make sure people who are looking for your brand can actually find it.

Facebook. This is the 500-pound gorilla of social media. Most businesses and people are there already. You should check and see if your name is even still available on Facebook and if it is, claim it immediately. Even if you don't plan to do something with it immediately, you should grab it before someone else does.  Also, you need to see if pages already exist for your brand – either run by a well-meaning employee or fan or by someone not even remotely associated with your brand.Once you've claimed your business, you can merge other pages if they exist. And if someone else has claimed your page, here's a link to a video you can watch on what to do about it.

Yelp and other review sites. Once again, you want to claim your business on Yelp and other review sites to make sure your info is correct and people searching you can find your business. But there are other reasons to claim yourself on Yelp. For one thing, you'll be able to monitor your page views, track your reviews and respond to them (but don't get defensive, be professional and helpful). Also, you will be able to offer viewers of your business's page promotions to get them to come in through the Yelp Deals program. 

Foursquare and other location-based social media. Chances are if you have physical locations that a lot of people come to, someone has checked into each of them on Foursquare, Facebook Places or one of the other location-based social check-in sites. You'd be surprised how many out of the way, rural places I've found already listed in Foursquare. Often when someone tries to check in to a place and it's already listed, they will create the place's location themselves (I've done this many times). Many times those people don't have your full address or phone number so they put in approximations.Sometimes they think it's right, but they've input it wrong or just had wrong info. So you need to check every location you have and make sure it's right.

Also, with Foursquare, like Yelp, once you've claimed your sites you can set up specials for people who check in. These specials will appear whenever they check in. You can have specials designed to get them to buy more. You can set them up as rewards after so many check-ins, creating a digital loyalty program. Or you can set up rewards for your mayors, which are the best customer at each location. There are partner opportunities too, like with American Express small business program that gives customers cash back on purchases at your store if they checked in on Foursquare and bought with an AmEx card.

Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Foodspoting and other social media. We already talked about the big one, Facebook. But, you should look at claiming your name on  other social media as well. Twitter is probably the next biggest in importance. But, you should also look at what social media networks are most popular within your industry. If you sell woman's fashion, look at Pinterest. if you're a restaurant, look at Foodspotting. In all cases, you'll want to see if someone's already claimed your business or name and grab up what's available. Each time a new social network becomes popular, there's a land grab from brands and people to scoop up the names before someone else does.

There are plenty of other online properties to consider, but these are the top ones in my mind. What others have you found you need to grab? What has worked for you or your company? I'd love to hear what I'm missing or what niche works for you.

Mike McClure, Online Property Owner.

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