Bummed out about blogging? Don’t have time to Twitter? Okay, no says you have to. But you should be paying attention to what others might be saying about your business or organization in a Web 2.0 world. In his blog, Socially Creative, Kyle Lacy talks about his customer service experience — not a good one — with a local bank. He claims that two blog posts about poor customer service found their way to the top of a Google search in only two days. Google searches aside the point is that people are having online conversations and they could be talking about you. Lacy makes this compelling point:

I don’t care if you don’t agree or believe in Social Media as a promotion tool. You should be paying attention to the conversations being developed and whether or not you are part of that conversation. You cannot afford to ignore the Web 2.0 world anymore.

(You can — and should — read the entire post at kylelacy.com.)

In an earlier post I cited a magazine article that talks about the many-to-many conversation happening on the web. Lacy’s experience perfectly illustrates this point and is something every business — large and small — should be aware of.

But there’s too much information to wade through, what can I do?

One of the tools we use is the free service Google Alerts. You simply enter the word or phrase you want to track on the ‘net and you’re alerted any time it’s mentioned. If you’re a Twitter user another great tool is TweetBeep. Like Google Alerts, any time a Twitter user mentions a word or phrase you’re tracking you’ll know about it. Services like these can help you monitor your business’s online reputation in a simple, painless way. And, hey, you might just find yourself joining the conversation too.

Even if you don’t join the conversation you’d be smart to listen to it. You may be surprised at what you hear.