When you’re a small business owner, it’s important to stay on top of ever-changing digital trends.  One such trend is Google’s newly released ‘Keen’ App. The app promises to help users “curate, collaborate and expand” shared interests. 

Here’s everything you need to know about Keen and the potential impact it could have on small business owners. 

What do we need to know?

First up, Keen is being labelled as an ‘experiment’ from Area 120 and PAIR – both offshoots of Google. Think of them as their tech-creative ventures.

Keen is somewhat of a levelled-up offering to Google Alerts, in that it scours the world wide web to bring you relevant content – but perhaps in a more sophisticated manner.

How does Keen work?

The app, which is accessed via desktop, is straightforward, clean and sleek to use. Simply enter your four main areas of interest. For instance, a clothing company might be interested in:

• Organic clothing
• Fashion trends
• Vogue predications and trends
• New UAE fashion labels

Next, it produces a host of options and topics that it will monitor for you. These are related to your area of interest, using Google’s analytics and machine learning, with a touch of human prowess. It digs deep to find trends that might be relevant to you. It’s especially useful if you’re looking for sources of inspiration. Once you’re set up, Keen will send you updates twice a week.

You can check out this video for further insights about Keen:

Stay inspired

One of the focus areas for Keen is to offer inspiration. So, in addition to pulling information for you, you’re also able to discover and stumble upon other thoughts, themes and topics.

Keen is a useful tool for busy business owners who need to keep an eye on current affairs or issues relating to their industry.

How can Keen help small business owners?

Here are a few ways Keep can have a positive impact on small business owners:

• Keen can help drive traffic: First of all, content is the key to great blogs, which can in turn help drive traffic to your small business’ website. Not only can Keen help bring ideas to you, but it will keep you informed about trending topics. Use this with your SEO keywords and you should start to see great results.
• Make yourself more discoverable. Got an interesting story to tell, or looking for new audiences to target? This is a smart way to tap into them.
• Familar interface: In some ways, Keen will remind you of Pinterest in the way you can pin content (‘save gems’) and explore other posts in one place.
• Keep your searches organized: It’s a valuable tool for keeping all your searches in one place, or to share them with other collaborators. Think – people in your team, or your agencies and clients. Their ethos after all is to “curate and share”.

Finally, the Keen team are keen to emphasise that this platform is not another fad to swallow up your time, but rather a tool to aid inspiration. And that, it most certainly is!