With a rising number of social media users across the globe, social media has become a popular marketing platform among organizations. It allows marketing professionals to reach out to a wide spectrum of customers and customize their campaigns accordingly. Despite an array of benefits offered by social media or digital marketing, businesses need to be very cautious before moving along this path.
Main reason behind the required caution is that social media marketing is susceptible to cyber threats. Lack of thorough consideration and security may lead to damaged brand image, loss of data, alienated customers and financial loss.
Following are some points to consider to market your brand in a cyber-secure way:
Be Cautious Of Who Manages Your Social Accounts: Careless handling of social media accounts can lead to both financial as well as credibility damages. A popular example of social account mishandling is the hacking of the Burger King social media account in 2013. The attackers hacked the twitter account of Burger King and changed its profile picture to McDonald’s logo. You would certainly not want your customers to think of your competitor when viewing your account or advertizement. In addition to harming your reputation, a hacked social media account results in leakage of your customer’s data such as social media username/password. For securing your brand’s accounts, assign a dedicated admin to a social media account, set up a secure password and limit access to intruders.
Careful Posting: Create guidelines for governing social media posting on behalf of your organization. The guidelines should clearly state the kind of content to be shared, the type of wording that can’t be used, and the information that needs to be kept confidential. Also, make sure that any link shared by or to your account is secure. Establish a verification process for every post before uploading it on your social media account.
Manage Vulnerabilities: Make it a point to take care of in-house vulnerabilities. Although social media can act as a gateway for social media hackers, you can stop the hackers if your company has additional security. For managing in-house vulnerabilities, take account of the following steps:
- Update your firewall and antivirus software regularly.
- Make sure that your servers are updated and encrypted.
- Back up your data on an off-shore location or cloud.
Educate your employees on following proper security measures while posting on the company’s social media posts using a mobile device.
To know more about how to keep your applications secure, contact Centex Technologies at (254) 213 – 4740.