The top 4 security risks facing your business on social media today

Image courtesy of  ZoneAlarm

With ad revenues generated from social media expected to exceed $35 billion in 2017, and the number of active users to over 2 billion, there has never been greater incentive to hackers, scammers and other rather unsavoury folk to look for ways exploit your business on social media. A fact backed up by ScamWatch stating that the number of scams reported on social media reached 155 034 in 2016.

In this article I will take a look at the top 4 security risks your business faces on social media today and why it is imperative that you address them sooner rather than later.

1. Scams

Very imaginative people are tasking themselves with thinking of different ways to try and scam your business and its employees, as a result there are always new and creative scams hitting social media. Usually all of these scams have the same ultimate objective, to get you to hand over private information from which they can profit.

The main social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are generally very secure; the issue is that we humans are not so resilient. For this reason most of the scams on social media use something called social engineering. TechTarget define social engineering as: "an attack vector that relies heavily on human interaction and often involves tricking people into breaking normal security procedures". This deception is only made easier by the large amounts of personal information that is available on social media, it is a lot easier to trust someone if they know significant amounts of information about you or your business.

Although the major platforms are getting better at detecting and removing malicious content, scams still slip through the net. For example, during 2016 a scam hit Facebook in which new profiles were created that were exact copies of real user’s accounts. Once created, the scammers would set about inviting the cloned user’s real friends to the fake account, after building their friend list they would post malicious posts or even message their 'friends' asking for money or other information.

2. Malicious apps and software

Malicious software in particular has been in the news lately, due to the latest version of the WannaCry ransom ware causing chaos by infecting NHS computers and servers.

In addition to desktop software, malicious mobile apps have become common place. In fact, Google regularly removes malicious Android apps from their Google Play store, with over 130 being removed in March this year alone.

The latest game or photo app you downloaded could be doing more than just occupying you on the train or making your photo’s look fancy, it could also be helping itself to your personal information. I don’t mean to scare you into deleting all of the apps on your phone, however a bit more diligence when choosing which apps to download would be a good idea, in particular when downloading apps that connect with your social media accounts.

For the everyday user this does not pose too much of an issue, however if you have your business’s social media accounts linked to your mobile, it could potentially cause you serious problems. You would not want just anyone being able to post from and change the settings of your business's social media pages.

3. Not having a social media policy

If your first thought when reading the title of this section was “what an earth is a social media policy”, pay close attention to what I have to say, by not having a social media policy in place you could be inviting disaster. A social media policy is: “A code of conduct that provides guidelines for employees who post content online either as part of their job description or personal brand” (SproutSocial). Your social media policy should cover a range of topics, including;

• The goals and objectives of your business on social media
• Who can use the company’s social media accounts
• What can be said (and what cannot) on social media
• Employee use of personal social media at the office
• Smartphone app use
• Customer engagement guidelines, for example how to handle criticism (Click here to see Aaron’s recent blog on this topic).

Not having a clear social media policy leaves room for interpretation in what should be posted on your businesses social media pages, as well as making it difficult to inform employees of the best practises when it comes to social media security. A social media policy is not something to create then leave in a draw for a rainy day, if created correctly it should form the basis for training new employees on the company’s social media.

The best approach to take is to have your business’s social media co-ordinated by one person whom is also responsible for keeping the social media policy up-to-date. This means hiring or designating a social media manager, who has oversight of all of the businesses activities on social media and can prevent potentially damaging content being posted.

4. Untrained employees and human error

Following on from not having a social media policy in place, untrained employees or employees that are simply not paying attention can be very damaging to your business. As I mentioned earlier, the biggest vulnerability to any system is, and has always been the human one.

US Airways discovered this in 2014 when an employee posted an X-rated image to the company’s Twitter feed. The company managed to escape the scandal relatively unscathed however had to fend off tough media coverage for weeks after the incident. This is a perfect example of where human error can easily put a business in a very difficult situation.

Adequate training of the employees that handle your business’s social media can reduce the chance of these types of events taking place. However due to human nature this will never be completely removed as long as we are using people to run our social media accounts.

If you are wondering what your employee training should cover, these topics are a good place to start; the dangers of using social media for anything confidential, clicking on strange links, accepting friend requests from people you don’t know, leaving accounts unmonitored and using apps that are not created and distributed by trusted companies. Employees also need to know how to use each site’s security and privacy features so they can lock down or remove any information they don't want to be publicly available.

In closing

This blog post is by no means a comprehensive list of all of the security risks facing your business on social media. However, it is a good insight into the risks that you should address as a priority. Although in this article I have tried to focus the social media specific threats to your business’s security, it goes without saying that it is also important to ensure that you address general security risks, such as using poor passwords for your accounts.

If a lot of the points I have covered have been new to you, start by getting a social media policy in place that address all of the above and you will be in a much better position.

I would love to know your thoughts on this article as well as what you think the other major security risks from social media are, let me know in the comments!

George Rudge - Social 365

The Dos and Don'ts of Handling Criticism on Social Media

Image courtesy of Business of Apps

Social media can be fantastic for any business.

You can finally tell people who you are as a business, engage with your audience, establish trust and (what we all ultimately want) generate leads and sales.

Engaging with your audience is a great way build a reputation online.

However, what do you do if something doesn’t go quite to plan?

Let’s say you get a negative comment or review, how are you going to manage your reputation and solve the dispute?

You can do this in a few different ways, but beware, only one way is the correct way. 

1. Ignore everything 

This might sound a bit silly if you’re a business owner or social media manager. Why would you ignore people who have an issue with your product/service?

But, this does happen. (I know, I was just as surprised as you!)

Often, there is the idea of “If I just leave it, maybe it’ll go away”.

One of the big issues with receiving complaints on social media is that once they are there, they won’t go away. (unless you make them, which I will talk about in a second).

You need to handle them. If someone called your customer service number or sent you an email you wouldn’t just ignore it, and you can’t ignore it online either.

Why do some social media managers just ignore complaints?

I have no idea. Honestly. It baffles me.

But it does happen, and now you’re reading this, I hope it won’t be you!

2. Delete them

Now this is even more surprising.

Imagine you work in a big office. A client writes a letter of complaint and hands it to reception, and as the clients stands in front of them, the receptionist screws up the letter and throws it straight in the bin.

It wouldn’t happen! (At least, I hope it wouldn’t…)

But for some reason, people are more than happy to delete comments on social media.

This is one of the worst things you can do, I’ll tell you now.

Minus the fact that it doesn’t actually solve the situation, the customer is more likely than not to be even more angry after seeing their feedback removed!

What is the next likely step for that customer? They tell their friends list or followers about it. 

You don’t want to lose potential business just to save face.

3. Get aggressive

Image courtesy of ChromeSpot

One of the most common mistakes some business owners or social media managers make is being personally insulted when receiving a complaint.

Most of the time, if we take something negative to heart, we respond from our emotional side rather than our logical.

This can often lead to getting aggressive or defensive.

Once again, if you do this, the problem is likely to just spiral out of control.

Don’t forget: the customer is always right.

Another thing to remember, is that your followers will likely see the interaction. You need to think about the knock-on effect of being aggressive to a complaint.

4. Offer a weak apology

Time for another scene setting activity.

Imagine you’re a very annoyed and dissatisfied customer. You write a complaint. The company says, “Thanks for your response, we will take your feedback on board” and that’s it.

Would you be happy?

You wouldn’t to feel that way, so why would you want your clients feeling like it?

Let’s not forget, the issue still isn’t actually resolved.

This leads me on to the final response you can give, and what I think is the only real way to resolve negative feedback on social media.

5. Offer a sincere apology and resolve the issue

Your first response when receiving criticism should be “How can we make this right?”

How can you do this?

Offer then a genuine apology.

Something as simple as showing that you care about your customers and want to make sure their issue is resolved can turn an angry, frustrated customer into your biggest fan.

Seriously.

Imagine if you were handing a face-to-face complaint. You would handle it professionally, genuinely, and offer a solution.

The same goes for social media.

With online reviews, everything is public. Their initial comment. Your response. Their response. Everything.

If you can show that, yes you do get the odd complaint, but you handle them with professionalism and sincerity, the chances are your business is not going to be negatively impacted.

Use one of the other 4 solutions I set out above, and you may see a big hit to your profits.

Even angry customers can become an asset.

Mistakes happen. No one is perfect, even large corporations. We all make mistakes and we all get criticism from time to time.

It's how we handle criticism which separates the successful businesses from the "would-be's."

With internet access at the touch of our fingertips, it is even more important to monitor your brand reputation.

How you handle criticism is ultimately your choice, but you can show how amazing your business is by how you deal with negativity comments.

Aaron Savage - Social 365

#Regram. Your business's guide to reposting on Instagram

Image courtesy of PetaPixel

So when you want to share other people’s content with your own business’s followers on Facebook and Google Plus you share, on Twitter you retweet, but what do you do on Instagram?

Let me introduce you to regramming (or reposting).  Hootsuite defines a regram as: “when an Instagram user posts a photo from someone else’s account to their own”. As well as being able to share fantastic content with your followers there are numerous other benefits to your business if you use regramming correctly; it has the potential to supply an endless amount of fresh content for your page, it can increase your brand awareness, encourage more engagement with your brand and improve your social proof.

In this article I will tell you exactly how to regram as well as show you how to unlock all of these benefits and more for your business.

How to regram

There are several different ways you can share other people’s content on your Instagram page. We will look at two in particular; manually posting the content and using one of the numerous apps that offer the service. The former option is a little stone age however it is a useful technique to know and will enable you to post content without having the app’s brand name overlaid on top of your images.

Manual regramming

Manually reposting content on Instagram is easy, however it is worth bearing in mind that this only works on photographs and will not work for video. Simply follow the steps below: 

1. Open Instagram on a mobile device
2. Navigate to the post you would like to regram
3. Take a screenshot or save the image to your device
4. Press the + button in the centre of the bottom navigation row on Instagram
5. Select the screenshot you have just taken
6. Crop the image so that only the picture you want to repost is in the frame (if required you can edit the image with your devices native editing suite)
7. Proceed to the caption page and write your caption, remember to give credit to the original owner of the image (more on this later)
8. Hit share

Easy, however for better quality reposting and the ability to repost videos the next option is the one you want.

Regramming tools

There are a whole host of tools and applications out there designed for specifically regramming content. Head over to your device’s application service and search for “repost Instagram”, choose an app that has good reviews and for-fills your requirements. A great tool that I have had success with in the past is Repost for Instagram from the guys over at Red Cactus.

Although the process differs a little from app to app the basics are the same:

1. Install your choice of application
2. Open Instagram on a mobile device
3. Navigate to the post you would like to regram
4. Tap the three dots on the top right of the post
5. Press “Copy Share URL”
6. Open your regramming application
7. Edit the post as required
8. Share the post

Boom, 2 minutes of work and you have some fantastic content to share with your followers.

Regram like a professional

Get noticed

So earlier I said that regramming content can be a great way to increase your brand awareness, here is a great trick to get potential customers noticing your brand.

When you are looking for content to regram, focus on people that have a use for your product or service. If you regram someone’s content and notify them like I will outline below, I guarantee they will take an interest in your brand and head over to your business’s Instagram page.This is fantastic free way to get your business noticed by, and give value to new potential customers. If you have chosen correctly, (someone that resonates with your brand and requires your product or service) this potential customer will likely become an actual customer later down the line.

#Hashtag

Another simple, but great hack is to make sure you use the hashtag “#regram” when you repost someone else’s content. Using this hashtag shows people that your business is both ethical and genuine, showing that you are more than happy to highlight that this post uses someone else’s content.

Secondly, when posting one of your happy customer’s posts about your product, using this hashtag shows that someone loved your product/service so much that they posted about it. Let your customers show people why they should buy your product, social proof beats your own advertising every day of the week.

Responsible regramming

If I were cynical, I would perhaps think that some of you would read this blog and go about reposting other people’s content without asking permission and claiming it as your own. However, let me highlight a few important things here. Not only would that be showing a complete lack of respect for the person who created the great shareable content, but you would also be shooting yourself in the foot, here is why:

Asking before you use

Asking permission to use someone else’s content before regramming is a must. Simply drop the user a message and ask if you can use their post on your page, 9 times out of 10 they will say yes. The best way we have found of doing this is by simply commenting on the user’s post with a kind message or remark about the photo or video followed by the request for permission to use the post.

Do not just go ahead and use the image or video once you have requested permission, wait for the user to reply and say it is ok before regramming their content. This is not only a nice thing to do but it also has a lot of benefits for your business. For example, the content creator will likely be thrilled that a business thinks their image or video is good enough for them to re-use it and as a result is likely to think of your brand more favourably in the future.

Crediting the creator

In addition to asking permission to use people images and videos it is imperative that you give credit where credit is due. This is easy; simply include the users name in your caption prefixed with something like; Photo by (@username), Image Credit (@username) or Captured by (@username). What comment you use is not as important as making sure you make it clear who provided the original image or video, so feel free to get creative.

By tagging the content creator in your post you ensure that your regram will show up in the news feeds of all of their followers. So not only is this good practise, you will instantly increase your post’s reach!

If the above benefits are still not enough to stop you ripping off other people’s content, remember that if the original content creator finds out and wishes to do so they can justifiably report you to Instagram and your account will be suspended or removed. It is also worth noting that in this situation Instagram will not see it as sufficient if you have just tagged the user in the image, make sure you mention them in the caption.

So there you have it, regramming can be exactly what your business needs to take it to the next level on Instagram. Follow all of the best practises I have outlined above and you will be well on your way to Instagram success. I would love to know how you currently, or plan to use regramming as part of your Instagram strategy, let me know in the comments!

George Rudge - Social 365

The Most Common Mistakes Businesses Make on Social Media

Image courtesy of RQ Health

It’s nothing to be ashamed of. A lot of business owners get confused when it comes to the nitty-gritty of social media.

And who wouldn’t be? Social media is still young, and there are so many platforms out there, how are you supposed to know what to do and where to do it?

Today, I am here to help you realise the most common mistakes businesses make online. There are more mistakes businesses make, of course, but these are the most common ones we see at Social 365.

Not committing to social media long term

This is a common issue a lot of businesses have.

They start their business. They analyse the avenues and places they need to go and be seen. They create their pages and post on them religiously for a month or two.

But then what happens? They forget about them, and their once new and glorious pages become dusty and bare.

Social media needs to be embraced by your business and you need to make a commitment to work on it (or at least monitor it) every day.

With the amount of people on social media growing daily, it’s no surprise that a lot of businesses want to be present online.  

But you MUST commit. There are great benefits from being on social media, from revenue generation to simply brand awareness and customer service.

You don’t want to miss out because it takes you too long or you can’t be bothered anymore. Use it for a long time, commit to the process and reap the benefits.

Talking one-way

Many businesses post on social media platforms for one reason: they think they have to.

Now, you should post on your platforms regularly, don’t get me wrong. However, the way in which businesses post when they have this mind-set writes-off any interaction with their audience.

There’s no possibility of a two-way conversation. 

With access to information and the ability to influence hundreds (if not thousands and millions) at peoples finger tips, people want to be heard and people want to be noticed.

If you are posting every day, or even every other day, but aren’t giving your audience a chance to engage with your business, then you’re wasting your time.

Don’t just talk at people, talk TO them. Engage with them. Post interesting content and ask your audience questions.

You can even interact with them directly on most platforms by simply adding the “@” symbol then typing someone’s name.

This seems like an obvious and simple thing to do, but you’d be surprised how often it’s overlooked.

Not knowing how often to ask for business

When to ask for business, and how often you should ask, is an age-old problem.

On social media however, it becomes even more of an issue.

Businesses tend to go one of two ways.

Businesses either spend a long time building up their following and their reputation, offer value and take the time to interact with their audience, but never experience this value converting to sales.

On the other hand, some businesses get followers, and straight away start asking for business and bombarding their audience with links to their services, without offering any value or interacting with them first.

You NEED to build rapport with people. You NEED to offer your audience valuable content, and valuable content that they actually want.

You wouldn’t go up to a random stranger in the street and start shouting your prices and services at them, so don’t do it on social media.

If you interact with your customers, offer them tips, help, and knowledge only you (an expert) could tell them, you’re much more likely to get sales.

It is simple reciprocity. You offer people your valuable time and information, and in time they will repay you in sales.  

Not having a clear social media direction

Having a social media strategy which is congruent to your overall brand strategy might seem like common sense.

However, you’d be surprised how many businesses do not take the time to devise a social media strategy at all and just “wing it”.

Without knowing the direction you want to take the pages, to the tone of voice you are going to use and the content you are going to share, your social media pages will fail to achieve the results you desire.

Spend the time to think about your social media goals, and think about how you are going to achieve them. If you’re unsure, get some help from a professional. Don’t be ashamed to ask for guidance. After all, billions of people have the potential to see your pages – do you really want to get it wrong?

Overloading on social media platforms 

Facebook.

Twitter.

Google +.

Instagram.

Pinterest.

Foursquare.

YouTube.

I could go on, but the list of potential platforms is quite long!

There’s a ton of social media sites which are available to businesses today, so there is no surprise people get confused.

Each platform has its own pro’s and con’s. Each platform has different uses and different functions. If you’re entering the world of social media without much knowledge, the scene can be quite overwhelming.

The common mistake made by a lot of businesses is to get on everything. No matter what their business is or what the platforms do, some businesses just get everywhere.

STOP. Think about what your business needs. Think about what the platforms do. You don’t need to be everywhere, and it makes much more sense to start with one platform and master it, than spread yourself over them all and make mistakes.

Take the time to think about what your business really needs and where you need to be seen, and from there, take each platform one at a time and master it. You’ll thank me later.

What now?

Whether your business has 1 or 1000 employees, take the time to think about your social media presence. 

Examine your results every month or quarter, and get help if you’re in doubt. You could save thousands - and you could earn even more - by avoiding these common mistakes. 


Aaron Savage - Social 365