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

Your key to understanding promoted posts on Facebook and 4 great ideas for your next campaign

You may have seen Facebook offering your business page the opportunity to promote, boost or sponsor posts. Confused? Don't worry, in this article I will tell you exactly what promoted posts are, how they can help your business and how you can create adverts that will help you attract new fans, increase engagement and ultimately your conversions.

A promoted post, also known as sponsored or boosted posts, are Facebook posts that benefit from amplified reach and targeting options in exchange for a fee. Promoting a posts allows more people to see your content, importantly those outside of your current network. Facebook gives you the option to promote almost any content, including plain text, photos, videos, links and offers from your business Facebook page. All of this means that your post will appear higher in people news feeds as well as appearing in the news feeds of people who do not currently follow your business.

So why should you be using Facebook promotions? Well as mentioned they give your business the ability to create super targeted advertising campaigns and reach out to new customers. You may think that this high quality advertising will break the bank, however you will be pleasantly surprised to know that Facebook promotion campaigns can be run for as little as £1 per day.

Now you know what promoted posts are and how they can help your business, here are 4 great ideas for your upcoming adverts that will help your business stand out and generate more engagement on your posts.

1. Use visuals

Facebook posts with visual content generate 2.3 times more engagement than those without. Therefore it is important that you are using visual content in your Facebook promotions and absolutely imperative if your business sells physical products. 

If you incorporate an image into your advert, make sure you use a high quality image! There is no excuse for not using high quality images when we have smart phones that take HD photographs. On the other hand, if you opt for a video based advert be sure to spend the extra money on high quality production and editing services. Using a poor quality image or video will not only hinder the results your get from your advert, but it will also negatively effect how people view your brand.

As far as what image/s or video to use, if you sell a physical product it is a good idea to use an image or video that displays your product in use so you can show the benefits that it provides to the customer. If you are stuck for ideas, take a look at what your competitors are posting and having success with, this will give you an idea of what content will get a good reaction from your own target audience.

2. Encourage reactions

Another tool in your advert arsenal is the six reaction emojis that users can use to show how they feel about your content. This feature has been very popular since it's introduction last year and is still driving high levels of engagement. A good use for this feature is to create an advert with various images that correspond to specific reactions and encourage users to choose the emoji that is linked to their favorite image. This is a great option for helping you find out more about your audience and can be used as part of your wider campaign strategy to help you decide what products/services to focus your future marketing efforts on.

3. Encourage tagging

Another great way to generate high levels of engagement and interest is to ask people to tag their friends in the comments of your promoted post. To be successful you must create an image, video or post which your audience thinks is good, funny or relevant enough to tag their friends.

Some of the best examples of this strategy we have seen at Socail 365 is the use of a humorous meme or video combined with the request to "tag someone who this reminds you of". Another option is to use a picture of your product or service combined with a caption similar to: "tag a friend who would love our (product name)". This strategy can be applied to almost anything and is only limited by your imagination, so get creative.

4. Promote an offer

Another great option is to promote an offer your business is currently running. This can be a fantastic way to get new customers through the door quickly. With a well timed and well designed advert you could soon have more orders than you can cope with. We often find that the best time to promote an offer is in the run-up to a specific day for example, Christmas, bank holidays, mother's day ect. If you have a time of year in which your products/services are particularly popular, this is the perfect time to run this sort of promotion as your customers are already looking to make a purchase.

If you opt for this type of promotion, remember: you need to leave enough time for the offer to reach people before it expires, in addition, make sure that you have the ability to meet the increase in demand that will hopefully result. There is little point generating orders you cannot for-fill.

Things to bare in mind

The work does not stop once your promotion is up and running. It is important to stay up to date with the progress of your advert. A good indicator of how your promotion is being received is to keep an eye on the comments for any positive or negative remarks, this also allows you to answer and questions your customers ask. Once your promotion has been running for a few hours take a look at the analytics, you should be aiming for an engagement rate of 1% or higher. Finally, be sure to keep a record of your campaigns performance stats so that you can measure performance against future promotions, this will allow you to see what advert features produce the best results with your audience.

So now you have a few more ideas of what your next promoted post could be. The key to using Facebook's advertising service is to find what resonates best with your audience, don't be afraid to try new ideas and experiment until you find the combination that your customers love.

George Rudge - Social 365

4 Clever ways to use Social Media for your restaurant

Social media is THE place to be if you’re a restaurant in the 21^st Century.

If you want to get your image out there, promote your restaurant and attract more customers, what better way is there than doing it online to billions of potential customers?

In this blog, I am going to outline the best ways to go about using Social Media for your restaurant.

If you’re already on Social Media, it’s time to up your game and make the most of the various platforms. If you’re not yet taking advantage, these tips will tell you how to go about it.

1. Create a Facebook Page

Why you need a Facebook page is self-explanatory.

It’s the largest platform, with millions of active users every day. 

Be sure to use location tags, images, competitions, and fully interact with your customers every week to ensure that you’re current and potential customers know who you are and get the full vibe of your restaurant.

Images, of course, will show people the types of food they can expect – so make the most of using them as much as you can.

Explore Facebook Advertising. Restaurants using Facebook ads can be hugely successful growing their pages and attracting new business. After all, if you see an ad of some amazing looking food or drinks, then why wouldn’t you want to check out where it is?

2.     Promote your qualities on Instagram

Now, if you’re aware of Instagram and what it you can do on it, this may seem like common sense to you.

If you’re not, and you’re completely new to the platform, then you NEED to be on Instagram.

As a restaurant, having a platform at your fingertips solely designed for its users to post images is perfect.

Get pictures of your food, your venue, your staff, your unique identity etc. paired up with hashtags to make the people aware of who you are and what you can offer them.

Instagram is perfect to get people to experience who you are and what you represent as a business.

Give people an insight into who you are with vibrant pictures and clever hashtags. You’ll thank me for it later.

3.     Publicise who you are on Pinterest

This may be unchartered territory for your restaurant.

A lot of people aren’t interested in Pinterest or don’t know how to use it!

However, I urge you to take the plunge and get involved on the platform.

Here is a brief introduction into how you can do it:

• Create recipe boards
• Menu boards
• Photo boards
• Drinks boards
• Special event boards

Create unique pins, specifically for your restaurant, and pin other restaurants or chef’s boards to these pins. Ensure you’re using high quality photos and include context, engage with your audience and they will engage with you.

If you’re looking to really boost your Pinterest page, you can also try advertising through their sponsored pins.

4.     Google Alerts

Stay up to date and on top of your restaurants image.

Reputation is so important for restaurants, as I’m sure you’re aware. If you’re not on Google Plus, you should be. It’s basically Facebook but with some cool added functions to it (keep an eye out for our upcoming blog on Google Plus for more details).

If you are on it, set up Google Alerts. This will let you track all mentions of your restaurant from the Internet. Anytime your restaurant gets mentioned, you’ll know.

This is perfect if you want to manage your reputation and track customer reviews (especially handy to deal with any negative ones).

Ready to get started on Social Media for your restaurant? These tips are the places to start.

If you want to know more, get in contact and we can help you really take advantage of the online social world. 

Aaron Savage - Social 365

5 Reasons your business needs to be on social media

Image courtesy of BP

So you are still not convinced that your business needs to be on social media or you think that your pages are “good enough”.

There are now over 2.789 billion active social media accounts across the globe, that is 37% of the world’s population and that number is only going one way … up! Social media is no longer just somewhere for the kids to hang out, it is a platform that has taken great ideas and turned them into global corporations all within the last 20 years.

These are some very large and impressive numbers but how can social media actually help your business? Here are 5 benefits your company can expect to gain from having a great social media presence:

1. Get to know your customers like your best friend

One of the key benefits of social media is the customer insight it gives you. All of the major social media platforms offer extensive analytic data and great tools for interpreting it. If used correctly this data can give you priceless insight into what your customers want, how they behave and how you can best position yourself to solve their problems with your products/services.

2. Access to precision advertising tools

The advertising options offered by the top social media platforms are a marketers dream come true. For example, Facebook allows you to specify target locations, interests, behaviors and demographics. This means that you can ensure your advertisements are only attracting people who are interested in what you have to offer, which greatly helps your conversation rate.

You may think that this level of advertising accuracy is going to be expensive. However, advertising on social media is one of the cheapest methods of reaching large numbers of your target 

customers, with ads starting from as little as £1 per day.

3. Higher website traffic and search engine ranking

When you have a strong presence on social media, search engines such as Google will see your business as more of an authority in your area of business. As a result, not only will your web page appear higher in a Google search but your social media accounts will be separately listed, multiplying your presence. All of this additional exposure can greatly increase the amount of people connecting with your business online and the amount of people visiting your website.

4. Valuable competitor insight

Another great benefit social media gives your business is the ability to look at what your competitors are up to. Due to the open nature of social media, companies often post content that can provide an insight into what their current strategy and objectives are, allowing you to ensure your business is keeping up to date with the changing business landscape. In addition, seeing what content your competitors are posting also allows you to see what posts are most popular among your shared customer base, important information which can help you decide what content to share and promote.

5. Improved relationships with your customers

The final point on this list is perhaps the most important. Social media allows your customers to really get to know your business (this is particularly important for online businesses that have little face to face interaction with their customers). People like to buy from business that have similar values as themselves and the best way you can get across your companies values and ethos online is through utilising social media. By posting great content and interacting with your customers you will be telling your customers more about what your business stands for than any website or blog ever could.

Why wait, start now!

In this blog I have covered just a few of the many benefits that your business can enjoy from a strong social media presence, from great advertising options to learning more about your customers.

So, if I have managed to convince you to create a social media presence for your business, start by setting up Facebook and Twitter accounts and go from there. Or, if you already have social media pages set up but they are a bit lack luster, try spending a few more hours improving your presence and you will see the benefits for yourself.

George Rudge - Social 365

4 Reasons You Need To Use Twitter Ads For Your Business

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably trying to grow your companies social media page or build a personal brand.

Most people are familiar with Facebook Ads. They're widely used in business. You probably see them all the time on your personal news feed. You might have even tried them out in the past.

What’s surprising is the amount of businesses who don’t realise how useful Twitter Ads can be. If you’re not using them, here’s why you should be.

1.     Laser Targeting

Twitter’s targeting is excellent.

For starters, you can get your Twitter Ads to do almost anything you want them to. Want more conversions? Done. Want more website clicks? Done. Want more followers? You get the idea….

The range of different targeting methods for your audience is amazing. You can target by gender, interests, even followers and keywords.

 Twitter Ad Audience

You can also base your Twitter Ad audience on the followers of key influencers in your market. All you need to begin your ads is the twitter handle of someone key in your field.

You can also use Twitter Analytics to gain insight in to your followers, your growth, engagement and much more. This tool will help you find the exact audience who respond to your tweets and what they’re interested in so you can target your Ads accordingly. Perfect!

2.     Equal Accounts

If you have ever tried social media Ads in the past, you’ll know that most platforms only let you run Ads for a company page.

Facebook? Company only. LinkedIn? Company only. Twitter? Well...

You see, with Twitter, all accounts are equal. By this, I mean that Twitter doesn't define what account you have. It can be a personal account or a business account, there is no differentiation. This means you can run an Ad for either your personal page (say if you have a personal brand) or a company page.

You can promote a tweet, a product or a website on any account. You don’t have to worry about setting up a company page like you do on Facebook or LinkedIn – run Ads from the account you want to run Ads from. All you need is a budget. It’s that simple.

3.     They Cost Less And Reach A Larger Audience

Once you’ve sorted out your audience, all you need is the budget.

Twitter Ads are cheaper than other forms of online advertisement. Why you ask? Partly because a lot of businesses don’t use Twitter Ads!

You can advertise for less and get a good return on your investment, in part due to having less competition for audiences compared to Facebook Ads.

Of course, you will need to test. Your key audience might not be very big on Twitter compared to Facebook, but it’s worth trying, especially with the costs so low.  

4.     Fantastic Reporting System

Simply put, Twitter’s Ad reporting is amazing.  

I’ve already mentioned above about being able to target your Ads by loads of different features.

Well, Twitter also gives us the option to break down the results of the Ad by audience segment. What does this mean? Well, different features of your audience’s profiles can be broken down into individual reports, including gender, keywords and interests.

If you run your Ad based on the followers of key influencers in your market, you can also generate a report to see whose followers responded more to the Ad compared to others!

If you’ve ever tried to run a Facebook Ad, you’ll know all too well that their Ad reporting is nowhere near as sophisticated.

Final Comments 

If you want to try social media advertising, there are multiple benefits to both Facebook and Twitter Ads.

These are just 4 reasons why you should at least consider using Twitter Ads to promote your business. 

Aaron Savage - Social 365

4 Facebook Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

We live in the social media age. Businesses no longer need to dig deep to fund their advertising campaigns. Old school methods like direct mail and television broadcasting are expensive, especially for small businesses! Social media has changed the way we play the marketing game.

It is now fundamental for any size business to have a presence on social media. With Facebook being the most popular social media platform, it makes sense to start here. How you ask? Here are some tips.

Creating a Facebook page 

There are 1.86 billion monthly active Facebook users worldwide, and people are hooked. Everyday people wake up, and what’s the first thing they do? You got it, they check Facebook.

Now, Facebook are very specific about the profiles they allow to be created, after all, an average of 5 new profiles are created every second! You can’t create a new profile if you’re trying to promote your business. To start building your businesses social media presence, begin with creating a Facebook page. 

How to create a page 

There are different options provided to you by Facebook, so make sure you select the one that best fits your business. Here are your options:

Choose your Page type

Establish your Username 

You want to ensure that people can find your business easily and remember you, so you must make sure you’ve chosen your Facebook username. Your Facebook username will appear below the name you gave your Page, but that’s not the only place. The username also features in your URL. If the ideal username of your business isn’t available, chose one which closely represents your brand. It’s not the end of the world if you can’t get the exact name you want, so long as it represents your brand accurately.

Analyse your audience

Hopefully, if you’re at this point, you’ve established your target audience and you know everything about these people. With Facebook Page Insights, it is easier than ever to determine who you’re reaching out to with your posts. You can find out their age, gender, location and so much more. Better still, it tells you when your audience are most active online!

Audience reach insights

The mistake a lot of businesses make when it comes to their Facebook page is not adapting to the needs of the audience when they post. If your audience aren’t getting constant updates from your page, likelihood is they’ll eventually stop paying attention or unfollow you completely. Likewise, if you’re posting too much and clogging their timelines, it could have the same effect. You need to establish how many times a day, and at what time during the day, your audience expect to see updates. Experiment with your post times till you get the engagement you want to achieve. The beauty of Facebook is you can see how each post does in terms of reach and engagement. Optimise your posting schedule and content so you can get the most out of your followers.                                                           

Post relevant content 

As much as its important to post at the relevant times and days when your audience is online, the content you post is even more important. Simply: Offer Value. When you post, you should be offering more value than you’re taking. If you are not participating in a fair value exchange, your audience are likely to not engage.

One simple hack if you’re starting off is to have a look at what your competitors are up to. Check to see what they post, when they post, what the likes and comments are like on their posts. Keeping tabs on your competitors Facebook pages will give you some good insights and tips on what you can do.   

People typically spend 20 minutes on Facebook per visit. For that brief period, you want to engage and entertain your audience. The more entertaining and engaging content you post (relevant to their needs of course), the more they will tend to gravitate towards your page. Pictures, GIFS, videos, and the infamous memes help entice your audience to comment, like, or share a post.

You don’t have to come up with new content all the time, if you’re starting off this can be time consuming and exhausting. Just make sure your pages are looking fresh by posting a mixture of content. Most importantly, make sure you’re offering your audience value. If you’re trying to take all the time, people won’t engage and your page will flop.

Try Facebook Ads

As I mentioned above, social media advertising changed the game when it comes to marketing. No longer do you have to pay large sums for direct mail campaigns, it can all be done at the click of a button and for a fraction of the price. Although they are cheaper than traditional advertising, you still need a healthy budget. But if your budget allows, Facebook Ads are a must for all businesses in the modern day.

The benefit of Facebook Ads is that they enable you to target your audience to a T. You can get down to the nitty gritty details, targeting your audiences age, gender, interests, location. You can run your Ads to increase your Facebook likes, boost your post reach, drive traffic to your website or online store, or get video views. Whatever you need the Ad to do, the likelihood is that Facebook Ads can do it.

Facebook Ad Objective

Sounds simple, right? Well, you're correct. Facebook Ads can be simple, but they can also cost you a lot of money if little details aren’t quite right.

If you define your goals early, establish your target audience accurately, and have engaging content, you should reap the benefits from Facebook Ads.

For businesses in 2017, small or large, having a Facebook page is fundamental if you want to be taken seriously. Luckily, Facebook have made it easy for you to get started. If you follow the hints and tips from this article, you should have no issue generating business from Facebook.

Aaron Savage - Social 365