Partner Article

How to Protect Your Brand on Social Media

No matter the content, size or end goal of your business, the fact that you’re on this very website means you realize that in this day and age, no company can go untouched by the internet.

With such a vast amount of marketing online and the chance to reach a wider audience than ever before, if you aren’t snapping up every opportunity you get to increase your online exposure, then you’re missing out.

If You’re Not Using Social Media…

…then why not?

Social media is fast exploding as one of the most powerful forms of promotion. It’s launched even the most obscure business endeavors into the public eye and allowed brands to find and tend to an authentic and interested fan base. The rise of social media advertising success is due to a combination of the advanced targeting options and improved conversion tracking. The benefits of social media are clear.

However, it isn’t enough just to use social media—you have to use it well. Creating and protecting your brand on social networks requires a clearly defined strategy to ensure you offer your business the best possible chance for success. You have to vet the posts that go out on your account and make sure your brand is never infiltrated or hacked.

Fortunately, learning how to protect your brand is relatively simple and, once mastered, will leave you and your business free to reap the many benefits of social marketing.

Represent Your Brand

Branding has changed; it isn’t enough to pick a pleasing color scheme and a stand-out logo anymore. Audiences want to feel like they really know the personality and people behind the companies they invest their time and money in. Just look at what Steve Jobs did for Apple or Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook.

Social media marketing means presenting your brand to the world: running a blog around related interests, posting photos to give your company a face or even providing real-time updates of day-to-day life around the office. You have to be relatable and personable. You need to have your systems polished. If a stray post gets through that’s off-brand or a statement is made from one of your accounts that has negative repercussions, it will have disastrous effects on the reputation of your business.

Carefully Craft Posts

There are many celebrities out there who have risen to fame because of their Twitter feuds or have been hailed by millions for making controversial comments about competitors on the internet. Unfortunately, while they have managed to make their millions from being outspoken and scandalous, it’s much harder to build a trustworthy business with this outlook. Vetting what you say online is an essential part of protecting your brand. When establishing whether a post is necessary, consider these following points:

•Does It Add Something?

Many companies get so caught up in targeting the right frequency of posts that they very often sacrifice content. While a dormant account will not do you any favors, one constantly filled with spam is also a massive turnoff. Try to ensure the post is fresh, original and has valuable content.

•Is It Positive?

This is something that has been seen most prolifically in recent political elections. Scaremongering and slander no longer impress anyone. Customers don’t want to hear how terrible your competition is; they want to know how great you are and why they should be dedicated to you. Stay positive and enthusiastic, and you’ll guarantee a better response.

•Is It Planned?

One of the biggest threats to brand identity on social media is spontaneity. On personal accounts, it’s common to post something in a moment of anger that you immediately regret. In your home life, that’s easy to delete and apologize to those you need to. However, in a company, those snide comments in moments of passion could make or break your brand reputation. The best way to avoid these slip-ups is to try to schedule and plan all of your social media posts before they go out.

Protect Your Investment

Unfortunately, it isn’t just protecting your post content that is critical on your social media accounts. Like all things online, your marketing campaign is prone to attack from malicious hackers, and the damage a full-scale infiltration could have on your reputation is endless. Worldwide people are becoming more aware of the risks of poor internet security, so if they spot that you are potentially infected, they’ll avoid your brand.

It’s important to keep your security tight. One hijacked status, message or tweet from one of your accounts and you’ll see the followers drop instantly. To reduce the risk of this, make sure you’re practicing good personal security. Invest in a good anti-virus and firewall and always run the newest version of all software to prevent security holes in your setup.

If you regularly update while on-the-go and rely on public WiFi—a necessary evil that is unfortunately too convenient to bypass—be sure you have installed a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to keep your personal information safe from prying eyes. Secure Thoughts has a review that provides more information about this if you haven’t come across a VPN before.

Be Social Media Savvy

Further than basic internet security precautions, there are several practices to protect yourself that are specific to social media. As a platform pools personal information, social network sites are often key targets for those trying to farm the identity of others. This means if you really want to make sure your business is secure and won’t be infiltrated, you have to take a few steps to protect yourself:

• Passwords

It’s advised to change your password regularly on social media, as often hackers will employ brute force attacks to try to gain access. Make sure each passkey you chose is unique, long and complex.

• Link Clicking

Be stringent with what you click on, as links can be infected with malware. Only open pages and emails from trusted sources, and make it a rule never to download from a site you don’t know.

• Privacy Settings

Each social media network has its own set of privacy settings that you can play around with. However, remember that you have to balance visibility with security, so don’t make your accounts overly hidden.

• Old Accounts

It’s always wise to delete accounts that are no longer in use—they are just farms of personal information that are lying around just waiting to be hacked.

Social media can be your most powerful took but, if used incorrectly, can turn into your worst enemy. Protecting your brand and reputation on these platforms is a crucial activity and one in which you should invest time. If you are already running a social media campaign, then check to make sure you aren’t putting yourself and your company at risk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Cassie .