On social media a company interacts with hundreds, if not thousands, of people a week, but are all of them simply interested in your brand or is there something more sinister in their intentions?
We can tell you that in all honesty that 99% of people will fall into the first category, but to cover off on the last 1%, here are 7 simple steps you can do to improve your business’ social media security.
1. Make all your passwords different
It’s a great idea in theory right? But in two weeks time when you have 15 different passwords you’re never going to remember which password matches which account. However, THIS IS NOW A THING OF THE PAST! There are many great premium encrypted password management services that you can use to make sure every password is different and you never forget them. LastPass & Zoho are two great examples, go check them out ASAP to help make your life a little bit more secure.
2. Train your staff on the risks and the steps they need to take
It’s very likely that you’re not the sole person working on you business’ social media accounts; it’s a team effort from several people to generate a combined brand message. It’s vital that you and your team are on the same page with everything about social media, from terms of service, to where your team writes down important information. Even if you’re doing it correctly it’s not going to matter if Susie is writing her password on a post-it note and sticking it on the front of her desktop monitor (we all know a Susie).
3. Only let a seasoned employee hit the post button
When posting online it only takes one slip up to create a media crisis, just take the Jeff Horn vs Anthony Mundine incident. Marketing contractors hired by Horn created some cutting and controversial content about Mundine had made about homosexuality. Horn was not aware the content before it was posted and was forced to make a statement to the media about it the following day. Don’t let your business be in the same boat, protect yourself from an intern just hitting post without spell checking or from a drunk employee accendiantly in the wrong account by setting up pre-post approval measures, A great option for Facebook is to get people to create posts in drafts and then go through them and doing the scheduling yourself.
4. Do a regular audit of admin privileges
Businesses gain and lose staff all the time and in a busy workplace making time to go through setting and deleting admins often gets overlooked. MAKE TIME! Once a person no longer works for you there’s no telling what they could be doing, and if their account got hacked there is every chance they wouldn’t even inform you. Limit access to only those who need it.
5. Always take advantage of adding optional security questions, back-up email addresses, or extra text message security
Always take advantage of this if it is available, it may seem time consuming and over-the-top but it only takes a few seconds to do, and if it blocks just one hack attempt it’s done its job.
This is also a good option to use if two people work on the same account. That way one person can use their email address and the other can use their phone number for text message verifications, so both users can access the account through different verification channels.
6. Monitor fake comments or possible fake accounts that interact with your brand online
It’s always a good idea to keep track of any strange activity that goes on around your content. If there are identical comments, or comments that look like they’re copied and pasted, they are probably from a fake account. While it will most likely amount to nothing more than spam, being aware of these accounts and screening them out or blocking them is a proactive way to a limit your chances of falling prey to more malicious activity.
7. Always log out of your accounts when going home for the day or the weekend
This tip is probably the simplest of the all, but it just as important as the others. Everyone at some point has been scrolling through their personal news feed and seen a status that has clearly been written by someone’s mates posting a stupid status for a laugh. While it can be funny in that setting, it’s not funny if it’s your business account. Passwords only work if you actually have to enter them, so always log out when you’re done.
Is your social media now like Fort Knox after reading this list? We hope so, but to get more security news and information, check out our article about improvements in cybersecurity.
