5 Easy Steps to Secure Your Organization's Social Media Channels

Organizations of all shapes and sizes have recently been subject to social media security breaches. Accounts have been hacked, altered, and used to promulgate unwanted messages. The devastating result has been tarnished brand reputation and a loss of profile views and followers.

social media (network) security - an over-arching term that describes the policies and procedures implemented by a network administrator on social media “to avoid and keep track of unauthorized access, exploitation, modification, or denial of the network and network resources” (Janssen, n.d.).

social media policy - A social media policy is a corporate code of conduct that provides “guidelines for employees who post content on the Internet either as part of their job or as a private person” (Rouse, 2011).

There are 5 easy ways to secure your organization’s social media channels to ensure that your organization stays protected:

·         Educate and train employees: If you don’t want employees who are unfamiliar with social media to be using those platforms due to security risks, then educate them. Training employees about how to use social media tools helps ensure they are doing so securely. Structured social media training programs exist. See this recommended social media training template. 

·         Centralize your social media channels: Perform an audit of all the social media accounts in your organization. Find out who manages them and who has access to them. Delete any extraneous accounts and remove permission from anyone who shouldn’t have it. Use a social media management system.

·         Protect your passwords: Consider implementing  a password management tool, like LastPass. This tool  generates secure passwords that you can use.

·         Develop a message approval process: Social media management systems allow teams to check the content of messages for errors and to review every post before it goes public. This helps instill an appropriate approval process.

·         Have a crisis plan in place: Train your team to run through various scenarios in the event that one of your social media accounts were compromised so you are prepared for the unexpected. Get your social media crisis plan in place.

Social media can be one of your organizations greatest assets or one of its easily vulnerable liabilities. Sound social media policies and security are meant to keep your mind at rest so you can stay focused on engaging audiences through our organization’s social media channels. Protect yourself!

5 noteworthy examples of social media policies

Ford’s social media policy

Hootsuite’s five step guide to better social media securitywhitepaper

References:

Janssen. (n.d.). Network Security. Retrieved February 24, 2014, from Techopedia website:

     http://www.techopedia.com/definition/24783/network-security

Rouse, M. (2011, August). Social Media Policy. Retrieved February 24, 2014, from SearchCompliance

     website: http://searchcompliance.techtarget.com/definition/social-media-policy

The Essential Missing Ingredient to Effective Marketing & PR Plans

In cooking, no matter how great the recipe, everyone notices when there is an essential ingredient missing in the finished product. This is because something that’s imperative has been left out of the preparation process.  In a like manner, there is one missing ingredient often lacking in PR and marketing plans today: well-developed buyer persona profiles. Scott says it this way, “The most important thing to remember as you develop a marketing and PR plan is to put your products and services to the side for just a little while and focus your complete attention on the buyers of your products” (Scott, 2013, pg. 161).

In order to “succeed on the web under the new rules of marketing and PR, you need to consider your organizational goals and then focus on your buyers first” (Scott, 2013, pg. 162). He further states, “only when you understand buyers should you begin to create compelling web content to reach them” (Scott, 2013, pg. 162).

There are 3 essential components when making buyer profiling a key part of the marketing and PR plan process. These consist of understanding organizational goals, creating descriptive an segmented buyer persona profliles, and aligning web marketing and media choices based off of those buyer personas.

Understanding Organizational Goals

As organizational goals are discussed, there are 2 components that make for successful goals:

1. Goals must be clear. Vague goals don’t produce intended results or motivate people to perform. An example of a vague goal would be to do radio advertisements over the next 6 weeks. There is no clarity on what the organization seeks to accomplish other than adding a new element to their existing marketing mix.

2. Goals must be specific. Unspecific organizational goals are not measurable.  An example of an unspecific goal would be to add an alumni section to a higher education institution’s website. An example of a specific goal would be the goal of increasing alumni web traffic by 10% over the next 6 weeks.

The Buyer Persona Profile

A buyer persona profile is simply a representative of a type of buyer that an organization has identified as having a specific interest in their organization or product (Scott, 2013, pg. 164).  For each buyer persona, there are specific questions that need to be asked. These questions include the following:

What are their goals and aspirations?

What are their problems?

What media do they rely on for answers to their problems?

How can we reach them?

The best way to learn about buyers and develop buyer personas is to interview them (Scott, 2013, pg. 164). Developing buyer personas is a learned ability to get into the minds and hearts of the target audience and to understand their needs and problems that can be solved by your organization’s products or services.

Buyer Personas & Web Marketing

The typical website has a “one size fits all” approach to marketing.  Scott proposes that “one of the simplest ways to build an effective website or to create great marketing programs using online content is to target the specific buyer personas that you have created” (Scott, 2013, pg. 169).  Instead of organizing websites based on products and services themselves, the proposed thought by Scott is to organize web content more intentionally around the buyer personas that have been created. An example of this would be a higher education website that creates a buyer persona for undergraduate students, graduate students, parents, alumni, and donors. Developing these buyer personas thoroughly allows there to be increased website effectiveness. In order to be effective, the organization needs to anticipate the buyer’s questions and then answer them by creating compelling content (Gray, 2013).

Click here to find out more about developing fail-proof buyer personas

Do you agree with Scott’s point about the importance of buyer personas in the marketing plan process and what practical steps have you seen used to develop effective buyer personas?

References:

Gray, J. (2013, April 25). Four Tips for Building Fail-Proof Buyer Personas. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from Marketing Profs website: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2013/10618/four-tips-for-building-fail-proof-buyer-personas

Scott, D. M. (2013). The New Rules of Marketing & PR. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Where Are You Aiming Your Communications Strategy?

I wholeheartedly agree with the notion that communications must flow out of an organization's communication strategy. In a world that offers a plethora of communications channels, many organizations and companies can unknowingly find themselves taking a “shotgun” approach to marketing communications.  Unfortunately, this “shotgun” approach lends itself to less impact and effectiveness.  In stark contrast, effective strategic communication involves a laser-like focus on an intended target that’s in alignment with a company or organization’s overall strategy.  As Todd MacKenzie, senior vice president of corporate communications at PepsiCo states, “The communication function supports the business and brand-building efforts.  The messages articulate the strategic direction of the company and motivate people to move behind it” (p. 84).

The Need for Alignment

For communications to be effective, alignment is imperative.  The communications strategy must be in alignment with the overall strategy for it to accomplish results.  T. Michael Glenn, president and CEO of FedEx services says it this way: “Communication is at the center of everything. You can’t execute a strategy if you can’t communicate about it” (p. 84). The strategy must be clear and understood so that marketing, advertising, public relations, social media, and all other components of IMC work together to fulfill the clear objectives of the organization’s overall strategy communicated to its publics.

The Need for Consistency

The second essential component for effective communications strategy is consistency of message. Todd French, executive vice president and CFO of Textron Inc. says, “Communications now have to be crisper and give more clarity” (p. 86).  It’s crucial that the message of the organization remain simple, clear and consistent.  Where there is no unity and frequency of message, there is no ability to accomplish objectives and build a brand.  Thus, it’s important that whatever message is given and however it is communicated, that it is done consistently for maximum impact.

Click here to find out more regarding strategic communications for nonprofits.

The Need for Measurement & Adjustment

Lastly, effective strategic communications needs to be measured, monitored and adjusted based on results.  Engagement is possible to measure through digital marketing dashboards, social media engagement software, Google Analytics, and other methods.  This gives the strategic marketing communications professional an ability to monitor if the message is hitting its intended target and to make the adjustments needed accordingly.
 

IMC professionals have the ability to use an organization’s resources to ensure that proper messaging is implemented within their allotted budget with intentional outcomes that are viewable to upper level management.  Social media plays an important role in actively creating two way conversations around these strategic messages.  The strategy part is essential to ensure that there is a clear call to action that justifies the effort and builds the brand of the organization.

References

Argenti, P., Howell, R. and Beck, K. 2005. The Strategic Communication Imperative. Retrieved  on February 3, 2014, from: MIT Sloan Management Review: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~opa/communicators/fall08/reading/Sloan_MIT_Strat_Comm_Imp.pdf