When automating social media can engage customers and boost marketing efforts

Only a few years back, hackers would focus their attacks on websites and networks infrastructures in order to grab their data and disrupt their management. Today, social media profiles have also become major targets. Though motivations and reasons for such attacks can vary (greed, political activism, or just a taste for complex challenges) one factor remains the same: the results must be rewarding enough for the hacker that they real estate social media marketing can justify heavy investments, strong commitment and sleepless nights in order to gain access. The key role performed by social networks in relationships with online audiences has made digital properties held by brands or other organizations on social networks very valuable targets. The emerging cyber threats report 2014 presented by the Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) stated that as online recommendation and reputation systems increase in importance, information manipulation will become an increasingly strong type of attack. Activities on social networks are not spared from this risk. Although the methods used to hijack social media accounts – cracking, phishing, social engineering –have little in common with those of real hackers, digital pirates can significantly disrupt the online channels of information considered as reliable and credible by a vast number of web users. The Twitter accounts of the Associated Press and the Israel Defense Force social media marketing blogs are among the many examples of social media accounts which have suffered hijacking. These attacks were claimed by a group of online hacktivists known as the Syrian Electronic Army – a sign that such digital properties have become prominent targets for this type of actor. While securing networks and infrastructures is generally the domain of IT security experts, social media is generally handled by Communications and PRs teams that are less accustomed to information security risks. Fortunately you don’t have to be a networks security expert to take some basic steps to better prevent such attacks.

securing primary access to your social networks

In many big corporations and global organization, social media management is still quite a homemade operation. Social media has evolved into a powerful marketing tool for restaurants. At the same time, restaurants struggle to protect their brands’ image given the speed and reach of social media posts. Well-written policies can help prevent public relations disasters and potential legal liability. In addition, the same policies create social media marketing chicago environments that foster productivity and loyalty among employees and brand influencers. Are you a single operator or are you a franchised chain? Size does not change the importance of brand reputation or the risk of liability, but it could impact your corporate culture. So, too, your restaurant brand’s public image also impacts your corporate culture. Are you a brand that is associated with charitable endeavors? Are you trying to attract millenials or baby boomers to your establishment? All of these factors will influence the kind of social media presence your restaurant wants. Ultimately, your culture should dictate the specificity of your social media policy, its tone, and its contents. Your social media policies should be created with input from your human resources, marketing, and legal teams. You should social media brand marketing include your information technology department to be sure that you can implement the policies you create and monitor activity on your pages. When seeking legal input, remember that social media activity requires input from both employment and advertising lawyers. While the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been particularly vocal on the wording of these policies, the Board’s decisions have created risk of exposure under employment, intellectual property and advertising laws .

Measure against defined goals

Before you can determine how successful your social media program is – you need to define and understand the objectives it is trying to reach in the first place. Are you looking to boost lead generation, increase website traffic, engage with current clients, or promote brand recognition? For 80% of marketers, their biggest social media goal is increasing traffic, but this may not necessarily be your top priority. In fact, your goals cost of social media marketing don’t necessarily have to be related to increasing sales. Computer manufacturer Lenovo was able to achieve a 20% reduction in call center activity by encouraging customers to seek answers on their social media accounts and website. Write down your goals and share them with your entire marketing team. It’s critical during this meeting to make certain each team member understands and agrees with the goals. Not only should your social media marketing team buy-in to these goals, your entire marketing organization should see the benefit, realizing these goals will have on the overall marketing plan. It serves no purpose if everyone is on different pages. Once you have defined your company’s B2B social media marketing goals, determine what metrics you will use to measure whether you are hitting those goals. In a recent poll CMOs were asked about the metrics they use to measure social media marketing activities: 68% chose site traffic, 66% selected conversion rates and 63% said the number define social media marketing of fans or members. Getting specific about metrics is important. Use numbers and percentages to your advantage when setting up success points and key performance indicators for your social media marketing strategy. Instead of saying you’d like more sales, set the task of increasing social media lead conversions by 15%. Rather than wishing you had more engagement on Facebook, aim to achieve a 30% increase in comments per post. Using a social media management tool that measures the different metrics that are important to you is vital here. Such tools are efficient and provide enormous time savings while also producing beneficial and relevant information about ROI. See my blog post What Social Media KPIs You Need to be Tracking.