Can Social Media Pose a Threat to Your Business?

Social media is an excellent platform to inform both existing and new customers what is happening within your business but you need to be aware of the risks you face using it and how to avoid and tackle problems you face.

Things you need to be aware of:

1. Confidential Information Thieves – If hackers are able to get on to your page they may be able to see any other accounts connected to your social media. They could also spam your social media accounts if they do get access.
2. Your brands reputations may become negative – Be careful what you put on your accounts, once you’ve posted it you cannot take it back so make sure not to make updates that offend your followers.
3. Intellectual Property Theft – There’s also the obvious risk of people stealing ideas you’ve posted about via promotions so being careful about what you share is important
4. Legal Considerations – Post with care, things you post can always be used against you in the future and make sure you’re abiding by copyright laws in your content, this is especially applicable to YouTube content you may post.

Examples of Social Media Fails by Companies. 

1. Hacking – Burger king. In 2013 the Burger king twitter account got hacked changing the handle and image to that of McDonalds. For more information follow the link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21500175
2. The entertainment retailer HMV lost control of its social media team, when some members used the account to childishly live-tweet a massive firing at the company. For more information follow the link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-46703208
3. And as a final example Epicurious (a cooking site) took to twitter on the topic of the Boston Marathon bombing by promoting recipes on Twitter. Brands have made inappropriate marketing jokes on Twitter before, but Epicurious raised the bar trying to advertise off the back of this horrific event. For more information follow the link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epicurious-apologizes-for-insensitive-boston-tweet/

So, how do you avoid all these risks posed by social media? Firstly you should make sure you have a firm social media policy in place; this allows your employees to know what is appropriate behavior when posting and interacting through your social media accounts and make sure all staff understand media law. Also avoid hacking by investing in good online security. Social media is becoming a more useful tool for your business but make sure to use it with care and consider your posts before you make them public and you won’t have any trouble online.