Building The Social Media Strategy

In an age of instant information and on-line presence, it is a foolish company that ignores the advantage that can be delivered via social media. That said, it is just as foolish to rush in without a formulated strategy. A strategy can ensure an organisation is perceived as professional and trustworthy/ The lack of a strategy could lead to a PR disaster.

The Channels

First you need to understand what forms (or channels) of social media are available. Then decide which are appropriate for your business, as some on-line presences may be a better fit than others. Also, remember that trends in social media evolve at an alarming rate. So ensure you revisit your options on a regular basis.

Some of the more popular social media channels that are available at the time of writing this article include:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blogger
• Google+
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• YouTube
• Instagram

As I have said, these are only the more popular platforms. There are also a multitude of more niche social media platforms that may be just the thing you are looking for. 

The Goal

Social media for social media’s sake does not serve a business need. There must be at least one goal behind your on-line presence. Are you looking to:

Improve website traffic

• Generate sales
• Increase brand awareness
• Improve customer interaction
• Provide an information service
• Etc. etc.

Having a goal will give your on-line presence focus, meaning and help shape a consistent message to your audience.

The Investment 

Time is a valuable commodity, and how it is spent in any organisation has to be balanced. You need to consider how many man-hours you want (or can afford) to spend on your social media activities. Then, work out how and when this time will be allocated.

The Hook

Which approach will you take for your activities? What will ‘hook’ followers? Remember just pushing a message of ‘buy me’ repeatedly rarely produces results. Social media has matured and now people expect to see content not just adverts. So what will you utilise to capture and keep your audience: 

• Humour 
• Offers that cannot be ignored
• Offers that are available nowhere else
• Content that informs and educates
• Provide a ‘real person’ face to your customers

The Content

How will you generate new and fresh content to keep your audience interested? One of the worst things you can do in any social media sphere is go quiet, go dark. Social media is fast moving and you could easily be forgotten about. 

The Word

How will you spread the word about your latest social media presence? You cannot rely on people just stumbling across you latest YouTube Channel or Facebook page. You need to get the word out without spamming everyone you have ever had contact with and annoying those you are yet to meet.

Make use of those close to you that have established presence. Don’t flood the space, but hint at it. It is nice when something takes off all of a sudden, but remember a slowly building following is still a building audience.

The Measurement.

Remember to build in the means to track the effectiveness of any strategy. A lot of platforms have built in tools to track viewings, visitors, shares etc. However, consider expanding this by using unique offer codes, unique URLs etc. This way you will be able to invest in the areas that work for your business and reconsider those that don’t.  

The Curve

Finally, social media is a learning curve for any organisation some strategies succeed, where others just die and wither away. Use your own experience to constantly refine and reshape your businesses strategy. But, also keep an eye on the competition ;)

Will Hogarth

CTO @ VGS Global

(All so) Public Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi connectivity is more abundant than ever before. With the popularity of hotspots in cafes, bars, airports, in fact just about everywhere, it has never been easier to get on line.  So much so, that is somewhere doesn't offer a free hotspot – you feel like you should complain. How stingy. 

The train is not due for 30 minutes. So, just time for quick coffee and just time to pay a bill, check how your eBay action is going and log in to your web mail to see if that parcel you ordered has been dispatched. Right?

Wrong!!!

Public Wi-Fi spots are not just popular with legitimate users, they are also popular with criminals, with HACKERS.

Picture this…

• You are in Zippy Coffee Shop waiting for you train
• A quick browse for Wi-Fi and you find the Zippy open connection.
• A couple of clicks and you're connected, on-line and up and running

So, here’s the problem…

• You know nothing about that connection, does it even belong to the coffee shop.
• In this case it is the wireless signal of a hacker enjoying his Americano, 2 tables away.
• You have just connected to his laptop and are browsing through his shared connection.
• Everything you type he’s intercepting
• Your on-line bank login
• Your eBay user ID
• Your web-mail details 
• Now, as you leave Zippy Coffee Shop none the wiser the hacker has everything he needs to rip you off

This is call a Man in The Middle attack (MITM)

So do you need to avoid Public Wi-Fi all together?

No … Although you should never do more than browse. Wait until you have a secure connection before visiting those sites that require you to log in, such as banks, eBay etc.

If you need to connect to work, go via a VPN services. VPN stands for virtual private network, and there are many services out there that you can use with apps for smartphones and computers. Ask your IT administrator, if your organisation offers this type of secure connection.

Will Hogarth

CTO @ VGS Global

Gone Phishing

Phishing (fish´ing) (n.) is the act of sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be a legitimate enterprise. The aim of such contact is to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft or to steal money from intended victims.

A phishing email will normally direct the user to visit a website where they are asked to update personal information, such as a password, credit card, social security, or bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The website, however, is a fake and will steal any information the victim enters on the page.

To protect against these scams, it is best to familiarise yourself with a few techniques of identifying potential threats.

• Salutation: A lot of phishing scam emails are mass sent, and as a result they quite often use generic salutations, such as Dear Customer, Dear Member, or even a simple Hello. If you think about it. Companies, where you have an account already know you so are more likely to call you by your preferred name.
• Spelling and Grammar: Scammers are not known for their keen eye for competent skills with the written language. Whereas the larger organisation they pretend to be, would normally employ staff to produce professional looking copy, to send to the customers.
• From who: The ‘from’ email address may state it is from a legitimate organisation, but hovering over or clicking on this address (depending on email client) will show the full actual email address. So that the email stating it is from Facebook.com could actually be from facebook@xyz.com. Not the same thing. Also check the ‘from’ closely for slight misspelling, is it from manager@facebook.com or manager@faceboook.com?  Scammers quite often register domains with similar URLs to legitimate organisations.
• Links: you should not click on a link without being 100% sure of its legitimacy. A link may read one thing, but when you hover over the link it is revealed as a link to a totally different web site.  If not 100% sure. Go to the site by typing the URL into your browser for that company rather than using the link.
• Threats: A lot of scam emails will include a threat as part of your emails, such as: “Account will be closed.” Or “System will no longer work.” Legitimate organisations will very rarely threaten you in this way.
• Another ‘from’ Point: Quite often the from address may have you as the sender. You did not send yourself this email … It’s a scam
• Too good to be true: Instead of a threat the email may be for an offer that is too good to be true. A rule of thumb is that any offer that is too good to be true, is too good to be true. You don’t have a long lost African prince uncle that has left you his fortune.
• Passwords and Pin Number: Organisations will not ask for your passwords or pin numbers by email. These are yours, not theirs. So, never divulge them.

Finally…

If you suspect that the security of one of your on-line systems has been compromised due to a phishing scam, take action immediately. Go to the site, log in and change your security data. Alternately get in touch with the company direct by telephone and explain your concerns. They will help you rectify the situation.

Will Hogarth

CTO @ VGS Global

Twitter for business

Twitter can be a powerful tool for business, but only when it is used appropriately. What follows are 10 little tips to help you get the most from your 140 characters…

1. Participate in Twitter chats, related to your industry or business, on a regular basis.
2. Report industry, company, world and other news that’s related to your business, together with some commentary.
3. Spread your tweets throughout the day, rather than posting the all at once, as people check Twitter at different times of the day.
4. Use #hashtags, both sparingly and appropriately. Hashtags make tweets more search friendly, but overuse and you tweet loses its meaning. Research hashtags before you use them. Using the correct hashtag on the right post will improve audience reach.
5. Use lists. Twitter lists are a powerful but poorly used tool. Lists allow you to group the important people you follow so they don’t get lost in the noise.
6. Don’t buy followers. These are not real people and therefore just a waste of money.
7. Use images on your tweets. Images draw the eye and make it more likely that your tweets are noticed.
8. Don’t sell, sell, sell. Instead produce content that will engage your followers. Constant selling just turns people off.
9. Repost the same tweet multiple times across the day/week. People visit twitter at different times. This will increase the chance that your post will be read.
10. Use Other Networks to Leverage Your Tweets. Share your Twitter content with your audience on other networks by re-posting your tweets on Facebook and LinkedIn, when appropriate. You also can embed a tweet into your blog or website to further increase audience.

Will Hogarth

CTO @ VGS GLOBAL

Social Media in the workplace

Social media is one of those technologies that, for organisations, can sit at both sides of the spectrum. It can be a great tool while at the same time cost the company untold hours in wasted staff time.

No matter how you look at and how technologies evolve, social media is here to stay. With platforms available seamlessly across most devices PCs, laptops, tablets, smart phones and even smart TV’s.

To ensure Social media is used for the greater good, organisations need to have a Social Media Policy in place. This policy needs to be available and widely understood by all those who work in the organisation, and not just filed somewhere to be pulled out during grievance and discipline sessions.

Things to consider in any policy are:

Rules for Staff Use at Work: Does the organisation ban the use of some/or all social media platforms for personal use on it premises/from its devices. Is limited use allowed during official break times. Or, is the organisation comfortable with open use on a trust basis.

Tool for Recruitment: Broad guidelines should be in place, on how managers are allowed to use social media as a tool in the recruitment processes. From advertising the position to vetting potential candidates. A clear policy will help ensure consistency.

Company Channels: Who has the rights to update the company’s social media channels and which channels will the organisation make use of. From Facebook, to YouTube, from Twitter to Pinterest all avenues need exploring, considering then a clear strategy drafted.

Sharing of Data: Organisations should make it clear that confidential information about the company, its customers, partners, or suppliers should not be disclosed via social media. This should include documents, future plans, finances, photographs, videos, etc.  It should be made clear that the relevant management team should be the only ones to disclose such information when appropriate.

Personal Use: With the boundaries of work life and personal life blurring through the advancement of social media technology, employers must make it clear; what work life information they are happy with the employees sharing. If venting anger and naming on open platform is not allowed, this should be made clear.

Professional Profiles: Employees should be encouraged to keep the professional profile up to date, on sites like linked in. This includes skills, responsibilities and positions etc. Just as you as an organisation can vet prospect employees, so can prospective customers and business partners vet you and your people as an organisation. 

These are just a few pointers on developing a social media policy, but all organisation, large or small, should have such a policy in place. The final thing to remember is that technology moves fast and the face of social media is ever changing. In order to stay current, any social media policy must be reviewed, updated and communicated on a regular basis.

Will Hogarth

CTO @ VGS GLOBAL