Nov 8, 2021
Social Media for Your Business—Is It Safe?
If you’ve been following our TIME Insurance journey through our Instagram and Facebook pages, you’ll know that we absolutely love using our social media. Why? Because it means we get to interact and engage with our customers and community through a relatable platform. However, we know that we must be careful and protect ourselves from the dangers of running a social media platform for our business.
Social media plays a critical role in the success of your business. It affects how the public perceives the business and is a good tool for marketing and customer engagement. As much as there are numerous advantages, there are also risks that social media exposes your business to. If not properly managed, these risks can become detrimental to your business.
What Are The Negative Impacts Of Social Media On Your Business?
The internet is exposed to cybercrime and malware, and social media opens your business to these possibilities. Many internet criminals perpetrate these crimes via platforms like Facebook, Twitter etc., stealing private details of users such as login details, location, and business transactions, and using them to foster fraudulent activities.
Malware is spread via social media platforms through plugins and advertisement, and act as a leakage for cybercriminals to gain unlawful access to online users’ account. There has been a lot of reports in recent time about hijacked social media accounts like Instagram. When a business is exposed to cybercriminals, many tragic things can happen. Customers can be baited to send funds to the wrong accounts, and defamatory posts and images can be uploaded and this can create issues with clients as well as reputational damage to the company.
How To Improve Your Business’s Cyber Security
The dangers of social media can be prevented if businesses take the right actions and put certain policies in place to protect their integrity. Cybercriminals are always working to hack and break through any protective boundaries, but these few tips can make them less likely to succeed.
- Designate social media handling to a particular staff of the company. Only this individual (and executives if need be) should have login access to the platforms. This will reduce the risk of a breach of confidentiality.
- There should be stipulated social media rules that guide your posts, comments, and general interactions on social media. This should be properly communicated to the social media manager.
- Ensure to clear the air about your brand on social media when a negative comment or post is made about the brand.
- Employees should be trained on how to use social media safely, and appropriate ways of making posts that relate to the company.
- Employees should be enlightened about the proper channels to follow when they need to report any concerns about their social media accounts.
- Ensure all the company’s login details to all social media platforms are strong, secure, and unique. It is a good idea to change passwords regularly too.
- Get a good cyber insurance policy to protect your business from losses as a result of social media incidents and breaches. You can get cyber insurance packages like professional indemnity, public and product liability as well as loss of profit insurance.
To get started on choosing the best cyber insurance policies for your business, consult an insurance specialist today.
General Advice Warning
The information provided in this blog is to be regarded as general advice. We recommend that you consider the suitability of this information, in respect of your objectives, financial situation and needs before acting on it. You should obtain and consider relevant product disclosure statement(s) before making any decision to purchase this type of financial product.
