Social media marketing has become an essential business-hack for companies that wish to stay relevant in the market. It boosts the chances for businesses to hit a wider target audience within an affordable budget plan.

As the use of social media increases globally, more companies have turned to digital marketing services over traditional marketing to promote their brand and products. This has also fundamentally impacted how organizations collect and manage consumer data. Most businesses now rely on social media customer care to handle all their customer chats, which has led to an increase in security breaches and fraudulent activities taking place online.

While it is impossible to be completely protected from data theft or scams happening on social media, there are steps you can take to protect your clients. Lucky for you, we have outlined how brands can ensure their customer data is secure and protected on social media. It is time for organizations to take a hard look at better methods to protect their consumers’ privacy.

Authenticate customers

If a client has not already confirmed their identity, then ask for proof via secure authentication methods. This helps in identifying online fraudsters and phishing scams that frequent social media platforms in search of a vulnerable target. To protect users and their identities, it is important to implement specific security standards to be followed by the staff. Asking clients to confirm their identities digitally by answering a secret question or providing a photo of their ID card can be an effective method in checking for the legitimacy of customers.

Train customer representatives on security measures

When it comes to training customer service agents, security awareness should be a top priority. Your customer agents are present at the frontline of your company and act as a representation of your brand, so it is essential that they are aware of what they are dealing with – especially on social media platforms.

A company’s employees make the perfect targets for cyber criminals since they have access to all sorts of information. This means that the more the number of employees, the bigger the number of attempts made by malicious parties. Thus, employees must be educated on what makes them good targets so they remain alert and vigilant at work at all times. Similarly, train customer representatives to not be gullible and ask customers for proof of their identification so you know they are who they claim to be. A capable customer agent will inform prospective customers that this is an extra layer of security to ensure their data remains safe. Also, train employees to keep social information as protected as possible and to schedule posts while at work, so there are regular updates even during the weekends. This way, an employee doesn’t need to access company social accounts from an unauthorized device with a higher risk of being compromised.

Ultimately, encourage employees to come forward if they observe any suspicious activities on social media channels. No training programs or seminars will come into effect until you support your employees in coming forward about dealing with a potential cyber threat.

Ask required information only

When gathering customer data through social media, always ask for necessary information only and make sure it is accurate. Employees should access customer information from a working system only so all safety protocols are activated to ensure data protection and customer confidentiality.

Check for any suspicious log-in attempts

Hackers are always lurking the waters of social media channels to pounce onto their next victim, and once they’re aware of a business’s follower base, they don’t miss a chance to lay their next trap. Keep a habit of regularly checking emails from social accounts so you’re aware of any login attempts being made. We often ignore emails from such accounts thinking they’re ordinary but even companies have to keep an eye on suspicious activities to avoid data breaches and loss. Likewise, when using social media on a web browser, use the latest version that is not vulnerable to hackers.

If you receive any such email from your social media platforms, then it is time to boost your security measures and update all accounts to a stronger password.  Be sure to follow this up with all social channels.

Use excellent antivirus software

It is important to keep in mind that social media is a powerful tool when fallen into the wrong hands. Therefore, it is advised that all systems and smart devices dealing in social media handling have installed antivirus software to scan any sort of scams or malicious links on your newsfeed and inbox. It eliminates the probability of encountering any potential threats such as hackers or scam accounts who could misuse the valuable information under the company’s possession. Investing in reliable software will protect your social channels and inform you of any suspicious activities that require your attention.

On top of this, businesses should restrict access to only necessary team members so there aren’t any pointless login attempts on social media accounts. Social media management tools help organizations to maintain their social channels by analyzing, scheduling and monitoring content, as well as other security benefits. Enlisting the help of such management tools to monitor any suspicious activities helps team members to collaborate on posting of approved messages and comments only. Another one of their features includes tracking what is being said about a company across all social channels, so any hacks or phishing scams are easier to spot by customer agents.

In Summary

Each of the above-mentioned methods helps in addressing customer-related privacy concerns on social media. Meanwhile, social media customer service has only increased in adoption and has become a great way for customers to engage with their favorite brands and companies. Therefore, it is important to understand the security risks that are attached to the entity. As long as businesses effectively implement safety protocols to navigate through the onslaught of security threats, they will be successful in keeping consumer data protected while also establishing customer trust and loyalty.

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