Make It With Michael

By Jylian Russell Scams on social media skyrocketed by 150 percent across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn in 2016. And the number is likely to continue climbing as more cyber crooks see social as a fruitful target. So, what are businesses to do? Pull away from social altogether? Well, no. For most brands today, social media is critical to their marketing and customer service success. To pull away would mean risking important stakeholder engagement and market opportunity. Instead, brands must ensure they’re educated about the risks and take steps to protect themselves. In this post we’ll look at five of the most common social media security risks and offer tips on how to protect your organization from them. 5 social media security risks to business 1. Human error From accidental tweets, to unknowing clicks on phishing links, human error is one of the most common social media security threats to brands today. Back in 2014, a US Airways employee accidentally posted an...

By Sherry Gray Sometimes it’s a struggle for brands to walk that fine line between personal/friendly and creepy/weird. It’s really hard to strike the right balance when it comes to achieving a memorable tone of voice. This is, in part, because you have access to thousands of pieces of information about your customers. You probably know who they are down to the tiniest details of their lives. With a little data research, you could potentially even find out what size shoes they wear and which type of dog food their schnauzer, Mr Scruffypants, prefers. The customer data at your daily disposal in all likelihood ranges from general demographic trends to purchase information for their 2014 Prius. So how do you put all of that data to good use to make sure your marketing is personal, without overstepping the mark and sounding creepy or weird? This article will run through the key tactics and apps for you to consider, test and try. Just remember that whatever stage you are at in your br...

By Hootsuite As a social media pro, you know there are a ton of social metrics you can track. Likes, shares, follower growth… The list is nearly endless. But the demands on social media to deliver measurable value have increased. Metrics such as likes and shares are no longer enough—especially if you’re trying to justify larger budgets and higher social ad spends. The metric that has the biggest impact on your business—and your team’s budgets—is the return on your social media investment. The number that proves what you are contributing to your organization’s key goals. That return on investment is often financial, but not always. If your organization values brand-building, that can be part of your contribution. If social’s role in your company is lead generation, that’s the number you need to prove you’re adding to. Regardless of how your organization defines success, the leading tool to accurately measure the ROI of social across your paid and owned social media efforts has lon...