7 Ways to Protect Your Brand on Social Media

There are key ways for you to protect your brand on social media. There’s a pretty good likelihood that all your staff are on social networking sites, so you’ve got plenty of avenues to deal with. Your employees use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, so ensure that they are using them in a professional manner, with appropriate comments. Ensure that there’s no blatant promotion of your business or products here, or there’ll be a problem with complaints from customers. Here are 7 tips on  how to protect your brand on social media.  You need to reinforce these principles with everyone on your staff that uses social media.

1. Don’t spam: A spamming investigation could land you in trouble with the social media giants, so it’s best not to do this. Don’t push your brands, products or services on the people who are likely to use them. This is one of the tips to protect your brand on social media. It’s not illegal, but it’s not a smart move either.
2. Mute or remove Facebook and Twitter buttons from your profile page: This is one of the easiest things to do in order to protect your brand. Many people will click on this button to see what your latest status is. They might also join your fan page or buy something from your store, and all this will happen while you’re enjoying your social media presence! You can mute those buttons, or even remove them completely, to prevent this kind of thing from happening. Muting and removing the Facebook and Twitter buttons is an easy task you can do in the privacy section of your social media management platform.
3. Be upfront with your fans about the existence of your brand on the social networks: Being forthcoming is perhaps the first step towards preventing social media fraud. Many people who are being impersonated or used by counterfeiters will not notice that their accounts have been hacked into. To make sure that no impersonating happens on your part as well, be upfront about this. Tell your followers first and foremost about the situation so that they’ll be informed. Do this before your fan page or store gets hacked, too.
4. Be careful about what you upload on your social networks: The last thing you want to do is to put up anything that could help identity thieves. If you’re using a company name, make sure you spell it correctly, and use quotes when appropriate. Remember, many social networks still allow abbreviations and nicknames for brand names, so avoid using them whenever possible. Also, make sure that anything you post is keyword-rich. Keyword research is important for protecting your brand on social networks.
5. Use good passwords and security features on your accounts: The third biggest reason why companies have to deal with social media fraud is because of the misuse of passwords and security features. This happens most commonly with passwords that are shared among different accounts. It’s much harder to spot the signs of fake accounts on your account compared to when you’re working alone. As such, always use strong passwords, even if you’re just using a single account. Never share your passwords with anyone, and create separate ones for different social networks.
6. Work on your online brand every day: Another reason why so many brands fail on the Internet is because they don’t put in the work to protect their brands. There are plenty of ways to protect your brand online, especially now that social media is here to stay. Just be diligent about your work and how you build your online brand. Work on it every single day to ensure the longevity of your efforts.
7. Finally, you need to stop relying on social media to “clean up” your image and to prevent fraud and identity theft. These are the tools that the data miners use to steal from you and to spread your identity throughout the Internet. Instead, invest your energy into other efforts, such as that of building your actual brand presence. The tools that these social media accounts provide are a poor substitute for truly powerful strategies and techniques that will protect you, your reputation, and your business.