One of the trending topics going around lately has been social media safety. After Kim Kardashian (yes, I managed to actually reference her in a blog post, say what!?!) was allegedly robbed at gun point and blamed for her social media flaunting, everyone seems to be freaking out about their online safety. Coincidentally, I was out for lunch the other day and two older ladies were discussing the terrors of online vulnerability - it was actually comical and entertaining, though it did add to my fuel for this post.

Obviously, we live in a very digital world and you're reading this blog because you care about the value of social media for your business. Hiding under a rock and pretending this world doesn't exist isn't practical. But, of course, there are some precautionary things you could do to protect yourself.

And to be clear, I'm not doing this to freak you out. Too many people went into freak-out mode and "shut it all down" mentality. That doesn't work. And each of us will find different ways to protect ourselves online that works for our individual businesses and situations. These are just a large selection of things to be aware of and prepared for.

Account Access

First, and you may not have expected this angle, I want to make sure you protect the access to your social media accounts. This means there should always be at least two people who have admin access to every single one of your social media accounts. Why? Well, if something happens to the only person who has access, or they get hacked, or their account gets taken down, or whatever else, you lose everything. Yup. All gone! But if you have at least two admins, you reduce that risk significantly.

Now, as a small business owner, you may not have someone else on your team. That's ok, it could be a spouse, friend, or other person you trust with your credentials and access. Just make sure you have an understanding and/or written agreement with them about what that "access" means.

When it comes to your password, complexity with characters isn't the most important thing. It's actually the length of the password. Something that's 13 characters long is a lot harder to hack than one that is 6 characters. So, rather than getting all fancy with a bunch of random characters, focus on longer passwords with irrelevant phrasing. For example, "thebluecowreadsbackwards" is a long random password. For good measure, you could add in characters like "TheB!uec0wre@dsbackward$" and make it really hard to crack! Just don't go using that one now 😉

Another way to protect your account access is to consider using two-factor authentication when possible. This requires a passcode or fingerprint or other measure of validation beyond just your password.

As a business, with your presence built heavily on a social platform, you want to take as many safety measures as reasonably possible to protect those assets.

Personal Information

I feel like this is something we all learn in elementary school now, but be smart about what personal information you put online. Obviously, this is directed more towards individuals and people, but it still applies to brands and businesses.

Sure, you want to post your birthday and celebrate it, but don't tell people what year you were born (not that we want people to know how old we are anyways, right?! 🙂 ). For businesses this is harder. You want to celebrate your 5th anniversary and such. And, yes, for any registered business, it's fairly easy to find out when a company was established. So, if this is the case, avoid using this date in any security questions or online forms that would be easy for people to guess.

For solopreneurs or stay-at-home business professionals, consider the risk when you geo-tag your "business" as your home address. If you're checking in, or tagging your physical location, you're easily telling strangers where you and your family are located. If you don't actually have customers come to your house, don't tag your home in any way on social media.

Likewise, it's really hard not to share those vacation photos while you're on vacation. I get it. I'm just as guilty! But ask any security expert and they will tell you to always post after your event or vacation. This way people don't know you're away and your home is unattended. It goes to the old, don't leave a message on your answering machine when you're gone. Same idea.

But let's face it, that's no fun! Who doesn't want to gloat and share all those sand-in-the-toes selfies while they're actually on vacation? So, be smart about it. Especially on any public accounts! Don't post the exact days of your vacation or how long you will be gone. Avoid things like #myviewrightnow, and instead use verbiage that doesn't give away that you're there right then (even if you are).

You can even be "cheesy" and thank your friends or family who are housesitting for you while you're gone. Again, even if no one is, make it seem like people are.

And for businesses, the same goes for when you close down. Obviously, people know your business hours. But share posts "after hours" that make it look like someone is still there working at random times (even if they're not). And if you close down for extended periods, tell your customers it's for "inventory" or other reasons that employees would still be on site.

Behind the Scenes

I don't know how many times I've preached the value of behind-the-scenes content. It's been a LOT!

But some content shot behind the scenes could be jeopardizing your safety. This falls into the realm of the recent Kim Kardashian situation.

If you're showing people your home, your office, your business, are you giving them insight into the valuables you have around? What about access points? Can they see windows, doors, locks, etc. that would let them plot an easy access to your home or work location? Could someone map out your home or office, based on the photos you've shared?

It's all great to share what you do and how you do it. Just be aware of the additional items that show up in those photos. Restage your photos and videos to look away from these things and rearrange your work space frequently to keep it from looking too predictable.

Ok, so I know these things won't solve the world's issues with social media safety. But, they should give you some much needed help in setting up some security measures to protect yourself a little more.

Do you have any safety measures you always rely on? Share your suggestions in the comments below!