SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues.
This week, we asked: Are you concerned about your social media accounts being compromised by hackers?
- Yes: 63.30%
- No: 36.70%
Recent hackings of Burger King’s and Jeep’s Twitter accounts are unfortunate, but they may yet have an upside. The hackings prompted Twitter to improve its security tools. And hopefully it has spurred professional social media users to take the threat of hackers seriously.
It’s a mistake to think your brand is too small or too benign to attract the attention of hackers. Instead, take the opportunity to examine your security on two fronts.
- Password. Make your password something not obvious. Make it alphanumeric. Control the number of people who have access to the password, and make sure the e-mail address associated with the account is similarly secure.
- Monitoring. If you are compromised, it’s essential that you find out as soon as possible. Using a dashboard, diffusing responsibility for social media to multiple people and keeping an eye on your accounts even when you’re not posting will help make sure that if the worst happens, you can respond quickly by contacting the affected social network and using other channels to disavow the compromised messages.