Protect Your Online Brand And Reputation With Social Media Monitoring
Establishing a reputation for excellent quality and high standards makes your business stand out in today's saturated market. If your reputation or brand representation is abused through social media, you will suffer more than simply financial losses. You can also lose valuable opportunities to connect with your potential clients and grow your business in the future. Online brand protection includes a variety of cybersecurity measures. One of the most important ways you can stay ahead of any damage to your online presence is through social media monitoring.
Why You Need To Protect Your Brand On Social Media
Online brand protection on social media is no longer just a matter of projecting an image you prefer to your potential clients. It also is a vital aspect of cybersecurity. When your social media accounts and presence is abused, your business and brand can become a tool for threat agents to infiltrate your customer’s devices through links claiming to be from your company. This can also compromise your own security. That's because your social media accounts can act as an attack vector that offers threat actors direct access into your business.
If your brand is abused on social media, your product and services become less desirable to potential clients. And if your brand is used in a cyberattack, you could lose access to venders and advertising opportunities offered through responsible use of social media.
Protecting your brand on social media can help mitigate the risks of this attack vector.
What Is Online Brand Reputation?
Your online brand reputation encompasses how the people your organization interacts with through the internet perceive your brand. This perception is shaped collectively by your customers, vendors, employees, and potential clients. Your brand reputation is the image your organization has built over time, primarily through advertising and customer interactions.
Customers base their decisions on brand reputations. The way your organization's image is represented on social media can significantly impact whether or not you secure a customer's business.
Once your brand has built up a trustworthy reputation, your next priority—pursued concurrently—should be online brand protection. This ensures that your organization is associated with reliability, quality, and trust, making your business more attractive to customers.
What Is Social Media Monitoring?
Social media monitoring serves as a line of defense against the risks that social media platforms present. It involves identifying where your brand is being discussed or misused. And it raises awareness about unauthorized usage so you can mitigate any potential damage.
Because social media is openly available to the global community, it offers threat agents opportunities to launch cyberattacks. These attacks can include spear-phishing, scams, impersonations, or account takeover attacks, as well as other types of threat campaigns that could negatively affect your brand or reputation.
Across all social media platforms, having your brand remain associated only with your organization protects your customers from abuse and losing trust in your company. And it protects your organization from spear-phishing attacks, because you can immediately identify and handle any suspicious activity. This complete social media security process can mitigate the risk of your brand becoming associated with any cyber threat. Plus, it can bolster your company's image among clients interested in security.
Benefits Of Using Social Media Monitoring For Online Brand Protection
Social media monitoring helps protect your online brand by continuously scanning for mentions of your brand across social media platforms. This enables your organization to inquire into the legitimacy of any mentions that don’t originate from a verified customer or member of your organization. Thereby, helping you protect your brand online. How can it do so?
Detecting Brand Impersonation And Fake Accounts
Brand impersonation and fake accounts can wreak havoc on an organization that relies on social media to connect with clients. If your account or brand is impersonated and interacts with a customer, it could be exploited to trick or manipulate that individual into disclosing sensitive information, banking details, or other data highly valuable to cyber attackers.
Social media monitoring can quickly alert you to unauthorized accounts using your brand. Following a protocol to continuously find and shut down these fake accounts can mitigate the damage that a threat agent could inflict on your brand.
Monitoring Customer Feedback And Sentiment Analysis
Social media monitoring allows you to analyze customer feedback. This makes it possible to identify any emerging cybersecurity risks discussed in these conversations. With proper monitoring, you can make informed decisions about where to bolster cybersecurity measures. Therefore, protecting against potential threats across your social media attack surface. This process can also highlight opportunities for improving your brand’s image.
Identifying And Mitigating Social Media Security Breaches
When a breach occurs on your social media accounts—whether intentionally by a threat actor or unintentionally by someone within your organization—your organization’s data is put at risk. Social media monitoring can swiftly identify and address unauthorized activities, regardless of their source.
Tracking And Countering Online Defamation
When false information circulates online, it can be challenging for an organization to combat. Quickly identifying and neutralizing false information or defamation attempts can help your organization manage and mitigate the damage. With brand monitoring tools, you become aware of what’s being said about your brand in real-time. This allows you to address potentially harmful information before it spreads across multiple platforms.
Risks Of Inaction In Social Media Monitoring
If an organization opts to delay implementing a social media monitoring program, it runs the risk of falling victim to social media-based cyberattacks, which can lead to:
Reputational Damage
Impersonation attacks and brand spoofing can create a negative association with your brand, making potential clients skeptical of your business. Without monitoring to enable quick responses, any negative discussions or attacks on your brand on social media can lead to irreparable reputational damage. This severely limits your opportunities for generating new business. In fact, 67% of consumers reported that they would lose trust in an organization that experienced a data breach.
Brand Impersonation And Fraudulent Activities
When a malicious actor succeeds in infiltrating or impersonating your brand, they can quickly exploit the trust your customers have placed in you. Without continuous monitoring, your social media accounts can unwittingly become hubs for fraudulent activities. This not only erodes customer trust but also leads to declining business and negative customer reviews.
Copyright And Trademark Violations
Choosing not to invest in social media monitoring also increases the risk of unauthorized use of brand assets, as well as trademark and copyright infringements. When your legal assets are compromised, your organization can lose its strong legal standing. Plus, your brand integrity may be so damaged that your brand loses its unique appeal.
How To Monitor Social Media Effectively To Protect Your Brand
Understanding the importance of online brand protection is the first step toward this essential aspect of cybersecurity. Next, your organization should:
1 Select A Social Media Monitoring Tool
Opt for Brand Protection Software that features real-time monitoring capabilities and cybersecurity-focused functionalities. These should include setting up social media crisis alerts and initiating takedowns for any unauthorized accounts.
2 Define Monitoring Parameters
Utilizing an effective social media monitoring system, such as the one offered by ZeroFox, enables you to establish parameters for what the software should monitor. This can range from brand-specific keywords and industry-related terms to suspicious account activities, ensuring that nothing is overlooked.
3 Monitor Brand Impersonation And Fake Accounts
Utilizing an effective social media monitoring system, such as the one offered by ZeroFox, enables you to establish parameters for what the software should monitor. This can range from brand-specific keywords and industry-related terms to suspicious account activities, ensuring that nothing is overlooked.
4 Track And Analyze Customer Feedback
Pay close attention to customer feedback, looking not just for negative reviews but also for specific details of each customer's experience. Identifying specific complaints—such as a lack of communication or failure to receive a product—can help you discern which customers may have interacted with a spoofed account. This will facilitate easier tracking of false information and enable you to rebuild trust with your customers.
5 Utilize Real-Time Monitoring Features For Immediate Alerts
Staying ahead of cyberattacks across social media platforms requires real-time monitoring. Immediate alerts enable prompt responses, significantly mitigating damage in the event of an attack.
6 Establish Incident Response Protocols
Collaborate with your cybersecurity team and monitoring tool to set up incident response protocols. This involves understanding how your monitoring tool functions, conveying that information to your organization, and regularly reviewing reports to initiate appropriate.
7 Leverage Takedowns Where Appropriate
When brand monitoring tools identify suspicious accounts, the best response is often to launch a takedown. ZeroFox's in-house Universal Takedown Services start by ensuring that the offending account is locked down and all outgoing posts are deleted. After that, we work with the appropriate social networks to help ensure the account stays down.
Learn More About Brand Protection Services from ZeroFox
ZeroFox is a leader in online brand protection services. Our external cybersecurity tools proactively monitor your organization’s entire attack surface, giving you early insights into where cyber attacks may emerge and giving you an edge over your adversaries.
With ZeroFox you can proactively monitor emerging cyber threats before they pose a risk to your organization or customers, and aggressively take down impersonation threats. Get a Demo today to learn more about how ZeroFox can help protect your brand and reputation online.