Availability across social platforms is now a business 101, with the majority of digital marketing budgets spent on focuses like social media campaigns. To get ahead here, businesses now hire entire social media teams and focus on priorities including regular uploads, hashtag developments, and content that’s sure to secure the most shares. Trends have been to share candidly and openly, but there are cautions to be heard when sharing certain information on your company's social media accounts.
Yet, while clear employee social media guidelines are a business go-to across the board, it’s surprising how few companies implement guidelines regarding what they post on business social profiles.
From a security standpoint, this lack of guidance can lead to a range of issues that leave both businesses and employees at risk. In this article, we consider what information businesses should be wary of sharing across their socials, and why.
Driving business is the whole point of social sharing. However, it is important not to overshare business addresses that may include factories, offices, and other private employee spaces. By all means, share details of public shop spaces and offices. But, be careful not to go further than that. Even if you inadvertently reveal something like the street view of your private offices, you open yourself up to members of the public. Generally speaking, you should already be doing things to offset the risks of this kind of exposure, like taking the time to print ID badges, update alarm systems, and implement key code door access. But, you can reduce risks even further by staying quiet about the location of these premises if you don’t want the wrong people simply dropping by.
Sharing your team across your company's social media can be a lot of fun, but it also poses some level of risk by leaving your employees completely exposed to strangers online. One way around this is to always ask employees' permission before sharing pictures online, but even then, broad online audiences may pose a risk to staff members that they take a dislike to. If you can, you may find it best to focus on sharing things like your products, your processes, and so on, rather than making your social media heavily based on employee-specific sharing.
Social media’s appeal lies in bringing a more personal focus to business in general, but it’s important not to overstep that mark by sharing your personal information. Yes, you may like to put yourself out there as the face of your brand (which can be a risk in itself for the reasons mentioned above), but you should never overshare. This is especially true regarding things like personal opinions, home addresses, and other information that could result in followers approaching you outside of work. Instead, try to stick to sharing only when you’re at work, and again, avoid showing your face if you think doing so won’t harm your social media efforts in general.
Social media is a significant force for business good, but there are also risks inherent in sharing things like this information on your company's social media since it has such a wide audience. Do what you can to reduce them by avoiding inherently risky information like this at all times.
