Ok, so we should do inbound marketing, but what about security?

Fresh from Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston, I am all pumped up and ready to start drafting a new social media strategy for my company and my clients. Afterall, the speakers like Brian Solis, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jason Falls, Chris Brogan, etc. (Complete list here - omissions not intentional) are just too awesome to ignore, it'll be a crime not to follow.

Several emails with clients and colleagues later, however, made me realize that as much as brands want to run out there to engage their customers and prospects, they are also concerned with data security. It is not just allowing their workers to go on facebook, linkedin and twitter at work, as brand marketers we must also educate them with all the security risks that they are exposing the brand to.

With that said, brand must set forth guidelines to draw boundaries on what their employees can and cannot say online. While verbal conversations are off-the-record, online social media communications are all recorded on the server, which means everything the employee says about the brand online are on-the-record.

Furthermore, just as I have blogged about how hackers picked up #ims09 hashtag on Twitter and spam the channel with adult materials, same risk holds true for the brand and their social media channels. Tests has been done by security experts that hackers can utilize these channels to create fake identity of the brand, connect to employees and send out fraudulent connection invites and email attachments that penetrates the corporate network.

So not only do brands need to allow their employees to utilize social media channels to listen to the customers and engage them, they must also be properly educated on how to properly spot security threats. Email attachments, links are among the most common method of hackers penetration. Always be alert of incoming network attack via these channels will keep your brand data safe and help you reach out to people the way social media was meant to do.