Directive Blogs

Last week we went through some of the issues that Facebook is dealing with in regards to its security and data privacy. Today, we thought it would be helpful to give you the tools you need to protect your privacy on Facebook.

Facebook remains one of the most visited places on the Internet. Meta (the parent company to Facebook) also features WhatsApp and Instagram on their roster and has faced numerous security and privacy failings over the years. In this week’s blog, we’ll take a brief look at some of the most noteworthy.

You can do everything in your power to secure your social media accounts and lock down your privacy settings. Still, at the end of the day, social media users expose themselves to a torrent of information and content every time they log on. As a civilization, we’ve never really had something like this before. These platforms curate content that the user wants to see to keep the user coming back and staying longer. It’s inherently designed to be enticing and addicting, which is dangerous for certain individuals.

Then, there are scams and an endless stream of grifts that pose a wide range of additional problems for users.

Let’s talk about ways you and those you care about can be safer on social media.

Social media is constantly evolving, and if the big social networks had it their way, it would be the only place people go when they log onto the Internet. Whether you have strong feelings for or against social media, or perhaps you are indifferent, it’s important to understand how to protect yourself when using social media.

Chances are your business has a social media presence in at least some capacity, as it’s a good way to drive traffic to your business. However, hackers want to leverage this benefit against you. A new malware specifically targets Facebook business accounts to launch malicious advertisement campaigns using your own money against you.

Your business’ Facebook Page is about as important of a marketing tool for your business as your website is. For some of your prospects, your Facebook page is their introduction to you and your business. With that being the case, you, no doubt, want to make not only a good impression on your clients and prospects, but you’ll also want a URL that is easy to market and share.

Businesses have been able to create specific pages to represent themselves on Facebook since November of 2007, opening the door for many great opportunities. If you haven’t established a presence for your business on the social network, or you haven’t fully utilized it to this point, you’re missing out.

Let’s run through three reasons that a Facebook presence is an excellent asset for your business to have in support of your marketing efforts.

Social media can be remarkably overstimulating, and for some users this is a problem which is difficult to navigate without giving it up entirely. If you want a nice middle-ground to terminating your account entirely, you can instead curate your news feed by unfollowing accounts that don’t enrich your day. Let’s go over how you can do this.

The metaverse is a buzzword that many companies have been throwing around in recent years, but what is it, exactly? You might want to sit down for this one, as it is going to get a little complicated and, perhaps, even a bit confusing. We’ll do our best to unpack what the metaverse is, why there is such an emphasis on it these days, and what you might expect to see from a metaverse in the future.

Hackers have often used email to trick users into clicking on fraudulent links or to hand over important credentials through phishing scams, but these are usually blocked by an enterprise-level spam blocker. However, hackers have learned that there is indeed a way around these spam blockers, and it’s through popular social media websites.

Facebook is many people’s favorite—or at least most used—app and it does bring value to people by letting them keep tabs on friends and family, or grow their businesses. It has grown to be one of the largest, most successful software technology companies in the world. Unfortunately, with that type of exposure comes the responsibility of securing massive amounts of personal data. In this quest, they leave a lot to be decided. Today, we take a look at the situation Facebook is in as they are dealing with one of the largest data leaks in history.

As the owner of a business, one of your number one tasks is to grow your business. Simply put, without the revenue new contacts bring in, you’ll likely grow stagnant. While word of mouth is great, there is a limit to how many people you can meet. You have to market, advertise, and promote your services to reach a wider audience. In terms of reach, social media can provide access to a nearly unlimited source of leads. 

Social media allows businesses to reach millions of potential customers all over the world. However, most people don't want to be 'marketed' to. Moreover, they have various methods to tune out your message and your business from their Facebook feed. Take a moment to learn how to use social media to create leads without giving the impression you're 'marketing.'

With all the personal information users entrust to Facebook, it's no surprise that scammers are also on Facebook, often posing as friends. When using Facebook, you will need to be aware of this scam in order to keep your personal information safe. Here are four characteristics of a fake Facebook profile that you should consider before confirming a friendship.

As the owner of a business, one of your number one tasks is to grow your business. Simply put, without the revenue new contacts bring in, you’ll likely grow stagnant. While word of mouth is great, there is a limit to how many people you can meet. You have to market, advertise and promote your business to reach a wider audience. In terms of reach, social media can provide access to a nearly unlimited source of leads.

Social media - we can’t live with it, but we really can’t seem to live without it. People who frequently read our blog will notice how often we discuss Facebook, one of the biggest players in the social media space. Seeing as privacy is one of the biggest concerns today, we’re wrapping up our short series on Facebook by reviewing the settings you might not have realized were options on your Facebook profile.

Recently, I was asked to speak at a breakout session called "Jumpstart Social Media for your IT Business" at the ConnectWise PSA 2009 Partner Summit. What a great event, we learned so much for our MSP practice, we are still implementing! Some of the power point slides from the breakout show our Project Plan for rolling out our "Ultimate Social Media Rig". We promised to get the project plan posted on the site. Rather than post just screen shots, we made it easier for you to get started and typed it up too, copy/paste ftw.

Social media is not only one of the main drivers of traffic to your site, but it is also a primary tool for the marketing of your business. Social media is particularly valuable to smaller businesses, as it can level the playing field in regards to the ability to communicate with an audience. Unsure of how to find the time to set up, customize and develop an effective social media plan for your business? Now’s the time for The Ultimate Social Media Rig.

We’ve been talking about Facebook quite a bit on our blog, and for good reason - we’re all concerned with our privacy, and Facebook has been notoriously front-and-center when it comes to Internet privacy. In this post we will break down Facebook’s privacy settings to help you gain control over your personal identity while using the social network.

Whether you love, hate, or are just indifferent about Facebook (no judgement here), it’s worth configuring and locking down your account to control what others can see about you.

Facebook is front and center when it comes to privacy-related issues worldwide, so in this blog we are going to discuss how you can take control of your personal information. This post will also serve as an excellent starting point for anyone who doesn’t understand 2-factor authentication.

It’s not a secret (well, not anymore) that the big tech companies have influence. These companies, that include Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook, have been in the spotlight more and more as the argument of data privacy has gotten louder and louder. Public sentiment is starting to blow back on their business model--and since, Yahoo, once the predominant name in Internet-based services, was broken up and sold to Verizon for cents on the dollar after being at the center of the largest data breach in recorded history--there have been rumblings that there has to be something done to protect the public from major publicly-traded technology companies that use individual’s data in ways that some deem unethical.

Facebook is a powerful networking tool that can help you build relationships with new professionals and introduce your product or service to entirely new markets and groups of people. That is if you know how to use it. Here are five steps you can take to get started with Facebook and use it to build a professional network.

The advantage of Facebook is also its disadvantage: the fact that you’ve likely got a large variety of people on your friends list. While this works out great for networking, it may mean holding back on posting a personal opinion if it isolates or offends someone you’re friends with. To get around this social dilemma, Facebook allows you to hide your status from one or more friends. Here’s how to do it.

In many ways, social media is the defining characteristic of the information age. It has transformed the way people communicate, market their products and services, and it has brought a litany of issues into the public consciousness. On the other side of the coin, social media currently costs many business billions of dollars a year in lost productivity. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of social media, and how your business can put yourself in a net-positive position regarding the technology.

Have you ever gotten Facebook requests from strange people who you don’t know? While it might be tempting to give them the benefit of the doubt--after all, maybe they know a friend of yours--it’s best to keep strangers off of your page when you can. In order to give your page, the flexibility to accept friend requests from people you may know, and protect it from strangers, you can implement a “follow” feature, and limit who can send you friend requests.

Since 2014, Facebook has quietly featured Safety Check, a crisis response tool that lets users in areas struck by natural disasters or other emergencies to confirm their safety on the social network. Originally, Facebook itself would have to activate a Safety Check, but that has changed--the power to activate a safety check is now in the hands of the stricken community.

The Internet is always changing, and anyone who has been using it for a while has experienced this change for themselves. While it might be strange to think about, the latest statistics have proven that the current changes to the Internet are some of the most significant--especially for businesses. “Online business as usual” will be significantly different moving forward.

If you use Facebook, you likely have a lot of personal information stored there. If you use it for your business, then your professional reputation also partially relies on what you put into the social network. If you aren’t protecting your Facebook account, you could be at risk for identity theft or worse. That’s why using two-factor authentication on your social media accounts is becoming more important than ever.

The Ultimate Social Media Rig Project Plan is now on the ConnectWise University.

ConnectWise Partners can download the template from the ConnectWise University and launch their own Ultimate Social Media Rig for themselves or resell it as a service for their clients.

There's no need to enter the Word Doc into a project anymore! Simply import the project and roll it out!

Partners can find the USMR Project Template under Shared Templates on the ConnectWise University.

*Note* An update version for 2014 has been posted to the ConnectWise Marketplace
Search for "Ultimate Social Media Rig - Revised 2014"

Facebook, the enormous social network that shouldn't need an introduction for anybody, has been a fantastic way for small businesses (and major corporations and brands, and just about anyone else) to promote themselves. If you haven't established your company on Facebook (which is free, by the way), a new offer from the social network might help sweeten the deal.

The words Productivity and Internet have been fit together in many different sentences, and usually in the sense that the Internet is a Productivity-killer. Take Facebook, for example; there are many arguments stating that Facebook is costing companies billions of dollars because employees are spending too much time on the social network while at work. Of course, Facebook (and the other social networks) are practically mandatory for businesses who want to market themselves. Other companies are clamoring that personal social media use greatly improves productivity and employee moral.

There has been a lot of talk about Google+, Google's new social network. Currently the service is invite only and invites are preciously coveted. Those who have gotten in to try it out have found a clean, simple interface. On first impression, Google+ looks like a very basic Facebook. Is Google+ worth all the clamor and is it going to change the game for social media? Will businesses be able to take advantage of Google+ the same way they do for Twitter, Linked In, and Facebook?

Directive has had the pleasure of working with David Mann for over 10 years. David owns Alta Log Homes in Upstate NY. Alta is a leading manufacturer of Log Homes. David is an expert in building Green, Energy Star dream homes and a great guy. His website is http://www.altaloghomes.com. We set him up with the Ultimate Social Media Rig a few months ago along with some coaching services to get him started. He's been pretty religious about posting and using it. He sent me an email asking what recommendations I'd have to get more out of it now that he's "warmed up" and has a little more experience with Social Media.

Part 6 of 7 - Which Ad Works Best on Facebook? A/B Testing; [Series]

Facebook Advertising is a great way to raise brand awareness and increase your Facebook following. Sometimes your first advertisement might not yield the response you were hoping for. Wait! Don’t get rid of it, rework it with A/B testing.

Part 7 of 7 - Expand your Reach with Lookalike Audiences on Facebook [Series]

Facebook Advertising is an excellent resource for business owners. Everything you need to run a successful advertising campaign is all in one place, including your audience. Did you run a successful advertisement, and aren’t sure where to turn? Re-run that campaign to the same audience, well it’s clone, with Facebook’s Lookalike Audiences!

Part 5 of 7 - Measuring the Performance of your Facebook Advertisement  [Series]

ROI is always top of mind for business owners. Often it is difficult to calculate an accurate ROI for social media marketing. Luckily, Facebook makes tracking ROI simple with Ads Manager. The following will help you review the success of your Facebook Advertisement using Facebook’s Advertising Metrics (KPI’s - Key Performance Indicators).

The social media revolution has taken the world by storm, so much in fact that some people are completely at the mercy of their smartphones. However, the dark side of social media, especially Facebook, grows more apparent every day, especially when it comes to both cybersecurity and personal privacy. Are you sure that your Facebook settings aren’t giving away a little too much of your information to the powers that be?

Part 1 of 7 - Why should I Advertise on Facebook? [Series]

You might be a bit, or a lot, skeptical of Facebook, not to mention using it for Advertising purposes. You’ve probably heard horror stories of a people losing money by advertising on Facebook. If so many people are losing money with advertising on facebook then why has it grown by 680% since 2010? It’s because it works! Want to know why it works?

Social media addiction is a problem that plagues most modern businesses. Even though it’s a best practice to leverage social media to your business’s advantage, it’s a well-known fact that social media addiction can lead to wasted time and distractions in the office. In order to beat social media addiction in the office, it’s best to understand how it comes about, and what you can do to help your workers leave it alone, rather than locking everything down completely.

Facebook has come a long way. Originally designed as a networking tool to be exclusively used by college students, Facebook now has 1.44 billion active users, making it the world’s largest social network. Today, businesses take Facebook seriously and utilize it for their marketing initiatives. However, it’s still viewed as a time-waster by many office managers who restrict or ban employees from accessing it.

Facebook makes it easy to connect with everyone; unfortunately, this includes people that you may not want to connect with. Whether it is the person you once had an awkward date with, or a hacker looking to hijack your profile, you can make sure that only the people who you want to see your post will be able to by adjusting your security settings.

Facebook has recently achieved one billion active users. Being on top of the social media world comes with a price. Facebook has become one of the top 10 most hated companies in America, this according to a January 2013 study from news site 24/7 Wall St. This survey takes into account customer and employee satisfaction and, most of all, stock prices.

The time to implement a social media policy is now. Your social media policy outlines for employees your companies guidelines or principles for communicating in the online world.  Your company should have a communications policy in place that spell out your expectations for phone and email, it’s important that you add social media and online site usage to this policy.