Engaging citizens on social media these days isn’t a novelty but a civic duty.

Social media has brought a drastic change in the way citizens interact with the government. It has given the public a direct platform to connect with their elected leaders, civic officials & local government bodies.

Although social media & government might not seem like a natural mix, certain government agencies & officials have proved otherwise & built highly engaging user communities on social.

From sharing information about the ongoing COVID-19 crisis to entertaining and educating the public, several government bodies are doing fantastic on social media.

In this post, we’ll walk you through the benefits of social media for government agencies, along with tips & best practices to keep the citizens engaged.

Click here to download detailed infographic on tips to increase citizen engagement.

Benefits Of Social Media In Government

Here are some of the benefits of social media for government bodies.

Information Sharing

The COVID-19 pandemic has made people anxious & glued to their screens looking for information all day. Any wrong message can be potentially dangerous and could worsen things.

It has become essential for government agencies to step up in this crisis and get important information out in a calm & clear manner.

Putting government officials at the forefront can help convey important information in a controlled & reassuring way.

CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) & NIAID Director Dr. Fauci have been at the forefront of sharing important information regarding the spread of COVID-19.

#COVID19 spreads mostly through close contact between people, but it is possible to be infected by touching surfaces covered w/ germs. Protect yourself & others: wear a mask, wash your hands, & clean high touch surfaces w/ soap & water or detergent. More: https://t.co/XPZRd7Pmiz. pic.twitter.com/1EhCaYVRAG

— CDC (@CDCgov) April 5, 2021

At a more local level, Orange County, Florida is actively using Twitter to share information about vaccination drives with its citizens.

👋 OCCC Vaccination Appointment Opening 👋

👉 Visit https://t.co/5hXVu8Gfjz to make an appointment.@CDRMaguire @DohOrange pic.twitter.com/gigHKHqMlr

— Orange County FL (@OrangeCoFL) April 6, 2021

Citizen Engagement

The most important aspect of social media for government bodies is public participation or citizen engagement.

Social media can play an important & decisive role in motivating & empowering citizens. It can help build trust with the public.

Here are some examples of some local governments using social media to increase citizen engagement

The City Of Brighton In The UK

They use Twitter to connect and keep citizens updated on ongoing issues & initiatives along with answering questions on the same.

SPEAK (Suicide, Prevention, Education, Awareness and Knowledge) Week will kick off April 26 — The Brighton Youth Commission will be hosting a series of virtual and socially distanced events April 26-30, ending with a SPEAK Walk on May 1. Learn more here: https://t.co/i5FmwYJhXO pic.twitter.com/BTT7ulV3SA

— City of Brighton (@CityofBrighton) April 2, 2021

The City Of Edmonton In Alberta, Canada

The city of Edmonton collaborated with IBM to find more innovative ways to use social media as part of information sharing & decision making.

This collaboration helped the local government disseminate real-time information on social media channels such as Facebook & Twitter with citizens.

Now that we have gone through some of the benefits of social media for government agencies, here are some tips & best practices for effective use.

Social Media Tips For Govemernt Agencies

Social media for government agencies is miles apart from using social media for a brand or a business. Your goals aren’t oriented towards selling a product or a service.

Instead, here are some standard social media goals for government bodies:

• Sharing up-to-date information
• Building trust within the community
• Responding to queries from citizens

Here are some tips that’ll help you achieve these goals.

Listen To Your Constituents

Before you move ahead and create a content plan, it’s essential to understand your audience, which in this case, are your constituents.

Dig deep and understand what they want and what are their pain points.

Here are some tips for creating a social media monitoring plan for government agencies.

• Set up a listening session: Use general keywords such as the name of the city/region, etc. & set up a listening session
• Segment the audience: Define the main citizen/citizen groups you would like to follow (e.g., Elderly, tourists, cyclists, etc.)
• Understand your reputation: Using a social media listening tool such as DM Channels can help you understand public sentiments

With highly trained AI for human interaction and language, DM Channels instantly marks each listening conversation as positive, negative, or neutral. Using DM Channels’s Keyword reports, you get an aggregated analysis of the sentiment behind these conversations

If you’d like to try out DM Channels for your business, you can sign up right now & start your free trial.

Share Latest News & Updates

Once you understand your audience, the first and foremost part of your social media strategy should be serving as a source of community news & updates.

Being a government body, you have access to a massive amount of information & the public perceives you as a credible source.

This means that they are already looking up to you for the latest news & information.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has been dominated by grim news worldwide, but this doesn’t mean it has to be just news & news.

You can share celebratory posts, success stories, and other local uplifting updates that’ll give your community something to look forward to beyond the news.

Apart from the traditional platforms, government bodies can also use the Nextdoor app, which serves as a platform to encourage citizen participation in town hall meetings, events & other community-building activities.

It allows you to directly reach known residents in your community that want to connect with their neighbors, community members, and local leaders.

Proactively Engage With Your Community

Social media has made communication with government bodies & officials more accessible than ever.

While many government bodes have paused social media engagement due to the pandemic to focus on sharing information, we recommend you don’t.

Connecting with your constituents is especially critical in these times since many traditional methods of communication have been suspended.

Create a daily engagement schedule to reply to mentions, comments & questions posted to you via social.

If you manage a lot of social media accounts and have trouble keeping a tab on engagement for all of them, using a centralized social media engagement tool like DM Channels can help solve these troubles.

DM Channels delivers all your conversations and messages over the entire social portfolio into a single inbox. You can use advanced filters and conversation managing utilities to proactively engage with your constituents.

If you’d like to try out DM Channels for your business, you can sign up right now & start your free trial.

Consistent Posting Across Channels

Ensure that you consistently share relevant content with your audience across channels.

Using a social publishing tool like DM Channels, you can create, schedule, and publish content across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google My Business at once with a single click.

There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to the type of content you need to share, but here are some general best practices:

Emphasize On Visual Content

Visual content such as images, infographics, videos, and memes are shared the most on social media, which holds for government bodies.

Visual content is also more accessible to those with reading disabilities.

The city of Toronto has been sharing short video content to inform users about different lockdowns.

On April 3 #Toronto joined Ontario in Shutdown under the @ongov #COVID19 response framework. Outdoor dining, outdoor fitness classes+training & personal care services are not permitted. Non-essential retail is permitted with reduced capacity. Info: https://t.co/2C7S9lEj5S pic.twitter.com/Yn213ySwwt

— City of Toronto (@cityoftoronto) April 6, 2021

Humanize Your Account

Although most government accounts’ overall tone tends to be formal, showing off your human side can help you connect better with your constituents.

Humorous captions, candid conversations, and playful comments are all common among government accounts today.

New Jersey’s Twitter account is credited for being sassy & fun with their bold & in-your-face tweets.

djeetyet? https://t.co/bbQJ2TFtrw

— New Jersey (@NJGov) February 19, 2020

While we don’t recommend putting out such tweets outright, sharing such fun posts occasionally can help humanize your account.

Stay Compliant

Lastly, all government bodies and representatives have to stay compliant with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and other public records laws. These acts enforce access & accessibility of critical information.

Learn more about social media compliance for government bodies.

DM Channels will help you safeguard your accounts and efficiently govern your social presence with scalable and intuitive administrative control, security, and visibility. You can streamline the complex workflows and minimize risk by not sharing passwords, providing additional layers and permissions so only trusted members can access the account.

DM Channels is an all-in-one social media management team that supports Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, and even Google My Business.

Risks & rewards of social media

Social media is a great tool in your organization’s communications toolbox. Many Americans have accounts on at least one platform and expect to find pages for their favorite brands and communities. If used correctly, it can have many benefits:

• Providing real-time information. Social media enables organizations to provide information in real-time. This is especially useful if your organization needs to communicate important information quickly. For example, if your organization experiences a time-sensitive incident, such as a data breach, you can use social to share pertinent information and provide steps your followers can take to remediate the damage. Government entities can use social media to disseminate information about programs and public meetings, changes in schedules, road work, and other information that constituents need to know about.
• Answering questions. Social media allows consumers to ask organizations questions and provide feedback. This means you know what information and product features they want, what you are doing well, and where you can improve. You can change your customer service processes, add new products or change existing ones, or keep doing what you do well. Most importantly, you can be responsive to your customers, which will help grow your image and your business.
• Humanizing your organization. Consumers can get to know your brand and the people behind it, and vice versa. Because the conversation is person-to-person and not bot-to-person, a company can reach customers using social media in ways that other marketing and advertising can’t. For example, you can adopt a more human voice through social media than you would through traditional advertising. Even a simple “Please PM your information so we can look into your concern” can go a long way toward keeping a current customer happy and maybe getting some new ones.

Of course, the unicorn is the post that goes viral for the right reasons. However, not everything looks rosy when it comes to organizations using social media.

Building a security-focused social media plan

Privacy and security risks associated with social media platforms only increase as the number of users and platforms grow. Cybercriminals mine social media accounts to get valuable intelligence that they can use in malicious campaigns. All organizations should develop a social media policy that takes cybersecurity and privacy into account. The first step is to develop a social media policy that includes what can be posted, who can post, and on what devices (e.g., can they use their personal device, or does it have to be a company-owned device?), and who is responsible for keeping and changing passwords. These are just some of the things that should be addressed; there are guides that will help you write a detailed plan.

Below are a few tips for developing a secure social media plan in your organization:

• Establish a social media team headed by a senior person. This person will be responsible for implementing and enforcing your company’s social media policy, as well as issuing access to those who need it. The team should include someone from the IT department who can consult on risk mitigation and who can assist if security issues arise.
• Use role-based email addresses instead of employee addresses. Using email addresses like social@company.com and communications@company.com makes it harder to break into a network. A cybercriminal needs two email addresses to figure out your company’s email assignment scheme, which is a valuable piece of information needed to break into your network or your building.
• Your plan should include a way to insulate employees who choose to participate in your social media campaign. They should consider setting up separate social media accounts for work that are not linked to their personal accounts.
• Unless the employee has agreed to participate in a social media campaign and has taken steps to insulate themselves, try not to identify employees by more than one identifier, such as name and department, or name and email address. For example, if you post a photo of an employee who has earned an award, avoid identifying them as Jane Smith from Accounting. A criminal can use this information to get into the building (“I’m here to see Jane Smith from Accounting”) or find her and her email address in the company directory.
• Any employee photos on social media (or any public-facing website) should be taken in a closed conference room or some other area away from active workspaces. This will prevent confidential information, employee names, or information on screens or desks from inadvertently being photographed.
• Consider a policy of zero trust and require that all posts be vetted by the social media team for content prior to publishing.
• Review your social media policy at least quarterly. Go over the privacy settings for each platform and make any necessary changes. Make sure only the people who need access and publishing privileges have them, remove anyone who does not, and change privileges as needed. Sit down with your IT experts and discuss the latest threats to make sure you’re covered. Finally, take a look at your overall social media policy to ensure that it’s best for your organization and make any necessary changes.

Securing our connected future

Social media has proven to be a powerful communications tool for both business and government organizations, but its powers can be used to harm as well as help. A solid social media policy and security plan that is implemented with care, will vastly improve your social media strategy and protect employees’ privacy.

Introduction

Social media, and social networking or messaging apps, can pose a number of security and privacy risks to both organisations and individuals when used in an inappropriate or unsafe manner.

Due to their popularity, social networking or messaging apps are a common way for an adversary to gather information on organisations and their employees, projects and systems. Even social networking or messaging apps targeted at children or teenagers present the risk that sensitive or embarrassing information will be disclosed. When sensitive or embarrassing information is posted on social networking platforms, or shared via messaging apps, it has the potential to harm individuals and Australia’s national interests, security or economic wellbeing. Information that appears to be benign in isolation could, if aggregated with other information, have a considerable impact.

Personal information posted on social networking platforms, or shared via messaging apps, can also be used by an adversary. Even seemingly benign posts, messages, photos or videos can be used to develop a detailed profile of an individual’s lifestyle and hobbies. This information could be used in extortion or social engineering campaigns aimed at eliciting sensitive information from or influencing individuals to compromise an organisation’s systems.

Information which is posted to social networking platforms (even in private or direct messages), or through social networking or messaging apps, may be accessible to social networking and mobile app companies. Sometimes, this information can be stored outside of Australia and subject to lawful and covert data collection requests by other countries, and you may not be protected by Australian legislation and privacy or consumer laws.

The compromise of social networking accounts could also contribute to identify theft, fraud and/or reputation damage or embarrassment to individuals.

Social networking for business purposes

The use of social networking platforms for business purposes should be governed by organisations’ social media usage policies.

The following measures should be implemented for corporate social networking accounts:

• Ensure only authorised users have access to corporate social networking accounts.
• Be aware of any extrajudicial obligations in conflict with Australian law which may apply to social networking or mobile app companies.
• Ensure users are informed of, and agree to, their organisation’s social media usage policies as well as social network platforms’ usage policies.
• Ensure users are trained on the use of corporate social networking accounts.
• Ensure users are aware of what can and cannot be posted using corporate social networking accounts.
• Ensure users are aware of processes for responding to posting of sensitive or inappropriate information.
• Ensure users are aware of processes for regaining control of hijacked corporate social networking accounts.
• Ensure users’ access to corporate social networking accounts (either direct or delegated) is revoked immediately when there is no longer a requirement for access.

Social networking for personal purposes

The use of social networking platforms for personal purposes should be governed by common sense and a healthy level of scepticism. For example, there have been numerous incidents where social networking platforms have been used to distribute inaccurate information (i.e. ‘fake news’). Furthermore, other incidents have involved accurate information being redistributed by a very large number of automated accounts in an effort to draw additional attention or to sway reader opinion.

The following measures should be adopted by individuals for the use of their personal social networking accounts:

• When creating social networking accounts use an alias rather than disclosing your full name.
• Use a personal email address rather than a business email address. If possible, use a separate personal email address for social networking.
• Ensure you understand and apply any available privacy options and use a private profile where available. All the information you put on social networking, or share on social networking apps will be available to the app or social networking company regardless of privacy settings.
• Restrict the amount of personal information placed on social networking such as your home or work address, phone numbers, place of employment, and any other personal information that can be used to target you.
• If your location or movements are sensitive, be aware of mobile social networking apps that automatically post your location. Also, remove GPS coordinates from any pictures posted.
• Do not post information that is not for public release from your current or previous jobs.
• Carefully consider the type and amount of information you post. Remember the internet is permanent and you can never fully remove what has been posted. Further, all your posts will be available to the social networking platform’s operators regardless of your privacy settings.
• Monitor information friends post about you to prevent the unauthorised disclosure of your personal information.
• Be wary of accessing shared links or attachments including via ‘direct’ or ‘private’ messages on social networking platforms and messaging apps.
• Be wary of unsolicited contacts. Do not accept requests from people that you do not know.

Securing social networking accounts

The following measures should be implemented for the use of both corporate and personal social networking accounts:

• Use a strong passphrase that is unique for each social networking account and is not re-used on any other system. Use multi-factor authentication where possible.
• Do not share passphrases for social networking accounts.
• Do not store passphrases for social networking accounts in emails or in documents.
• Do not elect to remember passphrases for social networking accounts when offered by web browsers.
• Avoid configuring social networking accounts to automatically sign in.
• Always remember to sign out of social networking accounts after use.
• If asked to set up security questions to recover social networking accounts, do not provide answers that could easily be obtained from public sources of information.
• Do not access social networking accounts from untrusted devices in internet cafes or hotels.
• Use lock screens and a passphrase on devices that have access to social networking accounts.
• Where possible, access social networking accounts using devices that are using the latest versions of software and have had all recent updates applied.
• Remember to close old social networking accounts when they are no longer required.

Securing mobile app permissions

Most social networking platforms provide a mobile app for use on the go. These mobile apps can create additional security and privacy risks which should be considered before installation, and be reviewed regularly:

• Ensure you are informed of, and agree to, social networking platforms’ usage policies which may include collection of data about you and your device.
• Ensure your device is up-to-date with the latest available operating system which provides the greatest control of mobile app security settings.
• Only install mobile apps from your device’s approved app store, such as Google Play or the Apple App Store.
• Check the mobile app’s store page for required permission before you install any mobile app. Be wary of mobile apps which require excessive permissions for the functions they provide.
• Also make sure to check mobile app permissions and security settings after updates as these can change over time.
• Be mindful that mobile app permissions and privacy settings cannot completely remove the risk of your information being compromised. Sometimes mobile apps can collect more information about you and your device than they openly declare. It is important that you trust the social networking platform you are using with your information and access to your device.
• Be aware that information collected and transmitted offshore may not attract protection through Australian legislation and privacy or consumer laws.

Social Media Cyber-Vandalism Toolkit

Guidance on how to respond to cyber-hijacking.

Cyber-vandalism presents a serious challenge to online-based communication tools. Users need available resources to counter intrusions of social media accounts.

This document provides guidance, resources, and security practices that prepare users to respond to cyber-hijacking, make informed choices, and enact future policy.

Readiness: Phase 1

Cyber-vandalism occurs when an outside party, regardless of identity or motive, takes control of an agency communication channel and misdirects it. Incidents may contain information misleading to the public or threatening to an agent of the government. Agencies should plan and train prior to an incident, and prepare approved processes and material for the recovery and response to cyber-vandalism.

1. Identify a social media stakeholder team to prevent and respond to cyber-vandalism

A direct chain of responsible managers should be aware of their roles in the potential response to any social media cyber-vandalism, including the necessity of quick, decisive action. This team should be connected by email, phone, text and any other appropriate means of communication. The team should include, but is not limited to:

1. Social media team
2. Program manager
3. Public affairs representative
4. General Counsel
5. IT Security
6. Senior leader/manager

2. Review Individual App/Platform Resources

Online-based communication tools offer resources, each with unique strengths and limitations. Awareness of this support and their unique characteristics is beneficial before an incident:

1. Facebook: Facebook Security Tips; Facebook Security Settings; Learn extra security features including approvals, notifications, trusted contacts and mobile security
2. LinkedIn: LinkedIn Safety Center; Prevention Tips; Password Guidelines; Frequently Asked Questions | Reporting Inappropriate Content, Messages, or Safety Concerns
3. Instagram: Instagram Privacy & Safety Center
4. Twitter: Safe tweeting: the basics
5. Google: Keeping your account secure
6. Hootsuite: Social Media Security

3. Establish Stakeholder Rapid Outreach Plan

1. Prepare a list of internal and external contacts and processes for a cyber-vandalism incident:
   • Who is the POC for the app or platform when an incident occurs (see Phase 2: Recovery for list)?
   • Who is the POC for cyber-vandalism of accounts in the Government (see Phase 2: Recovery for list)?
   • Who is on your social media stakeholder team?
   • Who are your key communities and audiences on social media and other channels you must alert?
2. Incorporate relevant contact information:
   • Emails; Phone Numbers; Social Media Handles; Hashtags; Listservs and more.

4. Create Communication Templates

1. Pre-populate different types of messages.
   • Emails; Texts; Social media posts and more.
2. Communicate essential information to convey the nature of the compromise, for example:
   • An account is compromised; An administrator cannot access an account; A username and/or password for an account is compromised; Information on the account is unauthorized.

5. Review Secure Social Media Best Practices Checklist

1. Institutionalize secure web standards, such as HTTPS, as a foundation for secure social media:
   • Using an URI scheme, such as HTTPS, establishes a fast, private, and secure connection due to its strong encryption benefits
   • Read Why We Use HTTPS in Every Gov Website We Make
2. Establish accounts with official .gov or .mil domains of full-time equivalent employees (FTE) .
   • Allow for more than one FTE to administer an account.
   • Designate an alternative as auxiliary support. Limit this designation to an individual essential to the operation and management of an account.
   • Clearly define the criteria for the administrator and alternative.
   • Provide adequate resources to the FTE administrator, including a mobile device and third-party management tool whenever possible.
3. Create a social media policy with standard operating procedures (SOP) for cyber-security.
4. Obtain approval from appropriate agency parties, including IT Security and General Counsel
5. Train stakeholders and others on the procedures and policies of social media cyber-security.
   • Require training before use of an account.
6. Use only authorized URL Shorteners.  
7. Add all official accounts to the Digital Registry, verifying authenticity of ownership.
   • This tool, used by both Facebook and Google to verify accounts, tracks official federal social media accounts.
   • List Department of Defense (DoD) social media accounts in the DoD Social Media Site Registry.
   • Per DOD Web Policy and DoDI 8550.01 , use DoD Social Media Registry submission form.
8. Follow best practices for secure passwords.
   • Guide to Enterprise Password Management (Draft) by the National Institute of Standards and Technology

6. Evaluate Two-Step Verification

This type of authentication verifies a user attempting to access a device or system. It requires confirmation of two consecutive, yet dependent, entries. It may not be applicable to those without mobile devices or in secure environments prohibited entry of such items. It may also require the use of third-party management tools to effectively allow multiple content coordinators.

1. Facebook: Facebook’s Login Approvals; ZDnet.com supplemental step-by-step guide.
2. Google and YouTube: Google 2-Step Verification.
3. LinkedIn: LinkedIn’s Two Step Verification.
4. Twitter: Twitter’s Two Step Verification Process.

7. Review Special Guidance Per Common User Responsibility

For Supervisors and Directors: Confirm policy is clear, accessible, and distributed among employees. Review, approve, and document all agency accounts regularly. Identify and eliminate rogue accounts. Instruct staff administering accounts to adhere to agency criteria and undergo training where appropriate.

For Social Media Managers: Make security a part of regular social media meetings. Conduct security checks on a regular basis. Regularly update passwords. Keep the list of social media accounts updated. Keep account manager contact information accessible and updated. Remove access for users who are no longer with the agency. Develop a secure method of storing account names, owners, and passwords.

For Social Media Coordinators: Use a protected, official government device. Use protected connections. Do not post from an open Wifi network. Use a work VPN, 4G or the work-connected Internet connection. Generally, use network locations with strong firewalls and on standalone equipment. Preview shortened links to see the address of where they lead. Review the URL of a website in the address bar. Make sure the websites you visit use HTTPS encryption. If you are unsure of a link, double click the lock icon on your browser’s status bar to display the digital certificate for a site.

8. Conduct Training on Secure Use of Social Media

Live training: DM Channnels Cybersecurity Online Learning (DCCOL) program supplements mandatory FISMA security role-based training by offering in-demand cybersecurity workshops.

• Department of Defense Social Media Security/Privacy Education & Training
• Consumer.ftc.gov/scam-alerts
• OnGuardOnline.gov
• National Cyber Awareness System
• Antiphishing.org
• Webinar: Operations Security (OPSEC) & Social Media: Balancing Security, Secrecy, & Transparency
• Webinar: How to Recover from a Social Media Crisis
• Webinar: How Government Can Prepare for and Respond to Social Media Hacks
• Post: Beware the Cyber Security House of Horrors
• Post: Twitter’s Two Step Verification Process
• Post: Government Must Respond Rapidly to Social Media Hacking

Recovery: Phase 2

Alerts of suspicious activity on social media can come from anywhere, including social media itself. If the social media cyber-security stakeholder team or responsible manager determines an incident is in progress, remember that minutes and even seconds count. Within minutes you’ll need to alert internal stakeholders, alert outside stakeholders to help you regain control, and act to isolate the compromise.

1. Immediately: Alert your social media cyber-security stakeholder team, and CC them on following messages.
2. Attempt to change passwords to isolate the incident (steps 2 and 3 ideally simultaneously with two employees)
3. Contact the platform companies themselves and GSA to help regain control.

1. Contact Information to Recover Control After Cyber-Vandalism

1. Facebook: Online form for Facebook; Email: gov@fb.com;
2. Twitter: Online form for Twitter; Email: Gov@Twitter.com;
3. LinkedIn: Respond to and Report Various Issues; Email: LCSHelp@linkedin.com; Email: mcirrito@linkedin.com;
4. Instagram: Online form for Instagram; Email: government@FB.com;
5. Vine: Online form for Vine; Email: Gov@Twitter.com;
6. Hootsuite: Email: Support@hootsuite.com; Email: sajji.hussein@hootsuite.com;

2. Audit your social media inventory

1. Audit your list of social media accounts, password holders, agency hosted websites.
2. Ensure no former employees, contractors or interns have access to current passwords.
3. Review any third-party app you use to monitor or post to social media, such as IFTTT.
4. Review your other digital services, including websites, for signs of cyber-vandalism and any vulnerabilities.

3. Confirm cyber-vandalism recovery process on different channels

Once securing your other accounts, release pre-approved initial messages alerting your communities that an incident is occurring and that steps are underway in order to recover cyber-vandalized accounts.

4. Initiate Restoration Activities After Regaining Account(s)

1. Archive cyber-vandalism messages.
2. Delete cyber-vandalism messages.
3. Stop all pre-scheduled messages.
4. Restore normal settings and features.

Response: Phase 3

Agencies must not only prepare for and recover social media accounts after a cyber-vandalism incident, they should also quickly and effectively respond to their stakeholders and audiences as soon as possible using social media in order to maintain trust in digital services. Initial responses to the cyber-security stakeholder team and the public should be within minutes of recovering control of your accounts.

1. Confirm Incident and Recovery

1. Cyber-security team confirmation: Send initial report of recovery to social media cyber-security stakeholder team.
2. Public confirmation: Distribute as soon as possible social media posts confirming the cyber-vandalism incident and your recovery of affected accounts. Announce a return to regularly scheduled activities.
3. Community confirmation: Deliver additional communication with pre-determined internal audiences and stakeholders to prevent the spread of rumors and misinformation.

2. Confirm and Verify Changes to Access

1. Review account holders.
2. Confirm verification of login status.
3. Confirm changes and updates of passwords.

3. Conduct a review of lessons learned

• What type of response worked well?
• Why did this work so well?
• What did not work?
• What unforeseen events occurred?
• What changes will lead to a better response?

4. Apply data and analysis of outcomes to improving your program

• Develop after-action report.
• Ensure future relevance with accurate information.
• Include lessons learned and best practices.

The ever-changing digital ecosystem can be confusing. Here’s our guide to the most common and most commonly misunderstood digital marketing terms every marketer needs to know to stay ahead of the curve.

A

A/B Testing

If you want to improve your marketing efforts, A/B testing may come in handy. This is the process of comparing two variations of the same variable to find out which one performs best The variations can be change in copy, call-to-actions, landing pages, etc.

Above the Fold

In website terms, ‘above the fold’ is the type of content that a website visitor sees before scrolling down on a specific page It’s useful being aware of this type of content when you are creating landing pages for inbound marketing. A call-to-action that first pops up after a lot of scrolling may decrease the efficiency of your campaigns.

Ad Servers

Isn’t it nice to have someone who does the job for you? Yes, it is, and that’s why ad servers exist! Ad servers are automated servers that help you request, bid on, and place your ads on websites, as well as monitor the progress of each campaign. For advertisers handling billions of data per day, ad servers make it easy to select the ads with the most potential and place them on appropriate websites.

Affiliate Marketing

This is a type of performance-based marketing where a brand rewards affiliate partners for each website visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own advertising efforts. Affiliates typically receive discounts or payments based on the number of visitors or customers they bring.

API (Application Program Interface)

An API is a way of getting specific information from other applications or websites, which you can use for a variety of different needs. It is similar to a set of tools used for building a software application. The better the tools, the easier it is to make a good product. In the case of an API, the better the API, the easier it is to develop a program.

B

Behavioral Targeting

Is serving tailored advertising to audiences by utilizing their previous web browsing behavior in order to drive more engagement.

Bottom of the Funnel

Bottom of the funnel is the last stage in the buying process when your prospects are close to becoming new customers. Messages at this stage usually include a product offer, a product demo, a free consultation, etc.

Bounce Rate

It often happens that you click on a random link and you end up on a website that you are not interested in anyway. Even though you immediately leave that website, your visit still counts in website analytics. Congratulations, you have just contributed to the bounce rate of that website! In other words, bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that have landed on your website but have not stayed long enough or clicked on other pages.

C

Churn Rate

This is the metric that comes in handy when you want to find out how many customers your business retains and at what value. To find out your churn rate, divide the number of customers you lose within a specific timeframe to the total number you had at the beginning of that period.

Closed-Loop Marketing

If your goal is figuring out how your inbound marketing drives quantifiable business growth, you might want to take a look at this one. The practice means being able to execute and tie in marketing efforts to bottom-line impact.

Cloud Computing

If you do not have space or resources to build your own computing infrastructure, then cloud computing is for you! It allows its users to store, manage, and transfer data using host servers. There are several types of clouds with different purpose and benefits.

CMP (Cloud Management Platform)

CMP is a group of products that can be used to manage and monitor cloud computing resources either in private, public, or multi-cloud models.

Conversion Path

This is defined as a series of actions by which an anonymous website visitor becomes a known lead. Typical steps in your conversion path may be a call-to-action, a lead capturing form,a thank you page, etc.

Cookie

As much as we wish this were a real sweet treat in the internet terminology, a cookie is a unique value stored on your browser (in the form of a small file cookie.txt) assigned by websites you visit. The purpose of a cookie is to keep track of where the user is and help create customized web pages or save login info. Find out more about the effect of Safari’s ITP 2.1 on cookies and how to eliminate its impact.

CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)

In advertising, CPA (short for ‘Cost Per Acquisition’ or ‘Cost Per Action’)  measures the cost that you are willing to pay to get a goal conversion. It is similar to CPC (Cost Per Click) and CPM (Cost Per Mile).

CPM (Cost Per Mille) / CPT (Cost Per Thousand)

When your ad loads and displays for a user, it counts as one impression. Cost Per Mille (CPM), also called Cost Per Thousand (CPT), is used for a thousand impressions on one website. It is similar to CPC (Cost Per Click) and CPA (Cost Per Action).

CR (Conversion Rate)

The percentage rate gathering the online audiences that followed and completed the campaign action that you wanted. (e.g: signing up to your service or mailing list or buying your product). A good CR means that your marketing game is strong! Find out how to optimize CR from Moz.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

CRM is the approach of managing and analyzing your brand’s relationship with potential and existing customers. Digital marketers usually use a CRM system to support this strategy – to streamline processes and increase profitability.

CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)

CRO is short for Conversion Rate Optimization. If your conversion rate is not impressive, then it is time to take action and employ conversion rate optimization methods. Because good CR is synonymous with a high number of conversions that in turn, reflects a good website and SoMe performance. CRO consists of numerous techniques, and testing methods –  check out this illustrative CRO guide to dive into some of them.

CTA (Call To Action)

When it comes to online advertising, a good choice of words and a persuasive CTA are essential. A CTA is a message that appeals to potential customers, and it is often the last push to drive a specific action such as buying a product, subscribing to a newsletter, etc.

CTR (Click-Through Rate)

Have you ever wondered about how many people actually see your ads and how many click them? A CTR shows you that. CTR is simply the percentage of people that saw your ad and felt compelled enough to click it. You can count your CTR score as follows by dividing the total number of Clicks to the total number of Impressions.

D

DAM (Digital Asset Management)

When you’re handling many digital files on a daily basis, DAM may come in handy. This process helps you store and categorize your digital assets easier, so thar you can access them at any time from one place.

Data Visualization

This is the process of visually representing specific information to make it easier to understand. Dashboards and infographics are common examples of visualizations.

DoubleClick

DoubleClick is a subsidiary of Google which develops and provides Internet ad serving services. Its clients include agencies, marketers, and publishers who serve businesses such as Microsoft, General Motors, Coca-Cola, L’Oréal, Apple, Visa, Nike, Carlsberg, and many others. At the beginning of 2018, Google announced the merge of DoubleClick and Google Analytics 360 Suite into a new Google Marketing Platform and Google Ad Manager.

Drip Nurturing

Is a lead nurturing method that uses automated tailored content & triggers that are ‘dripped’ at a specific time with the goal of driving a desired action (e.g: a sale). Drip campaigns or drip emails are usually used here.

Dynamic Content

Dynamic content is the process of displaying different messaging on your website or in your online advertising (e.g. Facebook’s Dynamic Ads) based on information you have or your enriching about your target audience.

E

Engagement Rate

This is a valuable metric used to describe the amount of social media interaction a post, ad, or campaign has. This is usually measured based on interactions like Comments, Shares, and Like.

Event Tracking

If you want to track beyond revenue and conversion metrics, keep an eye on Event Tracking. This is a method for analytics and social (e.g. using Facebook’s pixel) that helps you track your customers’ journey every step of the way by analyzing certain behaviors like form fills, cart additions, or newsletter sign-ups.

Evergreen Content

This is the type of content that is always relevant to your audiences, no matter when they read it. Compared to time-sensitive content such as seasonal articles or campaigns, evergreen content continues to provide value way beyond its release date

F

Friction Element

A friction describes any type of element that causes your website visitors or campaign to stop taking a desired action. On a website, a friction can be a distracting color, a confusing message, etc.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a network protocol standardized to make transferring of computer files between a client and a server easier.

G

Geo Targeting

Geo Targeting is an effective way for increasing conversions where content is delivered to audiences based on their geographic locations. It’s effectively used in paid search or social campaign. The location can be a country, state, city and more.

Google AdWords

Google AdWords is an online advertising service made by Google where customers can create and manage ads within the Google universe (on Google Search, Display, YouTube, etc.). If you want to advertise your service or product through AdWords, check out this handy guide from Neil Patel.

Google Analytics

Even if you are entirely new to the digital marketing world, you have most likely heard about Google Analytics already. This analytics service is provided by Google, and it helps you track, analyze, and measure all types of revenues and costs of your website, advertising campaigns, videos, social channels, etc.

H

Hard Bounce

In email marketing, hard bounces are simply emails that were not delivered. This can happen for different reasons: the recipient email address could be wrong or inactive, the recipient might have blocked you or reported your emails as spam etc.

I

Interactive Content

Interactive content is the type of online content that engages audiences in a certain activity. In return, participants get real-type and relevant results. Think of a survey tool or an interactive infographic that captures your attention right from the start.

K

KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

A KPI is a type of performance measurement used to demonstrate how effectively a marketing project, company, or employee is achieving key business objectives. Common KPIs are cost reduction, revenue improvement, or increased customer satisfaction.

L

Lead Generation

In marketing and sales, lead generation is the process of attracting and converting new potential customers in order to drive future sales. For many companies, this is a crucial stage of their sales and marketing strategy

Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is a process used in inbound marketing for pushi g leads further in the buying lifecycle by targeting them with contextually-relevant content. This can be done through different channels like email or social media

Lifecycle (Customer Lifecycle)

These are stages used to define the relationship that you have with your potential or existing customers. Common lifecycle stages are Awareness, Evaluation, Purchase, and Retention.

Lookalike Audience

A lookalike audience is a type of custom audience used in social media targeting – popularized by Facebook and LinkedIn. It helps you target audiences with similar characteristics to existing ones. Here’s an example: let’s say you have many people visiting your website. With a Lookalike Audience, you could easily advertise to people similar to your visitors.

LTV (Lifetime Value)

LTV is a useful metric that helps you find out what customer groups are valuable to your business and what total worth they bring during their lifetime. Differently said, it shows the total revenue your business can expect from every single customer.

M

Marketing Automation

Do you want to make your life as a marketer easier by managing and automating all your marketing processes across channels? You’re in luck! This is precisely what marketing automation does.

Martech (Marketing Technology)

Simply put, Martech is a term used to describe the overlap between marketing and technology. Software suites & tech tools used by marketers to drive more marketing impact usually fall under the martech umbrella.

MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

A minimum viable product is a term mostly used in sofware to describe the most basic version of a product that can carry out its desired function.

N

Native Advertising

Native advertising is a popular type of social media advertising where an ad follows the form, function, and feel of the content of the media where it’s placed. Native ads are currently considered more effective in terms of engagement, as they enable marketers to target audiences with content that closely matches their experience.

NPS (Net Promoter Score)

If you’re conducting customer surveys and you’re interested in customer satisfaction, NPS is a handy metric. It helps you find out how likely a customer would be to recommend, on a scale of 0-10, your product, service or company to somebody else.

O

Omnichannel Marketing

Omnichannel Marketing is a cross-channel marketing strategy that focuses on delivering unified experiences – regardless of the touchpoints or devices your customers are using.

Open Rate

Open rate is used in relation to email marketing. Simply put, it’s the value that shows you many recipients have opened your email. Open Rate should not be confused with Total Opens. The latter shows you many times your email has been opened by everyone. This can be done by the same users who have chosen to open your email multiple times.

P

Page Views

Page Views represent all the visitors of your website. Each reload of the webpage by the same visitor counts as a new page view.

Personalization

In the context of marketing, personalization is a popular practice that enables you to tailor user experiences by delivering personalized content to specific users based on behavior and context. This technology typically uses advanced machine learning and automation processes.

Position 0

Position Zero is used in search engine optimization to describe the featured (and desired) snippet of text that shows up in search right before the search results.

Q

QR Code

A QR Code or Quick Response Code is a scannable barcode used to encode data such as text or an URL.

Qualified Lead

In digital marketing, a Qualified Lead is a term used to describe a lead that has shown interest in your brand and is likely to become a new customer based on a specific set of qualification criteria. This can be anything from a guide they have downloaded or a service they have signed up to.

R

Referral Marketing

Referral marketing is the process of promoting products or services to new customers through referrals or recommendations. Compared to traditional online advertising, it’s usually done through word of mouth.

Remarketing

Remarketing is an effective way to reconnect with your website visitors who haven’t achieved a desired action like signing up for a service or buying a product. It enables marketers to target them with new ads that will make them more likely to convert .

ROAS (Return On Advertisement Spending)

After you start using AdWords, you want to see if your advertising is making an impact. This is when you check your ROAS – a calculation of the results (purchases, downloads, page views, etc.) divided by the budget spent on advertising. Contrary to ROI (Return On Investment), ROAS is only operating with the money spent on advertising, cutting down all the other costs in the investment (marketers’ salaries, etc.).

ROI (Return On Investment)

When you put your money and effort into something, you probably want to know what results it’s driving. ROI measures the performance and the efficiency of your investment compared with other investments. ROI is calculated by dividing total revenue by the total cost of investments. In digital marketing, ROI is often substituted for ROAS.

RPC (Revenue Per Click)

You can calculate your RPC like this: Goal Value x Conversion Rate. Voilà, now you know whether your ad (or keyword) is profitable or not!

S

SaaS (Software as a Service)

Google, Dropbox, Salesforce, MailChimp, Shopify – what do they have in common? They are all providing systems as a service. That means that they provide a third-party software solution that hosts a platform for the application and software and makes them readily available to their clients. It is beneficial for companies in the sense that they don’t have to invest in new hardware and software, they can use a third-party solution by paying a subscription fee.

SAINT (Site Catalyst Attribute Import Naming Tool)

Classifications (SAINT) are one of the enduring features of Site Catalyst (Adobe Analytics). In general, classifications (both utm_id and SAINT) are making marketers’ lives easier. SAINT allows users (advertisers) to upload customized metadata within the Site Catalyst, analyze, and process them. By classifying the data, you are attributing them specific characteristics and creating a relationship between a variable (campaign’s source, medium, keyword, etc.) and all the metadata related to it. In other words, the campaign link that is classified can be used to measure all the variables through one link because the analytical tool (Site Catalyst) recognizes the classification and knows what is going on. Without classification, you have to create specific campaign links to measure all the variables separately and manually, which takes time and energy.

SEA (Search Engine Advertising)

Are you longing for that top result in most search engines? You can improve your SEO by paying for it. SEA means that you are buying the top spots in a search engine’s result page. However, your link will have the little “Ad” button or other indication that it is a paid link.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Have you noticed the little yellow boxes that say “ad” next to the top links in a search query? That’s search engine marketing! Because most users select the first options that are shown in search results, businesses pay to get their website linked at the top hoping that people will click their link. This is done through AdWords for Google search results. Other search engines (Bing, Yahoo, etc.) have similar tools.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Do you want to increase organic growth and visibility on the internet? Then you have to polish your SEO game. Through technical (e.g., a correctly structured website that a search engine understands) and creative (using the right keywords, optimized headlines etc.) aspects, well-made SEO improves your chances of appearing among the first results in a search query on Google or other search engines.

Shoppable Posts

If you’re an Ecommerce business and using Instagram, you’ll love Shoppable Posts. They enable you to turn your account into visual stores with the help of product tags. You can add them to your images and link them to your webshop.

Site Catalyst

Formerly known as Omniture, Site Catalyst is an analytical tool that has been part of the Adobe platform since 2009. It allows marketers to measure and analyze data from multiple marketing channels.

Soft Bounce

A Soft Bounce is a term used in email marketing to notify a sender that their email was delivered to the recipient(s), but ‘soft bounced’ back. Common reasons are a full inbox, a heavy email. or an email server that is temporarily down.

T

TOFU (Top of the Funnel)

Nope, this is not the vegan soy-based product. In marketing, TOFU stands for the first stage of the buying funnel. At this point – also called the awareness point, your target audiences are typically wide and have challenges that you can help them solve through helpful content such as guides or best practices. Your messaging has very little to do with the product or service that you are selling.

U

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

URLs are what we use in the address bar of our browser to tell our browser where to get the information we want (like a specific website). URLs most commonly appear in the form of HTTP or HTTPS protocols, for example, ‘https://accutics.com/’

utm_id

A utm_id is a classification campaign code used for Google Analytics. Classifications make the lives of marketers easier, as it enables them to track their campaign URLs in their analytics platforms.

UTM Parameters

UTM parameters are simply tags that you add to a URL. When someone clicks on a URL with UTM parameters, those tags are sent back to your Google Analytics for tracking purposes. The most common parameters are medium, source, campaign, term, content. However, parameters are versatile and can be customized according to what you want to track. The biggest disadvantage of UTM parameters is the sensitivity towards an ununified system of definition (aka marketers using their own terms, lower- and upper-case letters, special symbols etc.) that might cause data fragmentation.

UV (Unique Visitor)

Unique Visitor stands for a visitor that returns to your website repeatedly in a set period. Contrary to Page View, UV is tied to one visitor, so even if they visit a website ten times (which results in ten page views), the UV still counts as one.

V

Viral Content

Do you remember those funny YouTube videos with tons of views and shares? These are usually described as viral content. In other words, viral content is content that gets really popular really fast – usually by having viewers/ visitors sharing it to others soon after publishing.

Voice Search

Voice search is an increasingly popular technology that allows users to search the web, a website or an app using a voice command.