As the headlines have been taken over by negative news around Twitter and TikTok, many wonder whether social media is even worth it. When it comes to your business, many businesses create different social media platforms for their brand presence—but not all platforms are created equal, and not all companies have the same needs.
Which social media platform is right for your industry and business? What are the benefits versus the risks (specifically from an IT perspective)? Let’s break it all down.
What Happened With TikTok and Twitter
Twitter has made headlines for many things (hello, politics) but most recently for a series of data breaches. In the most recent breach, 400 million Twitter accounts were breached. The hacker group called Ryushi claims the data from Twitter was scraped via a Twitter vulnerability.
This attack follows a series of cybersecurity issues and breaches throughout 2022 since Elon Musk famously purchased the social media platform.
In September last year, a hacker claimed to take over 1 billion TikTok users’ personal data, including PayPal information. Despite claims, TikTok denied the breach ever happened. TikTok claimed it saw no evidence of a security breach and that data was taken from third-party sources. The denial of the alleged breach comes with its fair share of skeptics, given the scrutiny TikTok has received over accusations of spying on users for the Chinese government. Yes, you read that sentence correctly.
What Social Media Platforms Should Your Business Use?
Here’s the quick answer: if you operate with any level of sensitive data (i.e., law, healthcare, etc.), our recommendation is to stay off Twitter and TikTok.
If your industry does not deal in sensitive data, Twitter and TikTok may be worth considering depending on the needs of your business and the social media standard within your industry.
Four Best Social Media Platforms for Businesses
In general, these four platforms will serve most businesses and industries. When it comes to social media, think of quality over quantity and ensure you are safely using platforms and providing regular and value-add content for your followers.
- Google My Business—while you may think: Wait, is this a social media platform? Building a Google My Business profile for your business is one of the easiest and more effective ways to grow your brand presence. With the option to add updates and photos, you can make regular “posts” that help your ranking on Google.
- Facebook—Facebook is a tried and true platform and (relatively) safe for most businesses. Utilizing reviews within the platform can be an excellent option for clinics, law offices, and the like that rely heavily on reviews for referral-based business. Plus, with the Business Suite features, it’s business-friendly to have a personal and business page but manage them both within the same login.
- Instagram—as the world moves more and more to video-based content, Instagram has kept pace while staying true to its still-photo roots. With the option to set up a business Instagram account and free access to page analytics for your professional business profile, Instagram makes it easy to use and measure whether Instagram is functioning well for your business. Bonus? They’re owned by and linked closely to Facebook.
- LinkedIn—if your business provides professional services (and even if you don’t), LinkedIn is a no-brainer. Think of Facebook without so many photos and ads. LinkedIn is a great way to highlight your business and you as an individual professional.
Using Social Media Safely for Your Business
We live in a digital age, and with that comes the reality that most businesses require a social media presence to stay relevant. While we understand the necessity from a marketing and branding perspective, we hope this blog offers a glimpse at the IT security perspective of social media.
At PK Tech, we use social media platforms for our own business. The key is selecting and managing platforms that serve your business best while providing minimal or no cybersecurity risk–because social media isn’t worth a data breach on your business. Get in touch here.
