As some of you will know, I recently suffered a Facebook hacking scenario, something I know happens to a lot of small businesses unfortnately. Despite following much of my own advice, I got caught out.
It really got me thinking about our relationships with audiences and customers as micro businesses and just how vital it is to both nurture them, but also safeguard them too. What strategies can we put in place, so that if the worst happens, we can stay in touch and continue to do business effectively. What foundations do we need to ensure that the trust isn't broken or that you don't lose any reputation.
Here are some quick wins to help you stay protected:
Understand your current relationship channels. Where do your relationships happen, where do you interact and how's that going? For example, what percentage of your interactions happen on social media vs email? How does the bulk of your messaging get sent out and where are they received? Perhaps make a bit of a list to understand your current situation and how you might want to evolve those over time. Remember: social media channels are only tools in your business (not fully in your control) vs email subscriber lists which are assets (in your control & adding value to your business).
Understand your tools & vulnerabilities. Tools in this sense, are platforms that are controlled by algorithms or where you're not in full control of who sees your content and when. This is fine of course, but should only be a part of your relationships strategy. Think about which of your tools are most vulnerable to abuse - Meta has shown to be a place where hackers can get in easily and cause havoc for example. Youtube has an element of algorithm impact, in that if a user searches for a topic, Youtube chooses what they see first. However, this can be mitigated a little by you sharing specific videos direct to your audience. Google also has a more robust hacking strategy that you can recover from more easily. What percentage of your relationships are happening in the most vulnerable place?
Protect your vulnerabilities. Let's imagine that the vast majority of your relationships are happening in the Meta space - what can you do to stay protected? These suggestions work for Wordpress websites, third party marketplaces and more.
Ensure that you change your passwords often and with complex options.
Be mindful of any suspicious behaviours and block all activity that worries you.
Consider a blue tick if you feel your Meta space is entirely crucial to the day to day resilience of your business. This is £20 a month and gives you better protection & access to a human help team (yes - I can agree with your eye roll!).
Leverage your success on Meta to move your fans to a more secure place like email sign ups
Reconsider your relationship strategy. Now that you're aware of the levels of robustness in your communications strategy, what needs to change? Do you need to elevate your customer journey to make sure more people sign up to email? Do you want to start creating content in more secure places like Youtube videos? Do you want to start sharing content somewhere totally different like Substack or Patreon? Both these platforms serve slightly different audiences, and are a way of charing for subscriptions and keeping your VIP content safe.
Don't panic. I don't want this How To Guide to be a tale of doom (it isn't) but I do want you to have a clear audience relationship strategy that protects your reputation and your business. If you feel that your relationship might be a little exposed, think about your customer journey and how you can develop it over the next 6 months to move your audiences along into a safe, VIP space that they love.
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