Worcester Business Journal

24 Worcester Business Journal • May 9, 2016 www.wbjournal.com Y ou probably hear all the time how social media is the key to reaching customers. Yet, how can you translate your efforts online to benefit your organization? It seems like Facebook prevents your audience from seeing your posts, so what's the point? Instagram doesn't allow your posts to link back to your website, so why is it worth it? Twitter can feel like you're whispering in a crowded room. At Tower Hill Botanic Garden, even though we're part of an institution that is almost 175 years old, we need to stay fresh. In recent years, we've revamped our social media feeds in order to better communicate what our organization is all about and to better connect with new and frequent visitors. In the process, we grew our Facebook following by more than 250 percent. Here are some practical tips based on what we've found to making social media work better for your businesses and nonprofits. 1.Think of social media as an opportunity to build brand identit y. You want potential customers to see your organization's name in multiple places. Maybe you have an ad in a local newspaper, a direct mailing list, a blurb in a trade publication or newsletter, or a booth at a local event. Social media is part of that mix. It could be the deciding factor that causes a new customer to finally turn to you. Seeing you on social media could be your introduction to that customer who may finally reach out when seeing your name, logo, slogan somewhere else. So, define your brand, and then get to work spreading the word. 2. People turn to social media for information and entertainment. In a way, people are crafting their own personal newspapers. They may open their Twitter account and see updates from the Worcester Business Journal, Tower Hill Botanic Garden and a cat playing the piano. They are not expecting to find a string of advertisements; they don't want to feel like they are flipping through the ad insert in the Sunday edition of a daily newspaper. So your posts are going to have to be more subtle. They need to inform and entertain. 3. Imagine your brand as a person. What topics are your brand interested in? What would your brand like to see in its news feed? If Tower Hill was a person, it would want to see posts about flowers, trees, gardening, climate change, agriculture, inspiring quotes, children in nature, botanic art and the like. So that's what we fill our feeds with on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. By doing so, we're showing what our organization values and hopefully encouraging like- minded individuals to add us to their own personal news streams. 4. Facebook is essentially an elaborate e-newsletter. Same with Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube. Your primary goal should be to build followers, so that when you do have something to sell, you have an engaged audience to target. You build followers by posting not only items about your organization, but also items from other organizations that share your values and interests. Your followers will then feel part of a community, which will encourage them to like, comment and share. 5. The key to translating social media success into results for your organization is enticing your audience to share your posts. This is the metric we find most likely to lead to a transaction. It also works as the best possible advertisement your group could receive because it's an endorsement from one unbiased citizen to another. So use the best images you can; use succinct language; interact with your audience; and experiment. Each post is an experiment in itself. What works today might not work six months from now. So be nimble, creative and willing to try something new. n Robert Burgess is the public relations coordinator at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, the Boylston home of the Worcester County Horticultural Society. 10 Things I Know About... How to make social media work for you in 2016 KNOW HOW 10) Backup files every night. If you can access yesterday's files, then there is no need to pay to unlock them today. 9) Patch automatically. Make sure operating systems software on all devices (phones, tablets, laptops) and browsers are patched automatically with security updates. 8) Update software. Make sure your endpoints and network devices are running the latest antivirus and anti-malware software. 7) Use the toolkit. Implement email and web security tools that analyze email attachments, websites and files for malware and can block potentially compromised advertisements and social media sites that could be infected. 6) Whitelist. Deploy application whitelisting, which prevents unauthorized applications to be downloaded or run. 5) Replace passwords. Use strong passwords and have users change them every 90 days. Do not re-use the old passwords. 4) Prevent infestation. Segment your network using VLans, so an infection in one area cannot easily spread to another. 3) Watch attachments. Don't open suspicious attachments in emails, even from people you know. This will help mitigate risk. 2) Inspect devices. Deploy Mobile Device Management (MDM) technology which can inspect and block devices which do not meet your standards for security (no client or antimalware installed, antivirus files are out of date, operating systems need critical patches, etc.) 1) Train your users. People are the most vulnerable link in your security program, and you need to plan around them. You must implement user awareness training so employees are taught to not to click on email attachments or download files. n R eady, set, fail! As business leaders, we don't say this much. With risk, comes failure and, with failure, comes growth. Though we prefer to avoid failure — and the topic itself, perhaps — it can serve as a powerful tool to advance our business when approached with a mindset of success. Here are three ways falling on your face can actually hold benefits below the surface. Past failures boost your credibility. Business executives who never fail aren't relatable to other leaders or employees. It's like they are from an alien planet. This can be a barrier to effective communication and engagement. "Embracing and sharing your stories of failure makes you more vulnerable," writes Yoon Cannon at ParamountBusinessCoach.com. "It shows that you're willing to keep trying, even when the going gets tough … It's these traits that are most highly valued." Failure helps you face your fear. Becoming paralyzed by what could go wrong can stifle creativity, affect risk- taking and hinder innovation. Michael Lindenmayer at Forbes.com writes about getting failure out of way, as you would any other obstacle. "Yes, everything can go wrong, and you can hit rock bottom," he writes. "You will survive. OK, now that that is over, you can move on and take action." Do an ROF analysis: Return On Failure. Failure represents opportunity to learn and challenge our default beliefs. Insights are the assets, according to an article by Julian Birkinshaw and Martine Haas at HBR. org, who have developed a worksheet to help companies review lessons and liabilities from failures. "We recommend spelling out what the project has taught you about each of these things: customers and market dynamics; your organization's strategy, culture and processes; yourself and your team; and future trends," they write. Though management is often so much about looking ahead, this is a situation where looking back is greatly beneficial. n 101: FAILING WITH FINESSE >> BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to the Worcester Business Journal Ransomware protection BY ROBERT BURGESS Special to the Worcester Business Journal By Michelle Drolet Michelle Drolet is CEO of Towerwall, a data security services provider in Framingham. You may reach her at michellle@ towerwall.com.

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