Using Twitter makes for good Business

In a previous post “How to Create Credibility and Trust on Twitter“, I highlighted the importance of combining the use of Twitter with blogging to create a social media content marketing “Synergy” with substance.
These Twitter tips and tactics for business should be read in that context. It also important to keep in mind that creating a “Strategy for Twitter” is also valuable and essential.

Networking

This is never urgent but it is important as people like doing business with people. Networking with the right people will bring you medium to long term strategic business.

1. Find bloggers and authorities in your industry and follow them on Twitter and see what they tweet about and what content they link to
2. From this content look at what content you can create to tweet and blog about for your own blog
3. Retweet their content regularly not just once whether it is a tweet or from their blog
4. If they are local, ask to catch up for a coffee
5. Request an interview via Twitter and record the interview on video or if that is not possible use a list of questions that you can turn into a written blog post Q & A interview format.
6. Publish that interview on your blog and then promote it on Twitter. I can almost guarantee you that they will then promote it to their networks
7. Promote them on Twitter with referrals recommending them
8. Use Twitter’s private “Direct Message” channel (DM) to connect with influential bloggers and influencers as you may find they respond to that better than an email.

Remember it is not about asking them for a favour, it is about how you can help them with no expectation of anything in return

Research

Research keeps you ahead of the curve and is never urgent but often ignored or forgotten.

1. Put search items into Twitter using key words that are imporatant in your industry or niche. You will find out what is happening globally!
2. Search on Twitter to see what is being said about and by your competitors
3. Put your brand name into Twitter to find out what is being said about you in real time
4. Use # Tags to search on Twitter that will keep you updated on key terms that are vital in your industry. A great tool to do this quickly is hashtags.org
5. Use “Advanced Twitter Search” (this provides the capability of doing local searches with a certain mile radius) to keep an eye on news and events locally in your city or region.
6. Discover trends using Twitter with tools such as Monitter.com which even allows you the capability to narrow the search to a particular geographic location.
7. Tweet links to your surveys on Facebook, blogs or website

Twitter will deliver real time updates and research on your industry that will surprise you

Marketing

Twitter is capable of delivering information, content and marketing messages globally and locally to your particular niche. Twitter should be integrated and embedded on as many of your online properties as possible.

1. Increasing your Twitter followers is the foundation to your Twitter marketing efforts. This should be done in a focused manner by following people in your category using the Twitter “Yellow Pages” tool Twellow.com. Another app that I have found useful to follow the followers of top bloggers in your industry is Tweepi.com
2. Run special deals and promotions on Twitter that you can use to drive traffic or move slow moving stock (exanple Dell)
3. Announce an event on Twitter
4. Include retweet buttons on your content areas of your website and blog that makes it easy for people to share your content
5. Integrate Twitter into Facebook
6. Load the Twitter app on LinkedIn
7. Seek sponsors for an event or contest
8. Promote your blog posts on Twitter
9. Use # tags at your events to crowd source online mobile marketing
10. Include Twitter ID on all your offline and online marketing material
11. Automate relevant tweets that span 24 hours so your global customers can receive it in their time zone. SocialOomph.com professional edition can do this both as a once off and as recurring tweets.
12. Tweet special Twitter only coupons so you can track the success of your Twitter marketing efforts

Share on twitter constantly and make it easy and frictionless for people to retweet your brand. Marketing is about being everywhere. Allow and enable the social network power of “World of Mouth” !!

Personal Branding

Position yourself as an expert within your company and industry. Personal branding synergizes your corporate brand. A personal Twitter account and blog can enhance both you and your company.

1. Help solve other people’s problems by answering questions on Twitter
2. Tweet links to your blog posts that answer problems and provides tip, tactics and ideas
3. Tweet links to your Powerpoint presentations on Slideshare
4. Tweet links to presentations recorded on Video and posted to YouTube
5. If you are speaking at an event, tweet about it prior to the conference
6. Include a link to your personal blog on your personal Twitter account
7. Share photos on Twitter that validate your speaking at events and conferences, this will aid and enhance your credibility visually. Twitpic makes this easy and convenient to do on Twitter

Customer Service

Customer service is the the “ultimate” marketing tool as great customer service delivers those all important referrals that take you from compete to collaborate.

1. Improve customer service (A good case study on this is “ Zappos” an online shoe retailer) by picking up conversations about your company that you might not be aware
2. Respond quickly to any problem tweets on your Twitter account to shut down any impending service or potentially damaging PR disasters.
3. Check your Twitter account regularly and respond to questions and comments in a timely fashion

What is worth also keeping in mind is that Twitter is now embedded in the Apple’s iPhone native menu along with text messages with the announcement of the new Apple iPhone 4s with its new mobile iOS5 operating system.
So Twitter is about to be a native app in all of Apples new mobile products and will lead to Twitter becoming more viral and embedded in an increasingly social web.
How do you use Twitter for your business? Look forward to hearing your stories!
More Reading

• How to Get Targeted Twitter Followers
• The Marketing Secret About Twitter that Most People Don’t Know
• How To Write A Mind Blowing Headline For Twitter So People Will Read Your Blog
• 30 Terrific Twitter Facts and Figures
• Do Shared Links Last Longer on Twitter or Facebook
• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google, Facebook or Twitter?
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

YouTube Better Watch out: Koobface Botnet Exploits Social Engineering Sites

The Koobface botnet, one of the most efficient social engineering driven botnets, is entering the Xmas season with a newly introduced template spoofing a YouTube video page, in between enticing the visitor into installing a bogus Adobe Flash Player Update (New Koobface campaign spoofs Adobe’s Flash updater), which remains one of the most popular social engineering tactics used by the botnet masters.

What is the Koobface gang up to? Would they continue sticking to their true nature and rely on social engineering tactics, or would they start using active exploitation tactics such as client-side exploits?

Let’s discuss some of the new developments introduced on the Koobface front over the past week, and try to answer these questions.

Experimenting with client-side exploits - last week, for the first time ever, the Koobface botnet started serving client-side exploits by embedding two iFrames on the hundreds of thousands of Koobface-infected hosts, for a period of several hours.

Despite its reliance on outdated exploits used by the web malware exploitation kit in question, this does not automatically mean that their “infection optimization” strategy would go in vain taking into consideration the fact that a huge percentage of users/enterprises continue failing to properly manage their “software inventory”.

Whether the gang would re-introduce the use of client-side exploits (drive-by download) remains yet to be seen, however, this move directly contradicts with the infection model of the botnet, which so far has been exclusively using social engineering tactics. Read More.......

Social Engineering - The biggest Threat to Security is still You and your People

Social Engineering - Are you Tempted?

Whether they are going through the eTrash, dumpster diving, pod slurping, or impersonating other people, our constant companions, the hackers know that social engineering is still the best way to by-pass security.

People Skills
Social engineering finds and hits directly at our weak spot, you're a nice gal /guy, a people person and people are still the weakest link in security. Yes, it is difficult to change this because it means changing people's attitude and behaviour. Plus you have just spent 10's of thousands of Dollars, Pounds and Euros, to give them better customer facing skills.

Why? It Works!
Why are hackers still using social engineering to gain access to organisations? Because it still works better than anything else and it provides quicker results. It's easier to infiltrate an organisation via the people because the security is focused elsewhere, on the building and on Technology. Plus your guard is down, your complacent because you 'think' you are secure.

Who? People!
Front-of-House contact people are the most succeptible to intrusions. Partly because they form the first barrier but also because they are often bored, busy, isolated. Almost certainly, the least aware, uninformed or not adequately trained, concerning social engineering techniques and their risk to security. After all, who doesn't like to help a nicely dressed, sexy gal /guy and be rewarded by a smile, a compliment or just some friendly attention? What 'bait' would work on you?

What are the most likely vulnerabilities versus bad behaviours:

1. People want to be, and are trained to be helpful and co-operative. Sometimes this help can go too far and they give away too much information. - Make it clear to them what they can and cannot reveal, in writing.

2. People want to avoid confrontation and are trained towards compromise. It's difficult for some people to ask others to prove who they are. They don't like or want confrontation, especially with a possible 'authority' figure. Support your staff's doubts and back them up, review and clarify their decisions.

3. People like convenience and easy options. No one wants to take the complex additional security check route because they are busy or distracted, even if it may protect or benefit the organisation. Make the secure route the easy option for your staff.

4. People are messy, unorganised and easily distracted. They leave paper around, leave screens open to view, copy multiple people on e-mails, gossip and leak data. Provide them with pleasant incentives to change their behaviour and give them other, more positive things to talk about.

5. People are curious, inquisitive creatures. A great example is an employee who finds a USB drive in the parking lot. The first thing they do when they get to their desk is plug it in to see what's on it. You have to tell them why this is a threat to security and also a violation of someone else's privacy.

Is there light?
Social engineering attacks are some of the most difficult to defend against, but not all is darkness. Your greatest weapon is training and education. Maintaining awareness of current threat profiles and passing those on as a simple and easy to implement 'cheat sheet' or guidelines. Address all of peoples' senses, sight, sound and listenning. Use the technology Podcasts, MP3s, YouTube Videos, Twit and Facebook them. Whatever it takes.

Technical Barriers
There are very few technical solutions to people problems but here are some technical controls that are sensible to put in place:

* Lock down or limit capability of all peripheral devices, especially USB ports. There are now many commercial products that allow security administrators to completely lock down USB ports. This might be difficult but not impossible, because many devices are connected via USB ports.
* Use Data Loss Prevention techniques and products. Know who has access to your data, when they access it, and what they are accessing. Not very effective if someone's profile has been duplicated, stolen or access has been incorrectly allowed.
* Use encryption on every device and wherever systems talk to systems.

Remember 'If your employees don't know what social engineering is and how it operates, why should they change their behaviour?" You are the Agent of Change! Make it so!