In the post-covid world, a large number of businesses are making the pivot to go online.
With digital taking prominence for driving consumer awareness, engagement and sales, it is time to safeguard your digital assets.
Many of them are struggling to find answers to questions such as – How will moving online be helpful? What would be the long-term benefits? Where to get started?
Nearly all SMEs, Consultants and Startup businesses rely on third-party service providers for everything from domain registration to social media management to running paid ads for their business.
As more and more businesses are getting online there is an increasing demand for digital marketing experts and agencies.
This is where business owners must be very careful about whom they work with.
We are living in a time where ownership of the brand’s digital assets are crucial for the survival and continuity of a business in the online space.
Here are some key points that you need to consider very carefully when it comes to your digital assets:
1. Claim Your Brand Identities: Ensure that you are the admin for the social media channels that you use to promote your business. This could be you or could be multiple people from the organization.
2. Safeguard Your Digital Properties: Ensure that the domain name and web hosting account are tied to your email id. Even if they have been registered by the service provider, change them to your id that you check regularly.
3. Stop Sharing Account Passwords: Nearly most platforms allow you to give access to others via user roles. Unless it is essential you do not need to give your account credentials.
4. Backup, Backup and Backup: Always ensure that your website files are backed up safely (if needed on multiple platforms). While most good hosting companies are reliable, there are several low-cost companies that do not back up your data. So, ensure you take frequent backups of your website files, databases and emails.
These are just 4 basic, yet important steps that one needs to consider and take care of very carefully.
Take these 4 real cases that has happened just in the last few months:
Case #1: The digital expert created a social media page for the client and refused to hand over the credentials because it was created through his personal account.
Case #2: The agency deleted the Facebook page after the client did not renew the yearly contract. And the reason given was “once the agreement is over, we will remove all client data”.
Case #3: The client website was being hosted on the web hosting account of the agency. When the client asked for access to the website, they were given only the wp-admin access and that too only an editor access.
Case #4: The client had no idea where the domain was registered and the website was hosted. So when they asked the marketing company to transfer it to their account for records, the agency charged them 10x the normal cost for a domain renewal + management charges.
These are just 4 among many stories I have heard personally and come across in various FB groups.
The covid situation has given birth to plenty of overnight experts and agencies offering services at an extremely low rate because they need to survive.
So, before you outsource your digital marketing to the expert or company, ask them these basic questions.
– Their client portfolio
– Client references
– How can they price themselves so low
– Do they have any partnerships with Google?
– How do they keep themselves updated with industry changes?
Remember, it is better to be safe than worry because you did not have a plan to navigate the complex digital ocean.
