While social media contests boost brand engagement and visibility, you’d be surprised to find out how often they’re being targeted by cyber crimes. As contestants share sensitive data, malicious actors try to exploit it. They do this through data leaks, phishing attacks, and account hijacking.
So, we decided to show you how to manage the data of your participants safely and share additional information about the risks of social media contests.
The Marketing Aspect of Social Media Contests
Contests on social media seem like a great way to generate valuable user interactions, increase follower numbers, and create excitement or buzz around your brand. These contests usually succeed in turning passive followers into active participants, and you can achieve it by:
- Encouraging your followers to post photos and mention your brand.
- Using specific hashtags to increase discoverability.
- Asking your followers to tag their friends in the comments section of your posts.
- Creating quizzes that educate while engaging your audience.
Social media contests create a sense of urgency and increase brand traffic and sales, but this is just one side of the story. Your brand cannot ignore the downside of this marketing strategy: cyber threats.
Cybersecurity Risks of Social Media Contests
Indeed, due to user engagement and data sharing, social media contests encounter many cyberattacks. Threats like data leaks, phishing attacks, and account hijacking are the most common, and they significantly damage a brand’s reputation.
Data Leaks
Social media contests require highly sensitive participants’ data, including emails, phone numbers, birthdays, etc. If the data gathering form is unsecured or you store the information on a vulnerable server, you risk unauthorized access or data breaches. This is when data leaks may occur and expose all of the sensitive information about the participants.
When such incidents happen and private participant information goes public, the consequences go beyond making contestants unhappy and disappointed. If, during the contest, you don’t follow the rules set by GDPR, CCPA, or other regional data protection laws, you could face major fines. Worse yet, people affected by the data leak could also file lawsuits to get compensation for invasions of privacy and possible identity theft risks.
Phishing Attacks
Phishing attacks are the digital equivalent of wolves in sheep’s clothing, and they are especially successful during social media competitions. In these situations, fraudsters create believable fake accounts or replicate contest pages that closely resemble your brand’s actual presence.
Their psychological approach is what makes these attacks so threatening. Participants’ defenses naturally drop when they view what seems to be your trusted brand asking for information as part of a contest they have already participated in. The thrill of maybe winning, particularly when faced with tempting “You won!” pop-ups, decreases critical thinking even more.
While participants think they are just finishing required processes in your legitimate contest, scammers collect email addresses, contact information, and sometimes even login credentials. Participants suffer two effects when they figure out about the fraud: their personal data gets compromised, and their trust in your brand significantly diminishes, even though you were not responsible for the fraud.
Account Hijacking
Account hijacking in social media competitions refers to cybercriminals accessing your brand’s social media account. Usually, this results from easily guessable passwords or unsecure login information. Once these malicious actors gain control of your account, they can post spam, scams, or inappropriate content under your brand name.
Preventing Cybersecurity Risks
Now, we don’t want to discourage your business from ever making a contest, especially since it’s well known how beneficial they can be for the brand’s visibility. However, ensuring everything you’re doing is as secure as possible is non-negotiable.
Using password managers is the first step you can take. These tools protect access to brand social media accounts and prevent unauthorized logins. If you use a Safari, Firefox, or Chrome password manager, it will not only help you generate complex passwords but also automatically fill out your login credentials. As a result, the chances of your account getting compromised become significantly lower.
You can also activate two-factor authentication (2FA), which adds an additional security layer by asking for something you know (your password) plus something you have (like your phone). By using 2FA, even if someone manages to obtain your password, they still won’t be able to access your business account without that second verification step.
Apart from password managers and 2FA, here are some other security tools you can consider:
- Secure form builders. These usually come with built-in encryption to collect participant data and ensure it is stored securely.
- Social media management platforms. Rather than managing the contest via your phone or tablet, use social media management platforms that offer more monitoring features and extra security layers.
- VPN services. Especially on public networks, VPN services provide safe connections while using contest management dashboards, ensuring no one can see what you’re doing online.
Wrapping It Up
As social media contests grow in popularity, hackers see this as an opportunity to steal users’ personal information for malicious purposes. So, use appropriate tools to protect your contests from possible data breaches, phishing attempts, and account hijacks.
Secure contests can be organized with the help of the best business password managers, two-factor authentication (2FA), and other social media monitoring and management tools. You got this!
