Vancouver-based social media dashboard firm HootSuite Media Inc. is expanding its business today with a new managed service aimed at managing the risk that comes with a growing corporate presence on social media.
The Managed Security and Compliance services will give firms using HootSuite the resources needed to maintain compliance. It includes features that will alert a company in the case of an account hi-jacking, an audit tool that will help weed out illegitimate profiles, and a training simulation. Here’s a more in-depth description of those services from HootSuite:
Social Media Asset Audit: Identify and govern both authorized and
unauthorized social media profiles. The audit creates an Access Control
Map, which allows administrators to outline legitimate profiles and
determine which users can post to those profiles. We also help to remove
illegitimate profiles to restore brand reputation.Situational Simulations: Create a response plan for managing situations
that could cause a drastic spike in activity volume on Twitter or
Facebook. The exercise then engages users across the organization to
react to a social media surge in a controlled environment using the
HootSuite dashboard. Upon completion, HootSuite provides an executive
summary and recommendations on ways to enhance the process and strategy.Social Media Profile Monitoring: Monitor company-owned social media
profiles for any security and compliance breaches. This ongoing service
provides custom notifications when changes are made to account profiles
to provide prompt alert if a hijacking occurs, and real-time content
moderation to ensure all content conforms with predetermined compliance
policies.
The announcement marks an entry for HootSuite into managed services. Until now the firm has focused mostly on providing web-based, self-serve tools to its users and taken a more hands off approach when it comes down to managing of accounts.
But the security and compliance focus perhaps reflects the fears of executives that controlling information throughout an organization’s array of social networking accounts is too difficult.
Apparently HootSuite has already tested some of the services with clients. Quoted in the press release is Jamie Stein, senior manager of social media at ING Direct.
“It’s important to have your team aligned and prepared to handle any situation that could compromise customer service or brand reputation. HootSuite’s Situational Simulation prepared our communications team for our recent company re-naming launch so that when it took place, our team was able to handle the response from our clients and the public effectively and efficiently,” he said in the statement.
