What is digital ownership and why is it important?
Your organization is valuable! Digital assets refer to any online page that represents your organization / brand. Examples of digital assets include:
- social media accounts,
- business directory listings,
- Google analytics,
- website domains, and
- website content management systems.
In a digital world, protecting your company’s digital assets and privacy, while also taking digital ownership, is crucial to maintaining a successful online presence. This is especially important for nonprofits experiencing high turnover as well as small businesses and other organizations that may work with partners and freelancers.
The importance of maintaining privacy.
Situations like staff turnover or partnership breaks can impact your social media privacy. Suppose a staff member sets up your organization’s social media account, using their personal email. Weeks later, the staff member leaves the organization without relaying login credentials to someone else at the organization. Now you are stuck in a position where you can not access the organization’s social media accounts, as you don’t know the password, email associated with the account, or the answers to security questions.
In this situation, your organization is not only left vulnerable, with their social media presence in the hands of a former employee they are not partnered with anymore. But now, you have also lost access to valuable digital assets associated with your organization such as posting and deleting power, collaborations with other creators, and timely communication with your audience.
Our tips for protecting your data.
Maintaining privacy in regards to social media can be made simple with these tips:
- Staff your organization accordingly with in-house talent that understands digital.
The best way to ensure your digital assets are protected is by working with an in-house team member that has an understanding of how to keep your data secure with the most up-to-date processes. Also, if something goes wrong, these folks have the specific knowledge to troubleshoot the issue to keep your data in your own hands.
- Use a password manager.
Password managers save time and your data. We recommend LastPass. LastPass gives users the ability to revoke passwords in the event of turnover, and the ability to quickly and discreetly share passwords with new staff.
- Have multiple administrators on social media accounts.
Having 2 – 3 account administrators prevents problems down the road should there be turnover. This way, others can still access and control your organization’s account in full.
- Establish 2FA and a standard operating procedure for 2FA.
Many social media platforms require two factor authentication (2FA). 2FA typically works like this: you log in, a code is sent to your phone number, you input code and are granted access to the social media account. However, one issue popping up includes one person holding the 2FA code phone number, and other team members needing access. We recommend setting a strategy for relaying this code. Some social media platforms allow backup codes to be used which don’t expire.
- Set permission levels for social media contributors.
Social media pages allow for administrators to restrict permission levels. It is highly unlikely every role logging into your account needs 100% access to every function. Instead, you can set different permission levels.
- Do not register your organization’s social media under a singular person.
You may want to consider re-registering your organization on social media away from under a singular person’s ownership. Rather, registering the organization as its rightful title (e.g. nonprofit, etc.) from the start will be helpful in maintaining ownership of your data.
FUNKY BROWN CHICK continues to provide clients with a broad range of services, including guidance on digital privacy and ownership. If this is something your organization could use support on, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us!
