The Cybersecurity Marketing Society recently produced an interactive town hall covering strategies, experiences, and wins in social media marketing by actual cybersecurity marketers. It features amazing panelists: Damian Tommasino, the Cofounder of Cyber Informants, Michael Yehoshua, the Vice President of Global Marketing at SCADAfence, and Dr. Sam Small, the Chief Security Officer at Zero Fox.
This post is just a recap, so watch the whole video here to get the full experience!
What is the difference between content strategy and social media strategy?
Damian says that the two are ‘one in the same’; content strategy is based around the company’s overarching theme, while social media is just the channel for that content. They both work hand-in-hand, and a company needs both.
Sam agrees; he believes that it is not just about what you want to say and who you say it to, but also where they are online. For example, you don’t want to target 40-year old executives on Tik Tok.
Michael chimes in by saying how important it is for these two strategies to be aligned, so that the content posted on social media lines up with their company’s strategy. Sam also says that you always need a plan in place before jumping into social media, because you can’t accomplish anything until you know what you want.
What are the panelists thoughts on non-traditional engagement-driven strategies on social media? Can cybersecurity companies fit in with this?
Damian starts off by saying that the number one underfunded role in marketing is creative. Creative is how you engage people and connect with them on a human-level. In addition, all engagement is not equal. Brand awareness is not usually about driving revenue, it’s more about the number of impressions.
Sam mentions that what we see on social media isn’t just random and quickly thought-out, instead there is usually a campaign behind everything done online. Without a plan, you could end up leaving out a portion of your audience or even alienating some of them. Will the right demographic find your post funny?
How do you build a strategy if you have a small team?
Damian expresses that you must prioritize the most important thing your company wants to get across, and that can be split up among team members. He recommends creating a template for breaking up content and dividing it amongst different platforms and channels. For example, you can create four different copy blocks for a single blog post.
When creating a piece of content, don’t waste anything. You should be able to slice it up, dissect it, and distribute it to many different places in different sizes and for different demographics.
What social media things have you tried that did not work?
Michael mentions how he reposted COVID guidelines like wearing a mask and washing your hands, which he was asked to take down because it was irrelevant to their company. He also says that politics and business do not go together, so do not post those opinions on your company’s page.
Early on, Sam would repost things with no comment which received very little engagement and interaction. He thinks that people want to hear the company’s voice, so stay away from reposting other content a lot.
Since cybersecurity companies do work with governmental organizations and in the B2B space, it is especially important for them to be aware of what they are posting on social media. Sam says that it may not be best for companies in enterprise security to voice their stances on controversial topics. However, he says it is still important within companies to voice company culture and values to their own employees. He also thinks it is important for companies to post things not just about their own product, and that people gain respect when companies make them think or highlight another company’s successes.
This concept is called winning on brand, which is when people actually know what a company stands for and what they stand for, rather than just driving revenue or driving leads. Damian is a big believer of the 80-20 rule, which is that 80% of what you post of social media should be helping other people (research, commentary, engagement) and 20% promoting your product (direct promotion, campaign, event).
“Be a part of the community if you want the community to interact with you.” – Sam Small
While talking about posting relevant content such as research, Michael recalls the time when his company, a cyber deception company, built a fake healthcare organization and a fake website with customer data. They sold it to hackers on the dark web, and they watched the hackers do their work. Then they took all of the findings and put them into a comprehensive report which showed exactly how and where the hackers attacked. Once they released that whitepaper, their social media followers increased by 1,700% in one month.
What are core skills for cybersecurity marketers?
Damian thinks analytics is a key skill. Marketers should be able to pick the data apart (analytics) and tell a story (creative).
With the abundance of content online, Michael says that it is important to be able to recognize how your buyers think about and talk about the problems they are facing. Then you can reflect that tone and phraseology used so that you can “hack” your way into their mindset.
Michael has the answer to all your problems: pick up the phone and call your customer. Ask them what they want to hear and what they’re interested in. That’s how you create good content that your customers will resonate with.
Watch the whole chat!
There’s nothing like hearing the laughs and the back and forth between our panelists and host –
Get to Know the Speakers
Damian Tommasino co-founded Cyber Informants, which is a new company that is looking to disrupt traditional marketing and sales tactics in the cybersecurity industry. He helps B2B businesses and startups build sales and marketing programs that drive revenue. He has spent over a decade in the tech and security industries working both on the sales and marketing side.
Michael Yehoshua is the VP of Marketing at SCADAfence, a company that does industrial cybersecurity. He’s been in cybersecurity for a couple of years, but before that he was a musician and a fashion photographer. With his experience in the arts, he likes to use creativity in his marketing. He has years of experience in both sales and marketing, and he is a founding member of the OT Cyber Security Alliance.
Sam Small is the CSO at Zero Fox, which is one of the leaders in digital risk protection. They help organizations protect themselves, their customers, and their employees across social media, deep web, dark web, open web etc. He started as an academic, with a Bachelor’s of Science, Master of Science in Engineering, and a Doctor of Philosophy all in Computer Science. He was a lecturer, led an academic security research lab, and launched two security-industry startups, including Fast Orientation, where he most recently served as CEO and Chairman.
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