Category Archives: Social Media

The Social Media Giving Scam

Prepare your organization in advance to build awareness of social media scams and avoid losing the trust you’ve built.

So your pastor has been impersonated on social media. Why do this? The first step is creating a phony account. The second step is sending friend requests to create the impression of connectedness. The third step of an impersonation goes largely like this from the parishioners point of view:

I was recently contacted via Facebook / Instagram / Twitter by someone who, for all intents and purposes, was a church pastor I knew. The photo matched, the name matched. The exchange was similar to this:

Pastor: “Good morning, how are you? I need a favor from you please email back as soon as possible. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks. “

Dan: “Sure, how can I help?”

Pastor: “One short request..Good to hear from you Dan, how are you? On my way to a program now and I won’t get to a store.  Please I need to get an Itunes giftcard for a widow that I promised her as a birthday gift. Can you get it from any store around you? I’ll pay you back. Thanks.”

Dan: “What is the program you are going to and who is the widow?:”

Pastor: “It’s going to Jack’s life group, Jennifer is suffering since the loss of her husband Jesse”

(“the pastor” responded with some information about a mixed group study at someone’s house  – which came off a church website along with funeral information from the church’s Facebook page.).

This has happened to many Pastors around the country. They have been impersonated in giving scams whether via Facebook, text, or other channels. Thousands of dollars have been lost.

Why is this scam so easy? 

• It’s easy to get an email list of residents of any zip code / DMA using various criteria such as faith based criteria. They are used all the time for direct email marketing and targeting.
• Churches don’t want to talk about it or warn parishioners out of a concern of creating a panic. Scammers love this reluctance because it makes parishioners easier prey than the general public.
• It’s fairly plausible for this to be a genuine need.
• Public information on church / charity websites makes this especially easy to pull off including the pastor’s name, parishioner’s name, small group meeting times,  and the need.
• The pastor-parishoner relationship is considered a ‘trusted one’. This above all let’s peoples guards down. Everyone wants to be the one that the pastor came to for help!

If you’ve been scammed or you are a church, here’s what you can do / advise: 

• The donor should contact whoever they bought the card from. The recipient’s contact info may be able to be retrieved.
• Contact the issuer quickly to see if can be cancelled and refunded.
• Contact the FTC to help shut down the scammer
• Churches / Businesses can communicate with their base (congregation) to make them aware and let them know the authorized ways to give in any situation. (Few churches do this proactively BEFORE any scam, despite warnings).
• For more information: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2019/07/worshipers-targeted-gift-card-scam

How Can I Communicate This Without Causing a Panic? 

• A simple disclaimer included in emails or tithe / offering messages: “Remember, we will never solicit donations on Facebook, Instagram or other social media. Remember to only give through our app or secure site” on communications is a great way to communicate this without creating panic. A similar take on “remember, we will never ask for your passwords” that for profit companies include on communications, or “The IRS will never call or email you” which the IRS communicates to curb scams.
• Churches failing to communicate proactively is what scammers want. It makes church parishioners more vulnerable than the average citizen.

More articles: 

• Shaker Heights woman loses $1000 in Itunes giftcard scam involving her church: Money Matters
• Scammers targeting churchgoers with fake text messages from pastors
• New Scam: Emails Target Worshippers

Woman Screaming Cat Meme

Do you know where this meme came from?

Did you know the woman screaming at the cat meme was actually originally two separate things?

The woman is Taylor Hill from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as captured in a still published on the Daily Mail.

The cat is from a Tumblr post.

But in May they were combined and…the rest seems to be…history!

Read more at Knowyourmeme.com

Content, Content, Content

Meme’s like this are fun but it’s time to talk about real content.

A good social media presence is all about content. But what kind of content?

Your goal should be to generate content that is engaging, sharable, while also building your reputation as a subject matter expert. You don’t want to necessarily ‘give away the store’ if you are an expert such as a car mechanic or computer repair business but you do want to publish some ‘first steps’ and other articles that show you are a subject matter expert in lane.

While a funny cat or pop culture meme may get you short term engagement, what you’re going for overall is to bolster your web presence which includes social and your website as well as overall credibility.

A first step may be to brainstorm 4 areas you are a subject matter expert in. You can then write 4 blogs for each area. An example may look like this:

Joe’s Fix It Garage

Topic 1: Things You Can Do On Your Own

• Do your own oil change
• Change your own tail light bulb
• Change your own Trunk latch
• Replace your Tail Light Lens

Topic 2: When to Call a Mechanic

• Common Check Engine Codes
• Tires are squeaking
• I hear a whistling sound
• My car’s ABS light just came on

Topic 3: What to look for in a used car

• Pulling a CarFax Report
• Taking a Test Drive
• What to do during the first 24 hours
• Are extended car warranties worth it?

Topic 4: Signs it’s time to replace not repair

• Top severe engine codes
• Recreational vs. personal vs. business use
• Leasing as a replacement option
• Should I fix my trade-in?

After you’ve laid out four 4-part topics and have written 4 blogs for each, what you end up with is a social media calendar for 30 days assuming you go light one day with a meme or cartoon and do other content on the weekends.

Content is…king.

Email List Engagement

Another online marketing channel is an email list of your customers / clients.

At Alley Cat Social we recommend MailChimp but regardless of what software you use, it’s alway good to do the following:

• Bring a manual sign up (clipboard / pen) as well as an Ipad / tablet sign up to live events.
• Review your manual autoresponders for contact updates, i.e. “Dr. John Smith has left UNIT, if you need further assistance, contact Elizabeth Shaw at [email protected]”.
• Work out an engagement calendar by sending every month, every two weeks, every week or what ever frequency gives your customers the appropriate touch and results . in the highest open / clicks and lowest unsubscribe rate. This may take trial and error along with choosing the appropriate sending time.
• Eyeball the top opens and reach out to those who frequently open your emails.
• Create separate lists for clients and non clients so you can market different offers to different segments.
• Make sure your landing pages have a clear call to action that is relevant to the email click link.
• Review stats often to fine tune your campaigns.

More to come soon from Alley Cat Social!

Responding on Social Media

What customers or prospective customers are looking for on social media in terms of your response is just as important as actually responding in and of itself.

Instead of a long blog post, we’ll boil it down to two types of responses:

Best Practice: 

Customer: I’m looking for warranty information for my car’s air conditioner motor.

Business: Can you tell me your phone number, date, and location of purchase?

Customer: October 15, 2019, 555-555-555, Long Island, NY.

Business: Let me look that up

Customer: Ok

Business: Customer: Your warranty period started on 12/1/2018 and ends 12/1/2019.  Just bring the motor in to any of our locations along with this information and we’ll be happy to warranty out your motor.

Worst Practice: 

Customer: I’m looking for warranty information for my car’s air conditioner motor.

Business:  Please go to our website under ‘help, warranty’ and fill out our form

or:

Business: Please call us at 555-555-5555 so we can help you further.

With a few exceptions such as legal counsel or HIPAA, a business should respond fully over social. Except where legally bound to get further verification or privacy concerns such as transmittal of social security numbers, this should be the best practice. Why? Often customers have the other channels of communication i.e. phone or a website but are looking for a response through this channel.

In short it’s always good to respond through social as fully as you can. Asking a customer to change channels is risking a potential dissatisfied customer. Customer service is a vital part of your social media strategy.

Social Media Engagement

What is the difference between social media and other types of media? Put simply, it’s all about engagement. It’s a two way conversations, not a one way broadcast.

In traditional media such a television, radio, print, and billboard advertising it’s all about brand awareness and messaging. These media forms allow you to put your brand in front of people and get what are commonly called ‘eyeballs’. There’s nothing wrong with traditional media and it should be part of any marketing strategy. But when you want to go beyond broadcast and actually have a conversation with your audience what do you?

Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Pinterest are about engaging your audience. These media forms allow you put your brand i front of people and get what is commonly called ‘engagement’. This allows you to ask questions, answer questions, hear concerns, educate, and be educated. Social Media can be part of any marketing strategy but it begins with your willingness to move beyond a monologue to a dialogue, from a broadcast to an engagement.