What is Snap Map?
Introduced in a June 2017 update, Snap Map allows users to share their exact location with friends within the Snapchat app. Snap Map gathers location data using a smartphone’s GPS sensor and displays the time of day an individual is at a specific location and his or her speed of travel. This information is shown on a map that can be accessed when a user first opens Snapchat and pinches the screen to zoom out.

While Snapchat users can choose to share their location with selected friends, any posts users share on Snapchat’s “Our Story” feature will appear on the global map regardless of their privacy or location settings.

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Concerns
Broadcasting one’s personal location might seem harmless, but there are potentially dangerous implications for your organization. Consider that many employees might use this feature in a way that compromises your business and take steps to mitigate this risk.

Inventory Protection
Employees shouldn’t use social media to post when they’re leaving for vacation, as this could leave their home vulnerable to robbery. The same risks are at play if employees use Snap Map to advertise their absence from work. Malicious individuals could seize the opportunity to steal or otherwise damage company property because they know it is unattended.

Company Perception
Employees who post on social media during business hours have tremendous control over your company’s reputation. Their thoughts and opinions are projected through the lens of the company, since they are on company—not personal—time. Even if employees do not mention your organization, their physical locations will be broadcast, offering that information anyway. Likewise, anywhere employees travel will be broadcast when they post, which could be compromising if they go to places that could make the company look bad.

Setting Expectations
Employees should be reminded of your company’s social media policy. Clearly lay out your organization’s expectations in the policy and communicate the potential dangers of this new social media feature.

User Tip
Share the following tip with employees or consider including it in your company’s social media policy.

• Edit location settings. Click the gear icon in the Snapchat app. From there, scroll down to the “See My Location” tab and turn on “Ghost Mode.” This will prevent others from seeing your location.

 
For more information on how to protect your business on social media, follow me on Twitter @andrewjpg.

Conducting Keyword Research
You write your blog posts to be informative and appealing, but you should also put research behind the words you use. Keyword research can help you increase your blog traffic and enhance your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. It can provide you with the same terms and phrases in your content that your audience is using in their searches. In turn, you can make sure you use those words in your writing to increase traffic to your blog.

Keyword research can give you a better idea of what types of things people are searching for and the search terms they are using. Knowing this information can help you better engage with prospects and customers.

Use the keyword research methods detailed below to add relevant keywords to your blog titles and posts. Remember, you don’t need to go overboard. Reiterating keywords one to three times in your content is enough.

Google AdWords Keyword Planner
One way to conduct keyword research is to utilize Google’s Keyword Planner. This tool gives you a better idea of what people are searching for, how many people are searching for something and how many other businesses are trying to get traction for a certain keyword.

How to use Google’s Keyword Planner
1. Sign into Google Keyword Planner using a Gmail address. Google no longer allows anonymous keyword research, so you need to have or create a Google account in order to access the keyword data. Click here for more information on creating an account.

2. Under the “What would you like to do?” section, click on “Search for new keyword and ad group ideas.”

3. In the first box, under “Your product or service,” type in a word or phrase that is related to your blog. For example, if you are writing a blog about driving tips, you could type in “driving tips,” or “how to be a safer driver.” Then, scroll down and click the blue “Get Ideas” button: 

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