This is a post from our WordofMouth.org project. Check it out for more great word of mouth marketing tips like this every day.

Nobody is going to put their reputation on the line to recommend you if they have any questions about your trustworthiness.

It takes a long, long time to build this level of trust — and only one dumb move to ruin it forever. As a word of mouth marketer, it’s your job to protect your brand by training these key groups on word of mouth ethics:

1. Your college recruits
2. Your agencies
3. Your independent bloggers
4. Your senior leadership

For all of the press out there about hacking and suspicious websites, one important facet of internet security that gets overlooked is email. Most of us know not to click on links in a spam message, and many of us realize that some email attachments harbor unsavory bits of code. Malicious code and viruses get transferred easily with email, often without the knowledge of either the sender or the recipient, via email attachments.

Viruses and malicious code aside, there is another issue of email security that you may be overlooking: the sending of sensitive information via email.

Common sense would dictate that any sensitive information – bank account numbers, credit card information, passwords, social security numbers – is best delivered through a secure channel. If you’re using email to send this type of information, you run the risk of exposing it to virtually anyone.

Every day someone is getting hacked. Why? Who knows. It could be for malicious intentions or for someone’s personal fun. The world of hacking contains a whole community of its own that it is...



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There’s always money in the banana stand…

Photo via Alana Edmunds