Michael Queroz

Vice President of Digital

Vice President of Digital Michael Queroz leads Public Communications Inc.’s digital practice. He is particularly passionate about integrating media and digital strategies into client programs to support all communications needs, and has worked with a variety of Chicago-based and national nonprofit, conservation, destination and healthcare clients.

“Who has that password?”

“How can we get back into our Facebook page?”

“We don’t know who owns that email address.”

“Oh…Jane Doe doesn’t work here anymore…”

Unfortunately, as digital marketers it’s pretty common for clients to have one (or eek, all) platforms inaccessible when we begin our work together. It’s not fun or easy to try to find who owns access…sometimes, it’s an employee who hasn’t worked in the organization for years or, often worse, an employee or agency/partner who was terminated. Crisis. Mode. All it takes is one rogue or disgruntled employee to dismay your followers or completely eradicate your social presence.

But it doesn’t always have to be a challenge to identify and find who owns the keys to your digital kingdom. You can start by ensuring you’re following our best practices below for how to store and safeguard your social media, email marketing, website and other digital platforms. Check out our tips:

Create an inventory of your platforms and passwords

Simple, but pivotal start to ensure you have an arm around what platforms your team is using and who has access to passwords. Follow our example grid below for what information capture. It’s important to note not all platforms have standard email address and password security. Facebook, for example, can be managed through Business Manager, which allows companies to better control who has individual access to brand pages. If you do not have Business Manager set up for your organization yet we highly recommend you get started on the process here.

Ditch the scribbles in your notebook or sticky notes. Consider capturing the above information in a password-protected Excel spreadsheet or…

Invest in a password manager

An Excel spreadsheet is not as secure and requires more manual updates than a secure password manager platform like Keeper or Last Pass. Staff changes occur naturally, and in this environment, can sometimes be sudden and unexpected. A password manager platform will allow you to be in more control of the various platforms that keeps your organization running, offering solutions like random-generated and secure password combinations (no more “password123”s) and click-of-a-button abilities to change passwords whenever there’s a need.

We’re all experiencing platform fatigue. There’s even a password to control my smart home lighting! But it’s a new world in which we all live and necessary evil to ensure your organization’s external communications channels are within grasp and cyber secure. Once you have your platforms under control, it’s time to have some fun! Let’s talk about how you can effectively tell your story with data-driven approaches across your digital channels: digital@pcipr.com.

Vice President of Digital Michael Queroz leads Public Communications Inc.’s digital practice. He is particularly passionate about integrating media and digital strategies into client programs to support all communications needs, and has worked with a variety of Chicago-based and national nonprofit, conservation, destination and healthcare clients.