Managers should be concerned about their customers’ trust in their brand or company because it determines the firm’s growth and profitability. It can be noted that there is a positive affiliation between brand trust and brand loyalty (Mabkhot et al., 2017). Consumers tend to purchase from brands they trust, thus developing brand loyalty. Through brand loyalty, the company or the brand can say that it has loyal customers, which is an outstanding achievement to the management (Mabkhot et al., 2017). To build trust, managers should always put their customers first and be very transparent in their dealings. They can also come up with loyalty programs such as providing rewards also improves the existing trust. The managers can also offer mediums for consumer feedback to work on issues raised concerning their brand trust and maintaining the trust.
Consumers, especially internet users, have concerns about the privacy of their personally identifiable information (PII). Information transfer is the biggest concern of consumers regarding their PII (Antón et al., 2009). Consumers are uncomfortable with companies trading, sharing, and selling their PII with other organizations they engage in business with. Consumers are concerned with the increased identity theft, data brokers, and data breaches that put their personal information at risk. Another concern is about notice and awareness. Consumers intensely feel the need to be informed about security safeguards used to protect their PII (Antón et al., 2009). The third concern is information storage. Consumers are concerned about the unauthorized individuals who may get access to their PII stored by companies. Lastly, internet consumers are worried about information collection. Consumers are worried about the sites they visit in information collection, collecting information about browser configuration or IP address without their consent (Antón et al., 2009). To mitigate these concerns, businesses should provide privacy policies concerning the management and use of personal data. The policy will ensure that the people who get access to users’ personal data are legitimate and well trained so that the data may not fall into breachers’ hands.
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Online behavioral advertising is the assembly and use of data on an internet-enabled gadget allowing the addition of the device to other pre-defined groups to advertise. Often and unknowingly, people share private data as a prerequisite of online user experience, access and functionality (Mathews-Hunt, 2015). This happens as individuals visit several websites. Therefore, their details may fall into the wrong hands if the information handlers are not keen on protecting personal data (Mathews-Hunt, 2015). Learning how various cybercriminals can manipulate PII has made me cautious of the websites I visit and the data I reveal online. I am very careful and more conscious of what network websites to visit and what information to share online.
Online social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have become part of the social lives of people. In the process of using these platforms, consumers face privacy issues and threats. Some of these threats are; identity theft, social engineering, reverse social engineering attacks, and internet fraud (Antón et al., 2009). Social engineering attack occurs when the users are not aware of the value of personal information. At the same time, reverse-engineering attacks are threats in which the attacker lies to the users to contact them using different techniques. Identity theft involves stealing personal details of a social network and using the details to impersonate them to get some benefits or cause harm (Antón et al., 2009). Lastly, internet fraud is a broad issue that involves manipulating social network users using personal information to get some benefits.
To protect their PII privacy, internet users should embrace security options. Consumers can use encryptions while sending their personal information online (Mathews-Hunt, 2015). After using any social network platforms, users should log out of their accounts to prevent other users from accessing the information. They should also not provide PII unless it is essential for them to do so. Fair information practices principles are a set of properties leading to assembling and using personal information and addressing privacy issues (Gellman, 2014). These principles are essential as they help protect the personal internet users’ critical data, and in case they are breached, they can be compensated. Generally, there is a need to protect consumer PII to gain and preserve consumer trust and loyalty.
References
Antón, A. I., Earp, J. B., & Young, J. D. (2009). How internet users' privacy concerns have evolved since 2002. IEEE Security & Privacy , 8 (1), 21-27. https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/bitstream/handle/1840.4/4090/TR-2009-16.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Gellman, R. (2014). Fair information practices: a basic history (v. 2.11). Note: Available at\url http://www. bobgellman. com/rg-docs/rg-FIPShistory. pdf Cited by , 1 . https://sci-hub.se/10.2139/ssrn.2415020
Mabkhot, H. A., Shaari, H., & Salleh, S. M. (2017). The influence of brand image and brand personality on brand loyalty, mediating by brand trust: An empirical study. Jurnal Pengurusan (UKM Journal of Management) , 50 . https://ejournal.ukm.my/pengurusan/article/view/15218/7172
Mathews-Hunt, K. (2015). CookieConsumer: Tracking online behavioral advertising in Australia. Computer Law & Security Review , 32 (1), 55-90. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_comments/2016/05/00005-128081_0.pdf
