VPN provider SaferVPN is on a mission to create a safer, more private, open internet for all.
The Israel-based startup was founded in 2013, and now has employees spread across several offices around the world. This past October, SaferVPN launched the world’s first automatic WiFi security product.
This week we sat down to chat with Karen Mesoznik, Inbound Marketing Manager at SaferVPN to talk about how she uses the link to track marketing efforts and about the state of internet security today, and the future of VPN.
What does SaferVPN do?
SaferVPN is a leading VPN provider, we provide a software that allows consumers to enjoy security, privacy, and freedom regardless of where they are.
There are very many use cases for VPNs.
The first thing is that the Internet you see nowadays is very segmented. It once used to be a global village, but now, it’s segmented by geolocation. This means that if you’re an expat it can be a lot harder to access content that you’re used to enjoying and having access to. For example, I’m a US expat in Israel and it’s a lot harder for me to watch some of my favorite TV shows but with a VPN, I can easily tune in and feel like I’m back home..
VPNs also help bypass censorship. In certain countries, sites that we take for granted in the U.S., like Wikipedia, Reddit, YouTube, and Twitter, are blocked. We allow people who can’t access these resources to find a way to express themselves online.
Right now, we’re partnering with Movements.org, the crowdsourcing platform for human rights, on an initiative called “#UnlockTheWeb,” where we provide free, unrestricted, and anonymous Internet access to activists living in closed societies around the world.
One of the last big benefits of using a VPN is WiFi security. We’re seeing more public WiFi hotspots pop up in major cities. Public WiFi seems really convenient. In fact, it’s something we often take for granted. But it’s actually really dangerous and risky. Due to the lack of encryption and the fact that many of these hotspots have widely shared passwords, Hackers can snoop in on your online activity, steal your personal information, your logins, your banking information, and more…
We just came out with a new automatic WiFi security solution to prevent this. With our automatic WiFi security, as soon as your device connects to a public WiFi, all of your information is automatically encrypted and secured. We’ve already received a great deal of interest and have started partnering with enterprise companies on this because it’s a highly effective way to keep employees and consumers safe online. Our automatic Wi-Fi security gives companies another layer of security for their organization’s employees with a fully transparent and easy-to-use solution.
It’s important to us that we make cybersecurity as simple and accessible for everyone.
How long have you used Bitly & how do you generally use Bitly?
As the Inbound Marketing Manager, I’m covering everything from social to blogging to PR to email.
I’m using Bitly every time we share a press feature, a blog post, or post on social media. I can see at a glance how many people have clicked through, how many people are sharing on social, and which outlets are getting clicks, all in one dashboard.
I’m also using Bitly across various platforms, since we have apps across Mac, iOS, Chrome, Windows, and Android. For example, on our Mac & Windows apps we run a “Tip of the Week” every week. I use a Bitly link to monitor the success of this content and gauge how interesting and relevant it is for our users.
What’s a recent Bitly campaign you’ve found most success with?
The most recent campaign that comes to mind was our Gleam campaign for Mother’s Day. We often run competitions on the sweepstakes generator Gleam and track the results through Bitly.
On Gleam, we can ask people to take certain actions for a chance to win a prize. Actions include sharing the app on Facebook, visiting our website, downloading the app, tweeting someone, or more. For each action, we put Bitly links to see how many people were clicking and participating.
We saw the sweepstakes drive over 11,000 clicks to blog featuring the competition, which was really exciting to see.
We also recently posted one of our first blog posts around influencer marketing called “Top 15 Cybersecurity Influencers to Follow.” We saw over 1,000 shares with over 100 clicks on the Bitly link itself. It was amazing tracking it through Bitly because you can see the shares and you can also track the deeper layer of how many people are clicking through and reading.
Another successful campaign we had was a while back was a blog post called “How To Watch The Oscars”. We posted it on social and posted on Reddit. We ended up with a huge spike of 6,000 views and 300 clicks on Bitly. Turns out we had quite a bit of clicks on Twitter and even more on a dark channel with I assume was Reddit. This really opened my eyes to the need for this kind of content and the best channels for distribution.
What’s next for security in 2017?
We’re big believers that WiFi security is going to become increasingly important and more necessary as WiFi hotspots become more prevalent.
The total number of public WiFi hotspots around the globe is expected to grow to 432 million by 2020.
More cities turning into smart cities, where public WiFi is like water at a restaurant. It’s a service you expect to have. But with this comes the issue of security. It’s not just that hackers can access your info at public spots, but they also set up fake public WiFi that steals your information as soon as you connect. Easy public WiFi security is going to become more and more important.
We’ve already partnered with several companies to white label our service. Businesses want to ensure that their employees can browse safely on-the-go and that their customers will trust and feel confident in their services. Consumers want to feel safe when they shop and disclose personal information online. At SaferVPN, we want to make sure that everyone can enjoy these benefits — automatically.
To learn more about SaferVPN and keep up-to-date with news related to their product, follow them on Twitter at SaferVPN.