This recent post on the blog at Veracode opened my eyes to something I literally never thought about before: mobile malware. It seems like the kind of thing I should have considered at some point but, alas, I did not. Malware happens to good people and, as I now know, good mobile devices.

Common Mobile Malware Types: Cybersecurity 101

The post itself has many features of what I believe make an effective blog post, though I felt there were one or two changes that would make it even more effective.

The analysis

• Length
  917 words = a bit on the long side. I could go either way on this. On one hand, this is the type of content that can get away with more words. On the other, sometimes shorter is better–and a chance to lead interested readers to additional content for more details.
• Style
  Straightforward and educational. In a few places the writing is a bit jargon-y, but given the audience (IT folks) this isn’t over the top.
• Content
  • As I said above, this is a topic I’d not given much thought to. Especially not from my seat at the marketer’s table. But it is a topic that I imagine IT folks have spent a bit of time thinking about. So, unless I have the target market wrong, what I felt was missing here was discussion of how and why this matters to the folks in the IT department, who are in charge of IT security. This kind of information is vital for companies with a bring your own device (BYOD) policy and I expected at least some mention of BYOD to address that part of the audience’s needs.
  • Really like the graphics! They are visually appealing on their own and effectively add to the post, both by breaking up the text and by reinforcing the points made in the text.
• Format 
  The subheadings work, for the most part. One confusing aspect is that there is mention of four classifications of malware (spyware and adware, trojans and viruses, phishing apps, and bot processes). Those classifications are in the same style and heading level as the subheadings that follow. Numbering these or using bullets or some other formatting to set them apart would make those four classifications stand out better.
• Call to Action
  Unfortunately, the call to action is hidden–in the second sentence under the heading: Safe Mobile Computing. It took a few moments to find the link to download the ebook (do you see it?). Of course, I’m not in a position to know anything about traffic to the blog and clicks to the ebook, but I imagine the uptake could be better if the graphic call to action was part of this post (at the bottom) or the sentence was a hyperlink to the ebook landing page.
• Salesy quotient
  Very low
  This is a good educational article; the basis of solid content marketing.
• Educational quotient
  Very high
  Now I understand the security risks for mobile devices and how similar they are to those for desktop and laptop devices. For some percentage of the intended audience, I believe this is also a timely and educational article.

What are your thoughts? Would you rate this article similarly? What aspects do you think I missed or got wrong in this analysis?