Minimize Risk: 5 Best Practices for Businesses Using Social Media

If you are running a small business, or on a marketing team for any size business, you are probably using social media to market your brand, products, or services. You have likely also been thinking about how to navigate within the laws, regulations, and policies that govern business use of social media so that you are avoiding any potential risk.

In this article I’ll outline some best practices that derive from social media laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) along with some other best practices that can help you to protect your business' brand and reputation in an increasingly interconnected world. Although not an exhaustive list, these should be considered as you begin using social media for your business.

1. Protection from Copyright Infringement: Post a DMCA notice and take other steps to ensure full DMCA protection.

The US Digital Millennium Copyright Act was enacted in 1998 and it implements two treaties 1996 of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO.) The Act criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works. In addition, it heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the internet. 

The safe-harbor provisions of the DMCA will provide protection to businesses from third-party posts and comments that infringe on other parties' copyrights as long as the business complies with some threshold requirements:

• There must be a policy that provides for the termination of repeat infringer's access to the site

• There must be an agent appointed and on record with the Copyright Office to receive notices of alleged infringement

• The DMCA "takedown" provision requires the prompt removal of the allegedly infringing content upon receiving notice of the alleged infringement

2. Screen user-generated content before publishing.

If you have a blog or are using Whenever possible, user-generated content (comments, reviews, questions,posts, etc.) should be screened prior to publication. If a post potentially violates the site's policies or terms, the screener should decline to post the content.

In situations where users can post comments at will, such as on social networking sites, businesses should remove or request removal of posts that may pose a legal risk, for example, a violation of the DMCA, above.

3. Disclose endorsements from paid bloggers and employees.

Businesses using testimonials and endorsements need to consider the FTC Guides which require disclosure of "material connections" (compensation arrangements)  between companies and consumer endorsements. 

The bottom line: if you are paying or otherwise rewarding bloggers or other industry influencers to provide favorable comments about your products, services, or brand, you need to disclose that relationship. This includes employment relationships, so if you have employees making favorable comments on social platforms, that relationship should be transparent. 

4. Monitor your brand in the social media universe.

In addition to monitoring your brand for positive equity factors such as reach, awareness, and loyalty, businesses should regularly monitor both their own social platforms and third-party sites for potential misuse or misrepresentation of their brand, and for infringing use of trademarked or copyright-protected company material.

Many free and subscription-based internet tracking tools are available and can be set up to automatically monitor key terms associated with brands and products.

5. Know what you can and can't do with social media.

Most social networking platforms have policies in place that govern the use of their sites, and they are constantly evolving. Most businesses today are using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn to help boost awareness of and otherwise market their products and services. It is important to consult the platform's terms of use as well as any applicable privacy provisions, disclaimers, and limitations of liability prior to launching any campaigns to ensure compliance.

There are so many great benefits to using social media to help drive your business. With an awareness of the rules of use and some these best practices, you should be able to avoid any potential missteps and stay on a path toward the growth and success of your business using social media.