Social Media Checkup: SUCCEED the Legal Way PRESENTED BY: SHARON TOEREK, PARTNER AT LICATA & TOEREK.

Social Media Checkup: SUCCEED the Legal Way

PRESENTED BY: SHARON TOEREK, PARTNER AT LICATA & TOEREK

2 Social Media Checkup: SUCCEED the Legal Way

Benefit Advisors Network

Benefit Advisors Network, your Smart Partner™ in employee benefits planning, is the premier, national, credentialed network of independent benefit advisory & consulting companies. Through best practice sharing, market clout leveraging and shared capital for investments, BAN delivers the power of Smart Partners™. Through industry leading tools, technology and expertise, member firms can deliver optimum results for their employee benefits customers.

Social Media: Introductions

www.benefitadvisorsnetwork.com


World Synergy is a leading Strategic eBusiness Services company located in Cleveland, Ohio. For over 25 years, from thought to thrive, our eStrategy model creates an integrated online marketing and technology strategies to increase clients' sales and improve their ROI.

Social Media: Introductions – World Synergy – Company History

eStrategy Model


Social Media: Introductions – World Synergy – Clients and Credentials

Our 500+ Clients Include:

3MAC DelcoAnswerthink ConsultingASM InternationalBenefit Advisors NetworkChevroletClear Channel CommunicationsCM SmithDe NoraDisneyElevation GroupFitness Quest

French OilGroup ServicesInnoplast King NutLockheed MartinMergershop Napa Auto PartsPetroliance Ronald McDonald HouseSpectrum Surgical InstrumentsSummit RacingWallace Insurance Group

Certifications/Authorized Resellers:Cisco Citrix Dell Google IBackup

Microsoft Miva Merchant Sonic Wall Sun Microsystems


Social Media: Contact Information

Follow Us

worldsynergy.com/internet-marketing-blog

facebook.com/worldsynergy

twitter.com/worldsynergy

linkedin.com/company/world-synergy-enterprises

Sharon Toerek – Partner, Licata & Toerek [email protected]

Glenn Smith – President / [email protected]

Mike Murray – Web Marketing Thought [email protected]


Social Media: Health Care Trends

Social Media: The Facts


Social Media: Health Care Trends

Other Trends:

• 64% of hospitals have implemented social media (MyHealthCommunity survey).

• 79% of the global 2011 Fortune Global 100 use at least one of the major social media platforms (Burson-Marsteller, Social media study).

• 69% of small business owners use social media (Webs survey).

• 37% of health care professionals use social media for networking (AMN Healthcare survey).

• 20% of Americans use social media web sites for health care information (National Research Corp.’s Ticker survey).

• 26% of healthcare payer companies believe social media is an important strategy to reach customers (FierceHealthPayer research commissioned by Varolii Corp.).

Social Media: The Facts


Sharon Toerek focuses her legal practice at Licata & Toerek on:

• Trademark law

• Copyright law

• Intellectual property licensing and transfers

• Advertising and marketing law

• Corporate business transactions

Reach Sharon @[email protected]/in/sharontoerek

Sharon Toerek: Licata & Toerek


Social Media: A Revolution in Communication

• Social media accounts for about 25% of all time spent online• Facebook accounts for 8.93% of all website visits in the US• 64% of Facebook users have liked a brand on Facebook• $4.26 billion will be spent on social media marketing globally in 2011• Ford’s 2011 Explorer launch on Facebook generated a 200% greater return than a Super Bowl ad

Source: http://jeffesposito.com/2011/02/14/social-media-facts-share-executives/

Social Media: Facts


Why are you involved in social media?

Offense

• To expose your brand to new consumers and new platforms

• To reach consumers directly

• Everyone else is doing it

Defense

• Concerned about what your customers say about you

• Concerned about what your employees are doing

• Concerned about liability or brand liability

• Everyone else is doing it

Social Media: Involvement


Know Legal “Trouble Areas” When Using Social Media

• Intellectual Property Protection or Misuse

• Advertising Regulations & Reputation Management

• Employment Law Compliance

Proactively Spot Trouble Areas Before They Occur

Establish Policies to Deal With Trouble Areas

• Proactively or Reactively Where Necessary

Social Media: Key Takeaways

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What’s at Stake

• Intellectual Property misuse/infringement• Liability for HR claims (discrimination, harassment, privacy)• Liability for false advertising/disparagement claims• Reputation management issues

Social Media: The Legal Stakes


Who Should Create Social Media Policy in Your Company

EFFECTIVE Social Media Policy is TEAM CREATED!

Social Media: Policy Architecture


Social Media Policy should integrate with your other company policies:

Social Media: Policy Integration


Staying Out of Trouble — Tip #1

Protect your Trademarks – social media platforms give them more exposure and make them more valuable, so you have more to gain and more to lose!

• Clear them before you use them

• Invest resources to register and maintain them

• Take prompt action when you see someone else abusing them

• Trademark usage guidelines should be no different for social media than for any of your other corporate communications, and it’s harder to correct social media misuse

Social Media: Intellectual Property



• Respect Copyright a group of rights the creator has in any original, tangible work

• Social media platforms are very informal, so the temptation is to “borrow” content:

• Obtain permission from content creator before publishing (or republishing) it on your own blog, Facebook fan page, Twitter page, etc.

• Always provide attribution when posting content that is not your own original work

• When you have content custom-created for your social media platforms by third parties make sure you acquire all rights to it, in

writing




• Your “traditional” old-school web presence is still highly valuable – don’t let social media platforms make you lax about protecting it

• Register and renew registrations of domain names

• Buy domain names that you have a legitimate business purpose to own

• Monitor domain names for cybersquatting, and take prompt action if you encounter it

• Monitor social media platforms for use of and references to marks or domain names that could confuse




• Be and hold others accountable for posted content• Opinions are fair game, slander and falseinformation are not – be clear about fact vs.opinion, and be truthful about the facts • If you encounter false information about yourcompany, products, employees, take promptlegal action (social media is viral, and reactionspeed is critical)• Be transparent when speaking about products or services (yours and competitors)• FTC Endorsement Guidelines demand it, and are now focusing more on social media• Transparency about relationships• Transparency about compensation

Social Media: Ad Regulation Compliance


Staying Out of Trouble — Tip #5Guide Employees: Social Media on Company Time

• Limit posting/browsing on social media sites to company business matters only on company time• Inform employees that any use of the internet on company computers, or on company time, is subject to monitoring• Remind employees that their social media postings are subject to monitoring as well• Privacy violations are not at issue as long as the company is transparent and discloses its potential practices

Social Media: Policy & Guidelines


Staying Out of Trouble — Tip #5Guide Employees: Discussing Company Business

• Employees must preserve the confidentiality of business information when using social media• Employees should be prohibited from posting or discussing any company confidential or sensitive info• Company clients or customers should not be identified in social mediapostings without their permission, and not at all if your client list is secret• What about employee “gripers” or employees discussing their jobs in social media platforms? Some recent developments



Staying Out of Trouble — Tip #5Guide Employees: Content Guidelines

• Require permissions and attribution whenever the intellectual property of another is posted as content on your social media platforms• Prohibit posting of content derogatory to the company or its public image***• Ensure the company’s trademark and copyright usage policies are clear and communicated• Make anyone responsible for procuring third party content responsible for rights acquisition• Prohibit the posting of content that is obscene, pornographic, harassing or defamatory – this conduct should receive zero tolerance



Staying Out of Trouble — Tip #5Guide Employees: Designate Authors, Editors and Publishers of Content

• Social media is ultimately a viral, immediate, PR outlet for your company• Require that official postings be approved in a workflow process• Don’t turn your intern loose!


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Social Media: Implementing Policies & Guidelines

• FIRST and FOREMOST: encourage employees to be a part of the social media conversation• Employees tend to respond better to permissive rather than prohibitive language when enacting these policies• Talking about the policies is encouraged, but putting them in writing is critical for enforcement

• Be consistent in implementing and enforcing policies


• Takedown Procedures: Most Platforms have formal takedown procedures for intellectual property infringement or unlawful content – familiarize yourself with them• ICANN Domain Name Dispute Resolution Process: For use by trademark owners to resolve domain name disputes • Ad Industry Self Regulation: The industry has its own ad claim review processes that can resolve issues short of litigation or regulatory action• Alternative Dispute Resolution: Mediation and Arbitration can be a faster and less expensive way to resolve disputes (vs. employees and third parties)• Litigation – when all else fails!!!

Social Media: Remedies


Situation #1: A former sales employee used his LinkedIn account for work. When he left the company, he took his contacts with him.

• What can the company do?

• How can policy address this issue?

Social Media: Situations - An Example


Situation # 2 – An employee posts uncomplimentary comments about her employer on her Facebook page, on her own time.



Situation # 3 – An employee endorses an employer’s products on his personal blog, comparing them favorably to a competitor’s products. He does not disclose the employment relationship.



What I hope you remember from this Webinar:

• Prevention is cheaper and more effective than reaction• Create a culture where everyone understands why social media, and these policies are important to the company• Document all policies in writing • Act promptly and consistently when employees fail to observe a policy, or any third party uses social media unlawfully

Social Media: Final Observations


Questions and Answers

Social Media: Q&A


Social Media: Introductions

Follow Us

worldsynergy.com/internet-marketing-blog

facebook.com/worldsynergy

twitter.com/worldsynergy

linkedin.com/company/world-synergy-enterprises

Sharon Toerek – Partner, Licata & Toerek [email protected]

Glenn Smith – President / [email protected]

Mike Murray – Web Marketing Thought [email protected]

Thank You

© 2011 World Synergy. All rights reserved.

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Social Media Checkup: SUCCEED the Legal Way PRESENTED BY: SHARON TOEREK, PARTNER AT LICATA & TOEREK.

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