How To Use Social Media To Legally Advertise And Market Your Business

Any business that embraces any kind of modern technology at all knows how much of an impact social media has had on the way that companies attract new potential customers and ‘sell’ their products to them online. Social media is, in a word, huge.

It is the new frontier for business and marketing, and it is called the ‘new frontier’ because it virtually has no creative limits.

Now, having said that, it is important that I clarify that social media is not completely without limits, altogether! There are, in fact, legal limits to what you can do on social media. Most of these rules are pretty basic common sense and honesty centered, though it can be easy to overlook some of them if you are not paying attention.

In other words, if you do your best to run your business honestly and with common sense, then you will probably not have any legal issues when it comes to social media. But even so, since social media legality can be a ‘tricky’ sort of subject in some respects, it is a good idea to go over some of the major rules so that you don’t accidentally do something wrong.

Be Honest and Fair

We actually touched on this above, but I am going to go into it with just a little bit more detail so that you understand completely what I mean by it. Basically, the idea of being ‘honest and fair’ as it pertains to social media can be broken down into the following guidelines…

• Don’t pretend to be someone that you are not
• Don’t seek to mislead people by posting fake reviews or posts that imply that you are an average consumer with no vested interest in your company.
• Don’t advertise false information
• Don’t spread rumors or false statements about other companies
• Don’t make any claim that you are affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by, or supported by any company, individual, or organization if the claim is not true

Not following these basic, common-sense guidelines could get you banned from social media websites, make you more open to lawsuits, or even draw attention from the FTC (in which case you might need to hire the services of a criminal defense law firm).

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Don’t Violate Copyright or Trademark Laws

Violating copyright or trademark laws in your social media marketing campaign could open you up to copyright infringement lawsuits. For example, using another company’s trademarked name or logo in any of your business’s advertisements, status updates, Tweets, or comments without permission or in any other way that could be construed as anything outside of ‘fair use’ could land you in court and in the middle of a heated (and expensive!) civil lawsuit.

And when it comes to copyright protected content, try not to post anything on your website that you do not own. If you didn’t make it, buy it, or come up with it… don’t post it! This might seem like a lot of work, but it will save you from facing fines or penalties for using copyright protected content without permission.

What IS OK?

When it comes to marketing your business online, you have a lot of creative freedom and leeway. You are free to advertise, network with potential customers, market, and do all kinds of other things… as long as you are making it obvious that you are a business entity (in other words, being fair and honest) and are not using trademarked or copyright-protected content or material.

In fact, many social media companies make it a point to offer a platform to businesses who are interested in growing their social media following. For example, Facebook offers a feature that allows businesses to make a ‘page’ that is specifically suited to their particular business category.

Using this page, business owners can communicate and interact with potential customers, all in the name of increasing sales and expanding their fan base. Social media marketing is perfectly legal and perfectly legitimate.

If you have any questions about whether your current practices are legal, then you might want to check the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) guidelines just to make sure that you are not accidentally doing something that you are not supposed to.

But like I said before… as long as you are not misleading anyone, using content that is protected, or hurting other businesses or  individuals with your comments, you should really be alright (in most cases).

  Rick Mercado

About the Guest Author:

Rick Mercado is a successful internet marketer and freelance writer who works from his home office in Nova Scotia. Rick regularly utilizes websites similar to www.bgs.com when he is doing research for articles about the legality of social media marketing, especially in how it pertains to retail businesses.