Protecting Your Brand
Strategies for Handling Social Media Abuse
Presented By: Miguel Alexander Pozo
Will You Know What to Do?
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Protecting Your Brand
Strategies for Handling Social Media Abuse
Presented By: Miguel Alexander Pozo
Social Media and Your Bottom Line.
• Today
’
s
topics:
– What is social media?;
– Who is using social media?;
– How can social media abuse hurt your
company or brand?; and
– What you can do about social media
abuse?
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Social Network.
Using social networking as a form of social media
marketing is the “new fad." Social networking
Individuals
Organizations
Groups
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refers to a multi-media social structure which
facilitates communication between
individuals, groups, and organizations.
Social Media Has Its Own Language!
• Blogging
• Tweeting
• Flickring
• Texting
• Blogosphere
• RSS-enabled sites
• Social networking
• Wikis
• Widgets
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Common Types of Social Media.
• Blogs (LiveJournal,
Above the Law, etc.)
• Location-based
social networks (e.g.,
Foursquare, etc.)
• Video (e.g., Flickr,
YouTube, etc.)
• Social networking
(LinkedIn, MySpace,
Facebook, etc.)
• Microblogging (e.g.,
Twitter, etc.)
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Most Popular Types of Social Media.
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Why Do Businesses Use Social Media?
• Boost Sales.
• Hire Employees.
• Foster Employee Relations.
• Communicate With Customers.
• Promote Their Brand or Specific Products.
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How Do Businesses Use Social Media?
• Absolut Vodka – uses an online video
ABSOLUTworld as well as a page on
Facebook entitled Top Bartender
• American Express – has a blog entitled
OPEN Forum
• CNN – utilizes Microblogging on Twitter:
Political Ticker
• Coca-Cola – has a Facebook social networks
(Sprite Sips and CokeTag) as well as blogs:
Coca-Cola Conversations.
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Examples: Companies Using Facebook?
Social media is a
game changer
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How Social Media Abuse Affects Your Bottom Line.
• 4 primary social
company’s brand.
media
threats
to
– Your Employees.
– Your Competitors.
– Your Own Customers and Consumers.
– Gray Marketers, Counterfeiters, etc.
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your
Productivity Issues! Hooked on Facebook.
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Threat: Your Own Employees.
• Threat: Your Own Employees.
– Employees wasting time/productivity issues.
– Company may be liable even if company did
not know employee was posting messages.
• Solution: Train Employees.
– Create a Social Media Policy.
– Remind your employees that they are brand
ambassadors.
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Threat: Your Subsidiaries, Divisions or Competitors.
• Threat: Your Subsidiaries, Divisions, or
Competitors.
– Brand Diversion.
– Brand Misuse.
– Brand Theft.
• Solution: Be Proactive.
– Act quickly when you discover abuses.
– Send a cease and desist letter.
– Contact your outside counsel.
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Brand Loyalty More Important Than Ever.
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Threat: Your Own Customers and Consumers.
• Threat: Your Own Customer and
Consumers.
– On social media, bad news spreads quickly.
– Customers are tweeting and complaining
about bad experiences with your brand or
your company.
• Solution: Engage Customers.
– Build customer trust and brand loyalty by
quickly responding to problems or reported
social
media
abuses.
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Threat: Gray Marketers, Counterfeiters, etc.
• Threat: Gray Marketers and Counterfeiters, etc.
– (i) damage consumer confidence; (ii) hurt the
brand owner’s bottom line; (iii) affect customer
loyalty; and (iv) create potential for product
liability issues and litigation.
• Solution: Active Monitoring.
– Use Google Alert or other no-cost options.
Hire a brand protection professional for a more
comprehensive strategy.
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7 Key Steps to Protect Your Brand.
Understand Social Media Platforms.
Assume Social Media Will Impact You.
Identify Key Risk Areas.
Actively Protect Your Brand.
Create a Social Media Policy.
Monitor and Always be Aware.
Embrace the Negative When Necessary.
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Ways to Monitor Your Brand.
Select List of Popular Monitoring Tools
• Google Alerts – A service that sends you an email alert whenever the subject or search query
you enter is mentioned in Google News, a
Search Engine, in a Video, or on in Blog.
• Twitter (search function) – Search tool that
that shows you what has been tweeted that
matches your search query.
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Brand Protection Services.
• Select list of popular vendors that provide
online brand protection services:
– MarkMonitor: www.markmonitor.com
– Covectra: www.covectra.com
– Payne Security: www.payne-security.com
– VerifyBrand: www.verifybrand.com
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Craft a Social Media Policy for Your Company.
• 7 Elements of the Effective Social Media
Policy:
 Communicate Trust and Goals.
 Provide Helpful Reminders and Suggestions.
 Establish Rules for Moderating Public
Discussion.
 Clearly Articulate Compliance Requirements.
 Limit to Business-Related Uses.
 Develop a Transition Plan.
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What’s Next?: Emerging Trends.
• Increased IT Budgets
• Heightened Privacy
Concerns
• Convergence
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Social Media is Playing a Role in Litigation.
• Social Media affects our lives and our
companies, but it is also affecting how
lawyers litigate.
– Social Media as Evidence.
– Social Media as a Source of Discovery
Disputes.
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Recent Cases.
Example of Select Recent Caselaw:
• A New York Court ordered plaintiff to authorize
Facebook to release plaintiff’s entire Facebook
page even though she had used the strictest
privacy settings for her account. Romano v.
Steelcase Inc., 2010 WL 3703242 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.
Sept. 21, 2010); see also Bass v. Miss Proter’s
School, 2009 WL 3724968 (D. Conn. Oct. 27,
2009) (ordering production of plaintiff’s entire
Facebook profile).
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Recent Cases cont.
 Practice Pointer: Any information that appears
on a social media site about your brand and/or
your company is fair game and may potentially be
used against your company in a legal proceeding.
All employees must recognize that what they
post on social media sites can adversely affect
the company’s legal position, business relations,
and/or public image.
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Reporting Social Media Abuse: Useful Sites.
Report Violations of Your Intellectual Property Rights:
National IPR Center: email: [email protected]
Federal Bureau of Investigation: www.fbi.gov/ipr
Report Social Media Abuses:
LinkedIn: email: [email protected]
Twitter: www.twitter.com/reportabuse
Facebook: www.facebook.com/help/?topic=reportabuse
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Reading Guide and Additional Useful Information.
• Books on Social Media:
– Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by
Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
– The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company
That Is Connecting the World by David Kirkpatrick
– The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to
Grow Your Business Using Social Media by Paul
Chaney
• Online Magazines on Social Media:
– Social Media Magazine: www.socialmediamag.info
– Social Media Examiner: www.insidethewebb.com
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The Social Media Phenomenon.
The End
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