Social media can be a great place to help grow one’s business. There are many pitfalls to social media usage, though, including accidentally posting offensive content or using another entity’s intellectual property. Creating a strong social media policy that clearly identifies online best practices can help Georgia businesses avoid unnecessary legal issues.
Watch out for copyrights
Copyrighted materials are original works of authorship, and include things like artwork, music, podcasts, social posts and even emails. Considering how broad copyrights can be, it is essential to educate employees who oversee social media on best practices for copyrighted materials. Some examples of best practices include:
- Always secure permission before using other’s work
- Familiarize oneself with social media platform’s policies on copyrighted materials
- Issue takedown notices to those using the business’ copyrighted materials
Keep trade secrets a secret
Many people treat their social media accounts as their own private sounding boards. However, nothing on the internet is truly private, so businesses should be sure to educate their employees on best practices on trade secrets. These include creating internal policies regarding what employees are permitted to share about work, as well as restricting access to trade secrets.
Some Georgia entrepreneurs choose to maintain control over business social media accounts while others prefer to leave it up to a dedicated social media team. Whichever approach an owner decides to take, he or she still needs to dedicate time and effort into creating a concise social media policy that clearly addresses intellectual property. Restricting an employee’s actions on the internet can be tricky though, so business owners are often well advised to seek the guidance of an experienced attorney when creating such policies or agreements.
