Social Media and The Law

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Disclaimer: I have no legal background and do not claim to have any expertise in law. Below is what I ‘understood’ from listening to someone who does.

I had the pleasure this past week to attend a presentation by Glen Gilmore, a practicing attorney who teaches social media law at Rutgers. We were both speakers at SocialCrush, a conference for small to medium sized businesses.

Glen gave some very interesting insight into a couple of gray areas of social business. I found myself raising my eyebrows and wondering how many people are aware of this.

Here are a couple of issues Glen covered:

National Labor Relations Board  As a business, you can’t tell employees that they can not say anything negative about your company on social channels. He referenced unionization protection laws which specify that employees have the right to speak about their working conditions.

Cases have gone to court and have been won.

Understanding the rights the NLRB protects before writing your employee social media guidelines is a must.
Federal Trade Commission  The FTC revised endorsement guidelines a few months back. Many of us remember this. There was a lot of talk about bloggers being required to disclose ‘material connection’ for writing reviews.

But what I wasn’t clear on, and I think many are probably in the same boat, is exactly what material connection could include.

From what I understood Glen to say (and I am no legal expert so don’t quote me), if you give anything to a blogger and ask them to mention you, that relationship must be disclosed by the blogger.

And guess what, micro-bloggers can be considered bloggers.

So does that mean if you give an ice cream cone to a person who has a Twitter account and ask them to mention your ice cream shop you have a material connection that must be disclosed by the twitterer?

Glen said this also means that if one of your employees promotes one of your clients in their blog or Twitter, they need to be transparent about that relationship.

This part got a little hazy for me. What if you’re a large company and the employee doesn’t even realize the brand he’s promoting is a client of the company he works for?

And lets not miss the obvious. Glen said this also means that if an employee promotes his employer and his employer’s products and does not disclose that relationship, well that can get us in mucky water (not a legal term) with the FTC too. I’ve already sent notes to a couple of friends telling them they need to add who they work for in their bio since I know they sometimes promote their employer on Twitter.

For more clarification, here is the FTC’s “Guides Concerning The Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

To keep up with the legal aspects of doing social business, I encourage you to follow Glen: @GlenGilmore and @SocialMediaLaw1, and his blog Social Media Marketing and Law.

I’m definitely taking a more proactive approach to staying informed about these matters after hearing Glen speak. Does anything above concern you?

Related articles

• 5 Legal Considerations for Your Social Media Campaign (mashable.com)
• Feds Raise Questions About Employee Social Media Rights (socialtimes.com)

2011 Ford Explorer Reveal Reveals Social Prowess

I am excited about the new, not-yet-available, 2011 Ford Explorer!

But why?

I drive a lovely little black, 2004 Saturn Ion with leather seats, sun roof, a six CD player and tinted windows, which I brag about all the time. It gets great gas mileage and looks very sexy. And, most important, it’s fun to drive! People tell me it’s a cute little car that perfectly fits my personality. And it doesn’t hurt that in the six years I’ve owned it I’ve only put 45,000 miles on it and the finish still looks perfectly shiny and new.

So why am I so darn excited about the new Ford Explorer!?

It really comes down to some savvy marketing. Ford played their hand very skillfully with a few simple, yet powerful tactics:

1) They skipped the auto shows: An auto show requires people going ‘to’ the product, limiting reach and really not being very  inclusive of the ultimate audience Ford wanted to reach. Auto shows are mostly for enthusiasts. The Ford Explorer is a family vehicle for the parents who don’t want to be seen driving the soccer mom minivan. I would dare say it would also make a great long road trip vehicle, and come in very handy in escorting around my frequent out-of-town guests when I’m giving them the tour of Dallas and Fort Worth.

2) Reveal on Facebook: Facebook is where a large percentage of consumers Ford wanted to reach can be found. So, Ford took their product ‘to’ the consumer. They have been rewarded with nearly 57,000 ‘likes’ on their page so far. Personally, I love reading the questions and suggestions people are leaving on the Facebook wall. And I especially love that Ford is monitoring and joining that conversation. It makes me feel included in behind the scenes development of the product, since they are still testing the Explorer in different terrains and conditions, and planning what might be future versions or variations. The 2011 Explorer won’t be available until winter.

3) Execs on the road: Ford did some grassroots outreach by sending their execs on the road to talk to local dealers, media, bloggers, and local social media influencers in person. Here in Dallas we had: Sue Cischke, Group VP, Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering; Ken Czubay, VP, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service; and Craig Patterson, Marketing Manager for Ford Explorer. I had the pleasure of spending some time with Craig who not only shared a wealth of information, but who spoke about the product and the company with such passion that I couldn’t help but get excited with him. I’ve personally owned two Explorers in my adult life and it was interesting to hear Craig talk about the ‘typical’ Explorer customer…yes, he described me to a tee! I was the mom who didn’t want to be a mini-van mom. I wanted to be hip and cool.

4) Reach beyond traditional media: Ford held in person “reveals” in several cities, inviting local Ford dealers and the media. But they also went a step further and did a bit of research to find out who had some social clout. Here in Dallas they contacted one of the leaders, Mary Anne Schweers, of our very active Social Media Club (the average monthly meetings attracts around 150 people). She in turn sent invitations to members who had good social reach. I was very pleased to be included. I must admit, it was super cool to sit with the Star-Telegram’s Bob Cox as he interviewed Craig Patterson, and was very patient in letting me join in that conversation. I love watching a pro at work.

5) Series of press releases: I can’t skip mentioning that to make all the above work, Ford did put out a series of press releases leading up to the reveal.

So in the end, Ford won me over because they came to me. They didn’t ask me to come to them. And they made themselves available, something Scott Monty got Ford started on and continues to lead them well in. You can talk to Ford on Facebook and you can talk to them on Twitter.

And by the way, I was mainly looking at the marketing strategies here, but I should also state that the features Ford showed us in the all new 2011 Ford Explorer are pretty darn exciting. That doesn’t hurt them a bit.