Social Media Law Attorneys in New York City
Success in Social Media: From Online Promotions to User Generated Content, Testimonials and Product Reviews
Social media plays an increasingly vital role in raising awareness, communicating brand, and effectively marketing products and services. The social media sphere is broad, encompassing social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube, but also blogs, product review sites and even corporate websites that facilitate a user-to-user component.
A company's use of social media is still advertising and as such is still subject to many of the same laws and regulations that apply to traditional marketing channels. And yet, control of the medium is shared with users. How do you manage an advertising channel where you don’t control the message?
The opportunities in the social media sphere are tremendous, but they are not without risk — including the risk of litigation. Whether your company is new to social media marketing, or you are ready to kick it up a notch to include online promotions and contests, client-generated content or blogger relationships, it's wise to get sound legal advice to minimize your risk.
Attorneys at the Forefront of Social Media Law
The social media lawyers at Olshan work with clients in New York, New Jersey, and across the U.S. and Canada to structure online social media involvement and specific social media campaigns. We represent businesses in a variety of Internet marketing matters:
- Advising clients on the development of corporate social media policies, including policies governing employee use of the Internet, interactions with bloggers, and solicitation and use of testimonials and endorsements
- Structuring online social media campaigns and user-generated-content contests on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube.
- Assisting advertisers and promotion agencies in developing promotional rules and reviewing advertising copy, rules and disclosures to ensure the structural integrity of the promotion
- Ensuring compliance with specific sites' Terms of Use and advertising and promotional guidelines
- Ensuring promotional campaigns give adequate consideration to privacy laws, issues of consent, and laws that limit marketing to children under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
- Ensuring client websites and social media sites meet CAN-SPAM requirements in "forward to a friend" e-mails in connection with sweepstakes entries
- Defending clients facing regulatory investigations or advertising litigation link to advertising litigation
Facebook Promotions
Facebook announced significant revisions to its Promotions Guidelines in December 2010. While there are still restrictions on promotions that appear on the Facebook platform, companies no longer need written permission from Facebook before they begin a promotion. But remember, any promotion you run must also comply with state and federal laws that govern sweepstakes and promotions. Obtain a legal review and draft a set of official rules specific to your promotion and the Facebook platform.
Twitter and Tweets
The 140-character limit on tweets presents a significant challenge to the legality of Twitter-based promotions. Generally, in order for a Twitter user to be eligible to win a prize, he or she must follow the account giving away the prize and then retweet the promotion or incorporate it into his or her tweets. Few if any of these types of promotions are in compliance with relevant national and international laws.
Twitter has created its own Twitter contest guidelines, but this is not enough to ensure the legality of your sweepstakes or contest. Working with an experienced Internet law attorney is critical to minimize the risk of investigation, fines and litigation.
Blogs, Endorsements and Testimonials
The FTC has issued new guidelines concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising. These new guidelines are particularly relevant to marketers who seek endorsements or reviews from bloggers and marketers creating campaigns to obtain user-generated content for use as testimonials.
In many situations, marketers retain some responsibility for claims made about their products. For example, if someone makes a claim about your product and you then display that comment on your Website, the claim can be attributable to your company even if there is no material connection between your company and the commenter. This attribution can give rise to competitor challenges, regulatory investigations and litigation.
When strategizing how to use social media as part of an advertising campaign, start with the Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Group at Olshan. We can advise you on ways to structure your promotion or campaign. We have worked with clients engaged in all types of social media promotions, from You-Tube video contests for user-generated content to Facebook promotions.
Contact the social media marketing lawyers at Olshan at (212) 451-2258 or (212) 451-2306 for legal advice and trial court representation.