EQUINOX Business Law Group - Seattle Bellevue

Social Media Wrap Up

August 31, 2009

As we wrap up our August Equinox Focus on Social Media Strategy and Brand Identity, I reflect on what I've learned from our guest bloggers and presenters. We use social media within Equinox as a means of providing valuable content to our readers. A key connection I had not yet directly made was that social media activities should ultimately drive traffic to the blog, where the content you want to share with your audience resides. This concept is clearly not "rocket science" but is clearly a strategic component that many businesses using social media fail to use.

From the brand identity and intellectual property standpoint, I found our audience very interested in two areas. First, how to structure the company's Terms of Use provisions to fit into their user communities and to protect their interests from actions by their users. Second, how an employer can protect itself from actions taken by employees in the social media space.

We are discussing two follow up programs to this month's Social Media program for business owners and entrepreneurs. One would be a slightly expanded version of the Social Media Strategy and Brand Identity (and Protection) program I presented with Blaine Millet of Social Media for Executives. A second would focus more exclusively on the legal and contract aspects of social media in business. Keep your eyes open for these -- and thanks for your insights and contributions on Twitter @michelbomberger and on Facebook.

Social Media and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act Safe Harbor

August 28, 2009

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act was enacted as US law in 1998. The "DCMA," as it is known, makes it a criminal offense to circumvent tools and technologies that protect copyrighted works. It also increases the penalties for copyright infringement on the internet. This means that a person posting infringing content as well as the provider hosting that content could be subject to substantial damages.

If you are a business owner offering social media tools on your website or through others' websites, you may be an Online Service Provider or "OSP." OSPs provide experience sharing; photo and video sharing; review posting; blogs; and social networking tools on the internet. Basically, if you allow users to post content on your site, you can qualify as an OSP. As an OSP, you must be aware of and comply with the DCMA's "safe harbor" provisions that insulate OSPs from liability created by user posted content.

To qualify for the DCMA's safe harbor provisions and be protected from users' infringing actions, you must meet the following requirements: 1) You must not have actual knowledge that infringement has taken place; 2) You must promptly remove the allegedly infringing material upon notice given to you; 3) You must not receieve any financial benefit directly from the infringing activity; 4) You must appoint a Designated Copyright Agent and file with the Copyright Office; 5) You must adopt, implement, and inform users of termination for infringement (usually through a Terms of Use agreement); and 6) You must not interfere with any technical measures to identify and protect copyrighted materials.

With the technologies available to seek out copyright infringers, OSPs face substantial risk of liability for infringing acts by their users. Ensure you, as an OSP, protect your business from these risks by implementing a Terms of Use agreement incorporating the DCMA requirements so that you may grow your business using social media while protecting your business from these risks.

Social Media Strategy by Cake Central

August 25, 2009

Today's guest blog post comes from Heath Shaffer, a founder of Cake Central, a social media site for cake enthusiasts and Equinox client. The information hits perfectly on the topics we'll discuss at our Social Media event tomorrow.

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Every business person today is faced with the decision of what role social media should play in their online marketing and branding strategy. The options may seem overwhelming and a bit intimidating, but if you take them one at a time, you will find that the cost is just a little bit of your time, and the rewards are vast. I will share a little bit about how social media is incorporated into our marketing and branding strategy.

At Cake Central, we utilize social media to address four key initiatives:

1. DIALOGUE - Engage our customers through every medium available to us.

Blogging is a useful tool for communicating information to your customer, however its one major flaw is that it requires the reader to come to you. The first lesson to learn from social media is that customers expect you to communicate with them on their terms, and by the vehicle of their choosing. By broadcasting our message across multiple platforms we take the information to the customer instead of hoping they come to us. For example, when we make a new blog post, we automatically publish an excerpt and link to the post on our Facebook page, and in our twitter feed. The other important benefit we have derived from having a presence on the various social networks is that if there is any problem with our website or our email service, we can communicate that issue and status of its resolution across the various platforms in order to reach our customers.

2. MARKETING - Completely viral, spend nothing when word of mouth is free.

At Cake Central we do not pay for our online marketing. Viral marketing is free and far more effective than any advertisement we could purchase. Our product is a social media site, however we recognize that our customers spend time on other social networks and communicate with each other through other mediums besides our website. In order to keep our brand in front of them at all times we create groups on sites like Flickr, Facebook, and YouTube. When our customers use these other sites, they join the cakecentral group so they can experience the site together. All of this reinforces their connection to our brand, and affinity builds loyalty.

3. BRAND DEFENSE - Control brand name on every possible medium.

Social Media Strategy is not just about building brand, it is also an important tool for defending an established brand. As Cake Central has grown we have run into many situations where other people attempt to leverage our brand name for their personal benefit without our consent. One of our goals is to make sure we control the first page of the google search results on our brand. By creating a presence on multiple social media sites, we create more opportunities for google to find pages that we control, increasing our chances of ultimately controlling what people find when they search for us. This makes it much more difficult for leeches to leverage our brand.

4. CREATE PASSIONATE CUSTOMERS - Make Cake Central Addictive

The three focus items above culminate in our fourth and ultimate goal, to create customers who are passionate about our brand. By providing opportunities for our customers to interact with our brand on a variety of platforms, it becomes a part of their identity. Many of our customers refer to themselves as Cake Central Addicts. The relationship we have built between our customers and our brand is one of trust, loyalty, and a mutually generous and giving spirit. Social Media plays a large role in building and maintaining that relationship.

Social Media is all about "the conversation of your brand". This conversation is going to take place whether you like it or not. The best thing you can do is provide places for the conversation to take place, encourage your customers to participate in the conversation, and respond quickly to the commentary as it unfolds. If you do not take an active part in the conversation, you may find your brand identity slipping from your control.

Amended Rules for Shareholder Vote Without A Meeting

August 19, 2009

The Washington State legislature has amended the Washington Business Corporation Act (RCW 23B) to clarify and amend the procedures governing corporate action taken by Shareholders of a corporation without a meeting or vote. A primary change is in the notice requirements to Shareholders with respect to the timing of any notices and to whom the notices must be sent. The Bill further amends the Act to define the term "corporate action" and applies it consistently throughout the Act. Review a summary or the full enacted Bill

Business Brand Building Through Social Media

August 13, 2009

Today's guest blog post comes from Carrie Middlemiss, owner of Bella Cupcake Couture. Carrie has used social media extensively as part of her business launch and growing the Bella Cupcake Couture brand. Consider what Carrie has done and how you can leverage some (or all) of these tools to build awareness of your brand!
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I started Bella Cupcake Couture March 2009. I knew my product had one very special niche; cupcake lovers. I felt the best way to create the brand was to focus on word-of-mouth thru viral marketing. Wikipedia refers to Viral Marketing as “marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives”. I call it creating a “buzz”.

What better way can people hear about you then through their friends. So I began to investigate ways I could spread the word through the internet. First I started sending emails to my friends letting them know I had launched a new business. They were all very supportive and began to share with their friends. Who then shared with their friends. One time I got an email back from a friend who got it from another friend who didn’t even know the original sender. This was all within about an hour. Amazing how quickly word can spread about something fun and unique.

BLOG
Next, I began a blog and dedicated it to cupcake couture; with a mix of event planning, home entertaining and tips to enjoy the simple pleasures and savor the "sweet life". Through the blog I share my cupcake reviews on various cupcake shops; both locally and while traveling. It’s a fun way to share the adventure and also you get great feedback from your readers. I also add photos clients share with us from events where they have utilized Bella Cupcake Couture.

FACEBOOK
Soon I started a Facebook Fan Page which is a terrific source for building brand awareness. Once I set up the page, I had about 150 Fans within a week. I was being “followed” on Facebook by friends of friends. I even started to see followers who did not find me through my friends but just found me through a love of cupcakes.

TWITTER
Twitter is another big part of my social media daily routine. It helps me to expand my customer base and speak to people all over the world. It truly provides you a national and international presence. I can tweet with a variety of people too; cupcake shop owners, stay at home moms, magazine editors, retailers, other entrepreneurs and even movie stars.

It is very interactive and personal. We share recipes, event ideas, photos of food, scenery of places you are visiting and more. I recently went to Austin and decided to plan a “Cupcake Meetup”. This is where people come with their own cupcake creations or just bring their appetites and meet at a local park, coffee shop, restaurant, etc. I began a Twitter campaign to announce I was coming and the date and time of the event. People began to retweet (aka resend the message) to their friends and followers. Soon we had two cupcake shops who were going to bring their tasty treats, some food bloggers and taste testers ready to meet up. None of us really knew each other; we just had a passion for cupcakes. We even ran into someone who said, “are you that cupcake meetup I read about on Twitter?” It certainly is a powerful tool.

BIZNIK
Now that I’m beginning to grow and expand my business, I’m becoming familiar with other social media sites like BizNik. It is full of amazing small business owners and business resources. They have business articles, training and special events. The site has been so helpful in keeping me informed about resources available for my company and meeting other. It makes you realize you are not alone in this amazing adventure called “Entrepreneurship”.

Each site does not take very much time to see an impact. I often receive orders which state they found me through Twitter or Facebook. So not only are the sites providing me brand awareness and sales, we’re also building relationships and getting to know our customers even more intimately.

Social Media Strategy: Where to Start

August 10, 2009

Today's guest blog post comes from Mr. Blaine Millet of Customer Experiences, Inc. and Social Media for Executives. Mr. Millet will be co-hosting the Equinox Focus Event entitled "Social Media: Strategy and Brand Identity" on August 26.

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There aren’t many places you can go, articles you can read or news you can hear today that isn’t talking about Social Media in one form or another. This is without a doubt the most exciting change in communications we have and will probably see in our lifetimes! It is clearly a phenomenon and is here to stay.

Everyone wants to play. And what makes this even more interesting is that there are so many ways you can play – there isn’t just one way to do it. You could jump in by using facebook, or myspace or even LinkedIn and start connecting with friends and colleagues. Or you could catch the hottest wave and become an avid tweeter using twitter. Or maybe you like to write and decide to throw up a blog. Whichever way tickles your fancy, there is a “tool” out there to meet your needs – how exciting. Or is it??

With this constant fear of “getting left behind” in this space, people and businesses are jumping in like lemmings off the top of the cliff. “If I don’t do something I am going to miss the revolution” is the fear being spread. I have always wanted to be at the front of the line and take a leadership role. As I like to say, “If you aren’t he lead dog, the view is always the same.” The Social Media Revolution is definitely here and going to be here for a very long time.

The businesses I work with come in all shapes and sizes. But my advice to them in helping them get on board with Social Media hasn’t changed. Do it RIGHT, be SMART and get yourself a STRATEGY before you play. If you follow this recipe, you to “enhance” your brand with these super powerful tools rather than embarrass yourself.

But the key is to ENGAGE and get in the game. Social Media is not a “spectator sport” and requires participation to really understand it and how it can be used for your business. There are lots of things you can do with Social Media – you just need to have a STRATEGY to do the ones that help you build the strongest relationships with the customers, employees and partners you want. My focus is simple - get business owners, leaders, executives and other decision makers to see the power of this new form of communications and execute – the RIGHT WAY.

Mr. Blaine Millet is President and co-founder of Customer Experiences, Inc., and Social Media for Executives and author of a leading edge book, “Creating and Delivering Totally Awesome Customer Experiences”. His efforts are focused on helping executives, business leaders and owners understand the power of “Social Media in Business” and how it can help increase sales while creating unsurpassed customer loyalty. He works with organizations to help create Social Media Strategies and execution plans, along with ongoing coaching in “Social Media Speak”, so they can take advantage of the “faster, cheaper and deeper” benefits Social Media provides. His vast experience includes working for Fortune 50 companies to startups, including the Big 5, in positions of leadership, management, business development and consulting

Social Media: Strategy and Brand Identity

August 03, 2009

Our August Equinox Focus is on using social media tools effectively and protecting the valuable intellectual property assets you share online. We look forward to sharing with you our perspective as well as the perspectives of experts in this area. Visit our Equinox Events page for more information.
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Social Media: Strategy and Brand Identity

As business owners, many of us are testing the waters with social media with a goal of increasing brand awareness and, ultimately, sales. We’ve jumped head first into LinkedIn and Biznik and maybe dipped our toes into the mires of Facebook and Twitter. In some cases, the return on this investment is readily apparent while in other cases, the time spent seems wasted. As a relatively new space for business marketing, social media presents many opportunities for businesses to grow but does require a strategy that includes a commitment of time and careful monitoring of your online brand.

Social Media Strategy. A key expectation of business owners in using social media is to enhance the visibility of their brand. Networks such as LinkedIn, Biznik, Twitter and Facebook enable a business’ message to reach hundreds, and sometimes thousands, more people than the business would by networking face-to-face. The crucial piece, though, relates to building relationships, just as one would in face-to-face networking scenarios. When talking with a new contact at a networking event, we seek to learn about their needs and about how we can help them fill those needs. The same advice resonates in online relationships. A brand becomes memorable with followers online where something of true value is offered to them. In most cases, value comes in the form of relevant content – sharing information timely and relevant to the user’s life. In sharing this content, trusting relationships can be created, and nurtured, ultimately enhance the brand in the marketplace.

When a business ventures into social media activity, it gains credibility and value by participating. Lack of participation not only limits the upside of the involvement in the group but has a significant downside. Simply being present but not engaged will result in missed opportunities to respond to queries, compliments or complaints posted. Social media sites offer the opportunity to interact with users, promote the positive, and quell situations as they arise. If a business fails to respond, the brand may be irreparably damaged among that audience. An example comes from a recent Twitter comment about the inactivity of a certain business’ Twitter account. For this user, the business’ inactivity suggested that the business wasn’t engaged enough to be worth the user’s time.

Another critical component to enhancing brand identity in social media is to ensure your social media activities are consistent with all other components of your brand. If a business has a policy as to how phone or email complaints are handled, the response to online complaints must be consistent so that there is no disruption in the customer’s expectations.

Consistent communication across all touch points of a business and clear demonstration of valuing customers and other stakeholders will, over time, result in a return on time spent on social media investment.

Protecting Intellectual Property. Business users of social media sites must stay abreast of ways to protect the business name and trademark. The most important action is to monitor the use of the business name or trademark on a regular basis. First and foremost, use an alert system such as Google Alerts to send notifications each time the business name is found. In addition, monitor the user names on the various social media sites to protect against infringement. Next, be proactive in opportunities to use and protect the name or trademark. A great example of this is Facebook’s recent allowance of user names on business “Fan Pages.” At the specified time, businesses all over sought to increase their Fan base to 100 so they could grab their name. Recognizing the risk of trademark infringement in the land grab for names (i.e. if I registered “Nike” as my username), Facebook sought to protect registered trademarks from infringement in advance. Business owners that weren’t proactive about participating in this process may have lost out on an opportunity to enhance their business’ presence on Facebook.

Another place where intellectual property rights arise with users of social media is in copyright ownership. The “Terms of Use” for most social networking sites incorporate certain rights they have in republishing posts by users. As a business user, read the terms and conditions of use and be aware of any rights relinquished in content posted on the site.

Finally, business websites are becoming social networks in themselves through interactive blogs, forums, bulletin boards, or user accounts. Businesses using these tools must protect their own proprietary information and the business itself from potential infringement claims against for posts by your users. Make sure the website’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use agreements address the key protections needed to protect the business’ social networking activities.

Conclusion. Although the return on investment in social media activities with respect to sales and revenue may not be clear at this time, we know that participation in these networks can add value to a company’s brand and image in the marketplace. In order to capture this value, though, businesses must participate with valuable content, accept the transparency created by the network, and rigorously monitor intellectual property rights online.