Partner Article

Firms fail to understand social media legislation

Businesses have a limited understanding of legislation affecting their social media activity, and could also risk damaging their reputation by failing to follow online rules, according to the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

In the Institute’s Social Media Benchmark research, it was found that half of all companies consider that social media could pose a significant risk to their reputation, but only a third are confident that their process are compliant with current regulation.

30% of businesses have no data protection for staff working with social media, and 40% of businesses currently conduct no cookie compliance audits, despite the recent end of the one-year grace period for businesses to comply with the EU Privacy and Communications Directive.

There was also a surprising lack of understanding of specific regulations relevant to social media use, and almost half of all respondents have no understanding of how the British Code of Advertising Practice Code 2010 affects social media activity. A third have a similar lack of understanding of the EC Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive 2011.

Sam Meredith, Chairman of the North East Branch of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, (and
a member of the Sunderland City Communications team) commented: “As we see companies
continuing to increase investments in digital and social media, it’s encouraging to see so many
businesses are planning to train their staff in this area in the next year, and this is certainly a step in the right direction.

“But senior management need to ensure that the necessary time and budget is made available to put these plans into action: it’s important to recognise that social media can pose real risks to a company’s reputation.

“If your customers are engaging with social media, at the very least you need to be a quiet observer, if not a part of the conversation.”

Businesses were also questioned on how engaged their senior management are in the
company’s social media use.

Respondents suggested that senior management buy-in has a substantial impact on the contribution made by social media to business growth: those with very high management engagement were 50 per cent more optimistic about the potential of social media than those reporting poor management buy-in.

Conversely, those who reported limited management engagement also reported problems with resourcing social media, and suggested that it is not central to their marketing strategies.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .