Social Media Marketing News & Tips: Episode 1 – Copyright Laws Online

Is your social media marketing firm breaking the law on your Facebook page?

On the first edition of Total Social Solutions Social Media Marketing News & Tips, we tackled the important issues of copyright infringement online, particularly on social media, and how it risks the future financial stability of your business.

Most Facebook Page Owners & Marketers are Breaking the Law

This is equally true of the world of plastic surgery, dermatology and other medical aesthetics practices, which is the type of clientele that we typically work with here at TSS. The individuals who are generally maintaining these social spaces aren’t marketers or people familiar with intellectual property laws and how violating them can cause expensive legal headaches for business owners.

In this episode, we share information to empower you to make sure that whoever is managing your social media isn’t opening you up to expensive lawsuits that will negatively impact the future stability of your business.

Examples of Intellectual Property Lawsuits & Facebook Page Take-downs

• A New York Times bestselling author was sued for posting a picture she didn’t license or have permission to post
• Facebook business pages are removed from a single complaint of copyright infringement
• Pinterest users familiar with copyright laws are closing down their accounts
• Getty images is emailing business owners in droves demanding payment for images used without a license.

Is your internet marketing firm putting you at risk? How do you know?

Ask them these questions:

1. Where do you license your images?
2. Are there model releases for these images?
3. Do you have permission to use photographs of celebrities on our page?
4. How will you help me if I receive a legal document about images that you post on my behalf?
5. Where do you obtain your images?
6. Can you show me documentation about the licensing of all images you use on my business page?

If the answers to these are not:

1. We license our images at _________ company
2. There are model releases for all images we post on your social media pages.
3. We don’t use photos of celebrities on your social media spaces, because that’s a violation of their personal identity rights.
4. We will provide documentation for all licensing images if any image service or photographer contacts you for proof of license.
5. We only obtain our images from reputable sites that have clear licensing information or public domain sources.
6. I’m happy to show you licensing documentation for our images.

…then they are likely breaking the law on your social spaces and opening you up to a lawsuit.

We cover more about this on our social media blog, including these specifics:

1. Common copyright myths, such as:  “As long as I source the owner, it’s not copyright infringement.”
2. SomeEcards.com’s Terms of Service, which strictly prohibits what almost every single Facebook page owner does, putting your practice at risk for an expensive lawsuit.
3. How we protect our clients by fully licensing any images that aren’t in the public domain, and how we help prevent legal headaches by including our watermark on all images.

PLUS: Real-world examples of how people are being sued for THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS for using images they had no rights to.

If you want to protect yourself from expensive legal liabilities, speak with an attorney and make sure your medical marketing team is respecting intellectual property laws.

And while you’re there, find out more about what sets us apart from our competition, including how we measure REAL ROI in the form of phone calls and appointment requests into your practice, and how we’re seeing up to 700% ROI for some clients.

Please subscribe to our Social Media YouTube Channel or contact us to be placed on our email list, or check us out on our other social media spaces for more helpful social media marketing tips for your medical aesthetics practice.