In 2013 social media networks continue to grow and are becoming the largest source of marketing in business today. LinkedIn has become the one of the highest successful social media website for companies and individuals. It is designed to connect employers to employees or people with similar professional backgrounds. Today’s society has attached to networking in far more advanced areas than our generations before us and with good reason. Technology has made it much easier to connect through social media networking. LinkedIn was launched on May 5th, 2003 with 4,500 members; LinkedIn currently has 238,000,000+ million users in over 200 countries and territories today. LinkedIn counts executives from all 2013 Fortune 500 companies as members; its corporate talent solutions are used by 90 of the Fortune 100 companies. As with time, the ways of doing business will forever keep evolving especially as future generations evolve with technology. It is important to stay afloat and keep up with the today technology times with an ethical, eager, willingness attitude and competent knowledge of the law. Corporations and small business utilize LinkedIn for networking to build on your existing network, competitive analysis, and market research, opportunities to show expertise and advertise employment opportunities. As noted in LinkedIn’s mission statement, located in the user’s agreement on the website states, “The mission of LinkedIn is to connect the world’s professionals to enable them to be more productive and successful. To achieve our mission, we make services available through our website, mobile applications, and developer platform, to help you, your connections, and millions of other professionals meet, exchange ideas, learn, make deals, find opportunities or employees, work, and make decisions in a network of trusted relationships and groups.”(LinkedIn, 2013).
As a social media marketing manager it is important for the legally astute manager to be knowledgeable of the laws and regulations not just for the social media network the firm is utilizing but also the company’s as well. A social media marketing manager of a business that chooses to utilize LinkedIn to promote their business must first understand LinkedIn’s user agreement and copyright rules while creating my business strategy. A social media marketing manager will need to understand the various business rules and laws concerning the use of LinkedIn when advertising my company. In addition the media marketing manager who utilizes LinkedIn they must have an understanding of LinkedIn’s branding guidelines and copyright law while utilizing the LinkedIn services on their site. As a proactive manager when using social media, whether via a third party outlet or a company’s own social media platforms, marketers should regularly monitor the use of their trademarks and copyrights to take the necessary actions in order to provide protection for their company’s own trademarks and copyrights (Venable, 2010). Legally astute social media marketing managers should be up to date and have a firm understanding of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Act. The Federal Trade Commission declares what acts are unfair, deceptive, or practices that are unlawful. The laws and rules covering marketing a company or its products on social media are constantly evolving. As an astute manager, knowledge of the rules and regulations of social networking from both the protection of the company and the usage of social media have to be ever evolving. The company’s terms and conditions should be designed and implemented in such a way that it is closely related to LinkedIn’s terms and condition in order to prevent usage violations. Disputes can occur while utilizing social networking from the consumer using the site. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) should always be the preferred method of resolving a conflict that may arise while conducting business because it allows both parties to resolve the conflict and continue to conduct business amicably. There are many types of alternative dispute resolution techniques that are available and each has its own unique way to resolve disagreements between parties. The different types of alternative dispute resolutions include negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. It can also include hybrids such as mediation-arbitration, arbitration-mediation, mini-trial, and summary jury trial. As an astute social media manager I believe it is always a good idea to resolve disputes at the lowest possible forum possible in order to preserve a positive relationship with a disputer. In my opinion alternative dispute resolution is a type of arbitration, both binding and nonbinding. In business this would be the best type due to the fact that by utilizing a non-partial third party often results in a fair judgment. Utilizing binding arbitration is where both parties agree to be bound by the arbitrator’s decision and non-binding means the arbitrator’s decision is not enforceable. Often the first stage of arbitration is dubbed as a prehearing where parties can submit briefs and supporting documents to try and make their case. The use of arbitration strongly encourages the participating parties to submit reasonable offers (Bagley, 2013). LinkedIn utilizes arbitration which is described within its user agreement. Some of the aspects of arbitration with LinkedIn include stipulation regarding claims less than $10,000 by the requestor, and the use of a mutually agreed upon ADR provider. The ADR provider and involved parties have to comply with three arbitration rules as outline by LinkedIn’s User Agreement:” (a) the arbitration shall be conducted by telephone, online and/or be solely based on written submissions, the specific manner shall be chosen by the party initiating the arbitration; (b) the arbitration shall not involve any personal appearance by the parties or witnesses unless otherwise mutually agreed by the parties; and (c) any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator shall be final and may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction” (LinkedIn, 2013). By having specific terms outlined within the user agreement, the person that has agreed to these terms also must understand that the arbitration will be done in a way that LinkedIn prefers and keeps administrative costs down.
All aspects of government have specific roles when dealing with social media and e-commerce. These laws are enacted by the legislative branch and that law becomes ratified by Congress and the Senate. Interpretation of those laws or the determination constitutional validity is evaluated by the judicial branch at either the courts at the federal or state level. Appellate court issues can ultimately make it all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has discretionary review authority and will adjudicate the case. The executive branch (the President of the United States) retains approval or disapproval power and has veto power over laws that don’t meet his or her expectations. The Federal Trade Commission for example is an agency within the executive branch that prevents business practices that are deceptive or unfair to consumers. They ensure consumers have informed choices and public understanding of the competitive process and accomplish this without unduly burdening legitimate business activity. Issues that apply online arise almost as fast as technology develops. The FTC Act’s prohibition of unfair or deceptive acts or practices broadly covers advertising claims. The Commission role in protecting consumers covers online as well as television, telephone, radio, and etc. The basic principles of advertising law are that the advertising must be truthful and not misleading, advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims, and advertisement cannot be unfair.
The agency relationship that exist between social media providers and businesses very largely in range. Almost if not all social networking sites have terms and conditions for utilizing the site and the information that you will be entering on their site. This is today’s standard with all websites. As a legally astute social media marketing manager in business today, you are responsible for what you post or advertise on a social networking site and the site is responsible in making sure the content is not breaking the law, so you must read the fine print that these companies put in there agreements. They expect for all content to be personable, respectful and constructive.
When a decision has been reached on which particular social media site to advertise your business on it is important to understand the agency relationship that exists. Simply filling out the forms and gaining permission to utilize logos is not necessarily the only step needed to have an agency/client relationship in today’s business environment. Helping companies to integrate social media into digital campaigns and provide them with some online presence brings with it a certain level of intimacy with the client and even requires the agency to make business enhancing recommendations. It is not just about marketing and advertising but also about internal operations, processes, and businesses goals. These types of relationship have led to the increasing demands of social media advertising (Olenski, S. (2013).
The goal of using social media networking websites such as LinkedIn is to place your business directly in the center of people who are likely to become customers. As the social media manager you must ensure that LinkedIn is right fit for the company’s marketing strategy. In order for the business to utilize a major social networking tool it needs to be understood that the marketing campaign has to be focused on the consumer. The consumer will always determine whether or not a company’s marketing campaign is successful for their business.