In my last blog post, I discussed the first steps you should undertake in protecting your brand online in regards to social media. In this blog post, I will continue where I left off last week with monitoring. As I discussed in the last post, using an in-depth social media plan will allow you be adequately prepared in how to address social media networking websites in conjunction with brand protection. In monitoring websites, you should be aware that, unlike the earlier-discussed eBay and Google, some websites, on the contrary, do not take an active role in the monitoring of usernames or tweets. For example, Twitter’s policy specifically states, “[u]sing another's trademark in a way that has nothing to do with the product or service for which the trademark was granted is not a violation of Twitter's trademark policy.” Generally, sophisticated websites will discuss the treatment of trademarks or brand names in the Terms of Use/Service and/or a separate trademark policy. As such, simply setting aside a dedicated time to review online social media platforms can significantly impact the growth and proliferation of your brand.

You should also actively monitor the Internet for signs of the emergence of a new social media giant. For instance, when Pinterest launched in March of 2010, it quickly dominated the news. By 2012, it had topped the Nielsen 2012 Social Media Report, which calculates growth and usage from year-to-year, with 1047% growth in unique visitors and 6056% growth in total minutes used on mobile applications. Today, savvy brand owners would be hard pressed to argue that Pinterest’s subsequent dominance was a surprise. In 2011, Time magazine had already listed Pinterest as one of the “50 Best Websites of 2011,” while TechCrunch had named Pinterest the “best new startup of 2011.”

Lastly, participate. According to social media expert Erik Qualman, 90% of people trust online recommendations from people they know. As such, the sheer reach of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, should not be underestimated. Facebook offers its services in more than seventy languages, and its usage numbers reveal that there are 845 million monthly active users. Similarly, by 2010, Twitter was already averaging about fifty million tweets per day, which is an astonishing 600 tweets per second.

When participating, take care in how you respond. While Facebook and Twitter allow you to delete content, such actions may offend consumers and signal unwillingness to listen or adapt to concerns and criticisms. Instead, take this as an opportunity to add value. Respond by offering discounts or discuss how you intend to remedy the problem. By viewing criticisms as opportunities for growth, social media can be used to cultivate relationships and develop rapport with the public. In 2011, Twitter user, Greg Chapman, tweeted Southwest Airlines to ask on which side of the aircraft he should sit in order to better see scenery, Southwest quickly responded via Twitter, thereby earning Chapman’s admiration, and subsequently the general public’s, once the story went viral. Likewise, take care that you respond promptly, as responsiveness has become another benchmark by which consumers measure brands.

There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a social media revolution and can no longer ignore the effects social media has on the way we view, manage, and grow our brands. Instead, we must become active participants in the dialogue, for as Qualman has stated, “Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.”

Sources: Twitter Help Center | Trademark Policy, TWITTER, http://support.twitter.com/articles/18367-trademark-policy# (last updated Oct. 3, 2012). Harry McCracken, 50 Websites That Make the Web Great, TIME LISTS (Aug. 16, 2011), http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2087815_2088159_2088155,00.html. Josh Constine, Congratulations Crunchies Winners! Dropbox is the Best Overall Startup, TECHCRUNCH (Jan. 31, 2012), http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/31/crunchies-dropbox/. Erik Qualman, Social Media Video 2013, SOCIALNOMICS, http://www.socialnomics.net/2013/01/01/social-media-video-2013/. Internationalization, FACEBOOK, https://developers.facebook.com/docs/internationalization/ (last updated Apr. 10, 2013). Eric Eldon, Facebook’s S-1 Reveals: 845 Million Users Every Month, More Than Half Daily, Half Mobile, TECHCRUNCH (Feb. 1, 2012), http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/01/facebooks-s-1-845-million-users-every-month-more-than-half-daily-and-nearly-half-mobile/. Claudine Beaumont, Twitter Users Send 50 Million Tweets Per Day, TELEGRAPH (Feb. 23, 2010), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7297541/Twitter-users-send-50-million-tweets-per-day.html. Chris Lake, How Should You Respond to Awkward Customers on Social Media?, ECONSULTANCY (Apr. 25, 2013), http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/62614-how-should-you-respond-to-awkward-customers-on-social-media. Chris Pownall,12 Principles for Responding to Negative Online Comments, SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY (Dec. 30, 2012), http://socialmediatoday.com/charliepownall/1114786/12-principles-responding-negative-online-comments. Roger Yu, Airlines Turn to Twitter to Ease Passengers’ Frustrations, USA TODAY (Apr. 26, 2011), http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/2011-04-25-airlines-twitter.htm. See e.g., Nathan Mendenhall, The Missing Piece to your Social Media Reporting: Response Rate, SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY (Mar. 8, 2013), http://socialmediatoday.com/nate-mendenhall/1286196/missing-piece-your-social-media-reporting-response-rate; Jason Falls, What’s Your Social Media Average Response Time?, SOCIAL MEDIA EXPLORER (Mar. 21, 2011), http://www.andigo.com/importance-of-social-media-responsiveness, Largest US Retailers Ranked on Social Media Responsiveness, Conversocial (Oct. 27, 2011), http://www.conversocial.com/resources/download/27-12-11-conversocial-release-usretailers_212.pdf. Qualman, supra note 4.

For more information, please visit our social media law service page.

Klemchuk LLP is an Intellectual Property (IP), Technology, Internet, and Business law firm located in Dallas, TX.  The firm offers comprehensive legal services including litigation and enforcement of all forms of IP as well as registration and licensing of patents, trademarks, trade dress, and copyrights.  The firm also provides a wide range of technology, Internet, e-commerce, and business services including business planning, formation, and financing, mergers and acquisitions, business litigation, data privacy, and domain name dispute resolution.  Additional information about the IP law firm and its IP law attorneys may be found at www.klemchuk.com.

Klemchuk LLP hosts Culture Counts, a blog devoted to the discussion of law firm culture and corporate core values with frequent topics about positive work environment, conscious capitalism, entrepreneurial management, positive workplace culture, workplace productivity, and corporate core values.