Many social media creators jump into their projects without thinking about the common pitfalls that may await them. Content is considered intellectual property, which is a legal term that means that ideas are protected under the law.
There are many of these legal imperatives that are willfully ignored, and others that are accidentally violated out of ignorance toward them by content creators. You can easily sidestep these to avoid legal entanglements and pave your way to good, legally acceptable social media content. Let’s discover how.
Trashing Your Competitors
In the world of comparative advertising, there are certain things you are allowed to say about your competitors and some that you simply cannot. In the legal arena, slander is a term that relates to saying something about someone else that is not true and gives a false impression about their reputation.
When talking about your competitors, keep this in mind, and always provide an accurate depiction of how you outshine them in business.
Using Copyright Music
There’s a lot of music out there that is copyright-free and much more that isn’t. If you use music that doesn’t expressly say that it’s copyright-free, you can assume that there is a default copyright on that tune. This is especially true in YouTube social media content, where music is used as background for videos.
Fortunately, you can use a YouTube copyright checker, which will alert you to any copyright infringements you may be violating with your choice of music. This checker will identify music as either public domain (free to use), copyright-free (free to use), or copyrighted music (you must pay to use it).
Using Images that Are Not Yours
Images that don’t contain watermarks are not always an invitation to copy and paste them into your own content. If an image has been used by a competitor or even an unrelated company from another country, you should always assume that the company paid for that image. For this reason, they now own the copyright on that image.
The best way to sidestep this is to use images that you generate or images that you’ve purchased from stock photo websites. Remember that personalizing your images is one of the best ways to further your brand message, so keep your camera ready and use images that you’ve taken yourself. Add your own logo as a watermark on those images to make sure nobody else uses them, too.
Emulating Brand-Sensitive Fonts
Large brands like Coca-Cola and KFC have had their fonts developed by experts in the field, and these fonts cost them big bucks! While you can easily download fonts and use them at a whim, many of these will be flagged as copyright infringements. Choose a default font to use consistently across your brand, or better yet, develop your own.
Leaving Out the Terms and Conditions
Running a contest or a promotion may come with its own set of pitfalls if you don’t clearly state the rules and regulations for participants. Believe it or not, there are people out there who go around looking for companies that have gaps in their terms & conditions displays.
Always be very clear about the boundaries of any prize-winning contest. If you’re running a promotion, be clear about the terms and conditions that accompany a special price.
Using Income-Generating Content
When content creators reach a certain threshold, they begin to earn income from their videos, music, or blogs. Once this threshold has been reached, they require compensation for the use of their content on other platforms.
If at any point you’re creating social media content for the purpose of income generation (which is the point of advertising), you must use original content or at least give credit to the creator’s content you’re using.
For example, using a video from a YouTuber who makes money off his or her videos could land you in hot water with their lawyers. They expect their content to generate income for the purpose it was created. You cannot use this footage without compensating the original creator in full, so watch out for that.
Wrapping Up
Keep a lookout for these common legal pitfalls if you’re a social media content creator. As much as you want to give your company the best in exposure, there are limitations to keep in mind.
The web is full of free content that can be downloaded, copied, and used, but with the above limitations in mind, be smart about how you represent your company’s social media presence.
