First aid for brand protection – tips on how to protect your brand on social media

Simon Whitehouse (pictured) offers expert advice on avoid the social media pitfalls.

Social media presents the modern organisation with many opportunities to better engage with their audiences, monitor emerging trends and even take advantage of the immediacy of the phenomenon by conducting real-time market research. Social media also enables companies to listen to customers, take note of their feedback and adapt offerings and customer service approaches accordingly.

The benefits of using social media within a wider marketing strategy are evident in the fact that more budget is being allocated to the digital arena, with research conducted by analyst organisation Gartner indicating that digital marketing budgets will rise by ten per cent in 2014.

However, the viral, instant and widespread nature of these networks and apps also has downsides that organisations often overlook, such as  the need to monitor for brand protection-related issues, including brand impersonation, account spoofing, and counterfeit goods. This is reinforced by research conducted by Grant Thornton in which it was found that 59% of companies do not perform a risk assessment when it comes to their social media strategy.

Incorporating some form of brand protection within the overall digital marketing strategy is critical, not only in allowing an organisation to gain advantage from the benefits of social media, but also to avoid damaging hard-earned customer and brand trust, and the ability to engage with customers one-on-one. The danger is that as a medium which is characterised by a brand’s way of presenting consumers with its human side, many customers may take brands’ social media accounts at face value.

Before addressing the important issue of what can be done from a brand protection point of view, it is important to understand just what risks a brand faces.

Social media – what’s the risk to a brand?

One of the biggest risks a brand faces is impersonation. The nature of the Internet is such that impersonators can use items such as copyrighted images, photos or trademarked brand names or slogans to communicate with a brand’s audience in the guise of being the brand itself. The motivation for impersonation varies, from financial gain, to merely wishing to discredit or damage the brand. Regardless of the reason, this can negatively affect consumer perception and trust.

When motivated by economic reasons, scammers and impersonators can use social media to mislead consumers in terms of fraud or counterfeiting. This can be accomplished by setting up fake pages or profiles with the unauthorised use of copyrighted materials and/or trademarks in order to appear legitimate.

So how then does a brand ensure it doesn’t fall victim to scammers, counterfeiters or impersonators in the social media space?

Brand protection tips

Keeping a brand safe and healthy in the social media sphere is an ongoing endeavour that requires a solid strategy to combat instances of brand misuse or misappropriation. There are a number of best practice approaches that can be incorporated into a brand’s overall brand protection strategy to help preserve customer trust.

Top tip 1: Dot the i and cross the t

A brand should be officially registered across a host of social media websites, from blogs, and microblogs, to various networks. An organisation needs to make sure that it has taken the appropriate steps to make it official by proactively registering the brands as usernames across leading and new social media sites.

Certain social media sites have a verification process whereby brands or organisations can prove their legitimacy. For those sites that do not offer this option, organisations can ensure that their official website includes icons, information and links that explain and lead to their social media sites.

In addition, while a company may already have registered and / or recovered all of a brand’s vanity URLs, an organisation should also pay attention to emerging, special interest or lesser-known social media sites. With the growth of social media and the establishment of new sites, this should form an ongoing part of brand protection strategy.

Top Tip 2: Be vigilant

Social media networks, and indeed the scammers who make use of them, evolve constantly. It can be fairly easy for scammers and fraudsters to impersonate a brand online, which means that these networks need to be monitored on an ongoing basis to prevent a brand’s misuse and stop scammers from engaging with customers. There are tools available in the market that can assist in automatically searching social media for unauthorised use of your brands and trademarks.

Top Tip 3: Take action

Once any misuse or abuse of a brand is identified, appropriate action must be taken. This can vary, depending on the circumstances, and can include a number of approaches. Organisations can contact the scammer or impersonator directly to understand their motives and explain how this activity is in violation of their brand guidelines. Alternatively, brands may need to catalogue the activity and report the impersonator or scammer to the relevant social media site so that it can enforce its terms of service.

In order for a brand to reap the benefits of using social media within their digital marketing strategy and to keep customers safe from impersonators, incorporating a social media element within a brand protection strategy is crucial. If overlooked, this can negatively affect brand credibility and customer trust, the effects of which will be seen on a business’ bottom line.

Simon Whitehouse is senior director, EMEA sales, MarkMonitor.