“Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting,” said Bill Gates in 1996 and his prediction stood the trial of time. Twenty-six years later, the business magnate and co-founder of Microsoft is still right.
Today, content is part of every digital marketing strategy, whether in the form of blog posts, videos, images, influencer marketing, testimonials and reviews, Ebooks or study cases. Ads we see on television are also content and catchy lines we find on food products like cereal or milk.
All of this content marketing has one goal and that is to promote a brand and generate traffic and leads to the website. The more visitors the website has, the more potential buyers of their products or services.
The same goes for content relevance. Anything can be content, but does it connect your brand to the audience? Does your content get people engaged? In fact, Are you writing killer content for your business?
We’ve established that content is king, but oftentimes when influencers and content creators create and use content, they are not aware of the legalities concerning copyright. It goes without saying that you need to have permission to use the content.
If you are writing content for your business or you have hired someone else to create content on your behalf, this is what you need to know to protect your business.
Copyright infringement
Content is king, but not at any cost. Infringing on someone else’s copyright could spell disaster for your business. And this goes not only for the content you use in your business but also for the content anyone else creates for you.
As the one ordering the content for your business, you have to know who owns the content that is now in your hands and what your rights are. Confirm the content is rightly yours to use before you share it online. This goes for any type of content, whether it’s an image or a sound recording.
It’s important that you know that any content that is created on your behalf is yours to use as you wish. The easiest way to do this is within a contract with anyone that creates content for your business. A contract clearly explains what you can do with the content and who owns the rights. You also have to be careful of infringing the rights of a third party.
This may seem like a rather complex area of law, but nothing that can not be achieved with the help of experienced lawyers. Having a clearly drafted intellectual property clause and indemnities around what will happen if copyright infringement occurs by someone else creating content for you is crucial.
Sanctions
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) works to make influencer marketing error-free. For that reason, they issue a number of sanctions not only against influencers but brands who breach their rules too.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is also known to sanction influencers who ignore their rules and go against consumer protection law.
Compliance
Both content creators and brands need to comply with the relevant rules and regulations on content or influencer marketing. This can include anything from labelling ad content correctly and clearly. To competitions, giveaways, and special regulated products such as alcohol or weight-loss products.
Take legal advice
Whether you are an influencer or content creator providing content marketing services. Or you are a business who has hired a professional to create content on your behalf. It is recommended to take legal advice before you start working on any projects. This will ensure that you are clearly setting the parameters around the content.
Conclusion
Protecting the content within your business is more daunting than it seems. Because of its complexity, many influencers and content creators get sanctioned. Brands get bad publicity and lose clients and much more.
If you’re unsure if your content is protected within your business, then book a consultation with us. We are now offering 15-minute and 30-minute consultations, which you can pay for directly from our website.