It’s no surprise by now that social media can be used very effectively in marketing. It doesn’t matter what size your business is, you can’t deny how helpful social media can be in your marketing strategy. However, there are some things you really need to avoid if you want to stay on top and not cause any legal trouble for your business. So, luckily for you, we’ve got a handy little list of 5 things every company needs to avoid in their social media marketing strategy. 1) COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT It is never too late for a company to start on social media, but one of the first hurdles is choosing a logo and setting your profile pictures. These are what your clients and customers will see straight away when they search for you. But choosing the right style can be hard. If you think you’ve found the perfect logo that represents you and your brand, but it is already in use by another company, then there’s nothing you can do. You’re going to have to keep looking I’m afraid! Taking inspiration from your competitors or brands you like is fine, but you can’t copy them outright. It doesn’t matter if they’re in a different country, it is their intellectual property, and those laws hold up across borders. If they are a copyrighted and patented item, then they will win whatever case you throw at them. It isn’t a problem if you want to use someone else’s logo for inspiration, but you should sit down and talk with a graphic designer to really pick out the elements of the design that you like, so they can create something incorporating these features into something that is truly uniquely yours. 2) ALWAYS ASK PERMISSION The next faux pas we often see is people using images without permission from the owner. It might

We are living in 2018 and it is obvious that technology has become a huge aspect of our everyday lives. The simplistic design of smartphones, apps, and social media has made them a key component in our day to day routine, from staying in contact with friends and family, keeping up to date with the news and current affairs, to providing us with travel information and apps to plan our journeys for us. We are dependent on them. Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, said in the 2018 Facebook conference that Facebook prioritises its users, and his original intention was to make the world a better place by connecting people, despite the controversy that has arisen and been in the media recently about Facebook. In a lot of ways he has achieved his goal. As of July 2018, Facebook has over 2,196 million active users, according to statist. Facebook really does bring us closer to people from all over the world and provides a platform for social injustices and issues to be heard. Through Facebook and other social media sites, posts can go viral. This was the case with Elin Ersson, a 23 year old Swedish university student. On the 24th July, she started a live stream video on her personal Facebook page in an attempt to stop a man being deported back to Afghanistan. Elin knew that the man was likely to be killed if he were to go back to Afghanistan due to the ongoing war in the country. She desperately wanted to do all that she could to save his life and encouraged her fellow passengers to do the same by simply standing up. After initially receiving backlash from other passengers and flight attendants, she was eventually supported and succeeded in her efforts. The video she started live on her personal Facebook page has

There are many types of content that a business can utilise as part of their marketing strategy, not just blogs and articles. Social media allows us to be creative in the way we deliver our brand in front of your potential customers. So let's break down how Snapchat can be used for a business. In 2011 Snapchat graced our app stores and very quickly became a popular social site with over 188 million daily active users globally. 78% of those users are between the ages of 18 and 24, and almost 70% are female, which can be a hard market to tap into. However, reports suggest that these users are spending on average 30 minutes a day on the app, or more. So, if this is a target market you’re trying to appeal to at the moment but just can’t seem to tap into, why not use Snapchat to deliver your content directly to them? Snapchat specialises in video and image-based content that disappears eventually. It used to only last 10 seconds but an update changed that setting to anything between 1 second and whenever the person receiving the message clicks off it (represented with an infinity sign).     Snapchat stories, however, last 24 hours. You can attach YouTube videos, links to articles and other websites to them as well. On top of this, you can upload as many snaps as you like to your story, however each time you film you are limited to a 60-second clip, that is split into six sections. But, you can upload as many of them as you’d like! Your viewers can either chose to watch them all or click through them. On top of this Snapchat also utilises filters, which a lot of the time can be inappropriate for a business to use, however, their geofilters can be great for