Twitter Frontier: Harnessing the Power of Social Media while Protecting Your Franchise

ABOUT US • Deb Evans – President & CEO – Computer

Explorers

• Chad Cohen – Vice President – Fish Consulting

• David Beyer – Partner – Quarles & Brady

• Todd Leiser – Director Franchise Sales - Valpak

#TFIFA2012

AGENDA

• Franchisor’s Perspective

• Franchisee’s Perspective

• Legal Perspective

• Best Practices

• Tools

• Q&A

#TFIFA2012

TWEET YOUR QUESTIONS

#TFIFA2012

#TFIFA2012

QUICK EXERCISE

• Tweet that you are in the Twitter Frontier

IFA session

• “Attending Twitter Frontier Session at the

IFA Convention #TFIFA2012. It’s

awesome”

#TFIFA2012

SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO

#TFIFA2012

FRANCHISOR - DEB EVANS

• Hello, I am @DebCE and

everything can be tweeted,

any time, any where!

#TFIFA2012

CREATE A RAVE

• “Nobody Cares About Your Products

(Except You)”

• “Generate online buzz driving buyers to

your virtual doorstep!”

• “Create Triggers that Encourage People

to Share!”

#TFIFA2012

TWITTER AGENDA

• To Do Business

• Corporate Communications

• Public Relations

• Business Development

• Marketing and/or PR

#TFIFA2012

SOCIAL SHARING

• Great Content will Create an Emotional

Response

• Builds Creditability Online

• Allow the Sharing Virus to Spread (add

social buttons)

#TFIFA2012

SHARING IN 2011

Infographic by AddThis of

ClearSpring #TFIFA2012

GROUND RULES

• http://socialmedia.policytool.net/

#TFIFA2012

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLKIT

• Provide step by step guide

#TFIFA2012

ESTABLISH “US” POLICY

• Tweets are Better as a Team

#TFIFA2012

TWEET PSYCH

• What will you

Tweet?

#TFIFA2012

THE TWITTER FRONTIER

#TFIFA2012

THE TWITTER FRONTIER

#TFIFA2012

TWEET BREAK

–Tweet a question @ValpakTodd

–Tweet a comment

–Use the Hashtag #TFIFA2012

#TFIFA2012

FRANCHISEE – CHAD COHEN

• What can you do for your franchise with 140 characters or less?

– Find the people and the web intelligence that can help make

your business successful.

#TFIFA2012

THE TWITTER FRONTIER

• Twitter: She’s smart and unique, with a big mouth and lots of

connections.

• She’s the friend who gossips and makes lots of noise.

• However, Twitter has her limits, but tell her the right things and she’ll

hook you up with the right people.

• If you want to stay on her good side, make sure you have a theme

for what you’re going to tweet, and stay connected or you’ll never

get anywhere with her.

#TFIFA2012

THE TWITTER FRONTIER

• As franchisees, remember the following:

– The choice to participate is yours

– Respect the brand’s proprietary information

– Be respectful, unique and the expert in your field

– Pause before posting

– Solve problems

– Know your voice

– Monitor and participate

– Reward your followers

#TFIFA2012

THE TWITTER FRONTIER

• If you, the franchisee, choose to engage, remember:

– Your twitter account is not an island. It does not stand alone.

– Needs to be reinforced offline for it to have an impact and for

customers to deem it useful.

– Twitter is not separate from your marketing and customer service

efforts.

– Monitor and track your brand, address concerns, offer customer

service or thank people for praise.

– Twitter is your megaphone to your local community. Use it. Get

engaged.

#TFIFA2012

FRANCHISOR - FRANCHISEE

#TFIFA2012

TWEET BREAK

–Tweet a question @ValpakTodd

–Tweet a comment

–Use the Hashtag #TFIFA2012

#TFIFA2012

LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

Just because it’s on social media does

not mean that:

– Laws no longer apply

– The FA / Manual does not apply

Due to viral nature: Be More Vigilant !

• Copyright Infringement

• Trademark Infringement

• Defamation

• Advertising Fees

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

• Limits copyright infringement liability for hosting third party content

– No actual knowledge

– No financial benefit from infringing activity

– Remove content on notice

– Designate agent for notices

FTC / Endorsements

• FTC actively monitoring advertising in

social media

– Endorsements – Disclosure

– Sellers & Third Parties Liable

– Sellers may be liable for what endorsers

do

– Sellers must inform endorsers of rules

• Federal Trade Commission guidelines subject companies to liability for false or unsubstantiated statements made through endorsement, or for failing to disclose material connections between themselves and endorsers

• Be sure franchisees identify themselves as such

The Communications Decency Act

• Limited Immunity

• Site operators not liable as

publisher of third party content

• Be Careful: If edit or modify

then can lose immunity

Franchise Sales

• If social media is used to offer

and sell franchises, then must

follow internet advertising rules

–Include disclaimer

–List on FDD

–Don’t direct

Financial Performance Representations

• Not if FPR is directed to general public

• But if directed to prospects, then risk of FPR

• Follow media claim rules with disclaimer – FDD

– % exceeded claim

• Policy to not post financial information

Social Media Policies

• List prohibited social media

conduct

• Identify appropriate identification

practices

• Reinforce confidentiality policies

• Inform that you will monitor

Social Media Policies

• No financial information

• Handling disparagements

• Proper use of Marks

• Specify links to Franchisor sites

• Common naming convention and

handles

• Similar photos – like storefronts

User-Generated Content

– Describe content restrictions

• No false or deceptive claims

• No defamation / privacy

– Takedown rights / Don’t Edit / Remove

– Disclaimers of responsibility

– Territorial Restrictions

Whose Account Is It Anyway?

• Phonedog Media v. Kravitz

• Twitter Account: Phonedog - Noah

Whose LinkedIn Contacts Are They?

• Eagle v. Morgan

• Employee may be liable for

misappropriation

TWEET BREAK

–Tweet a question @ValpakTodd

–Tweet a comment

–Use the Hashtag #TFIFA2012

#TFIFA2012

TECHNOLOGIES

• Here are a few tools: • http://muckrack.com/about

• http://mashable.com/2011/09/30/twitter-history-infographic/

• http://tweetpsych.com

• http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

• http://addictomatic.com

• http://socialmention.com

• http://tweetchat.com

• http://tweepsearch.com

• http://tweetburner.com/

• http://tweetbeep.com/

• http://twellow.com

#TFIFA2012

TWEETED QUESTIONS

#TFIFA2012

FINAL EXERCISE

#TFIFA2012

WRAP-UP

#TFIFA2012

CONTACT US

#TFIFA2012

Deb Evans @DebCE www.computerexplorers

800-531-5053 devans@iced.net

Chad Cohen @chad_cohen www.fish-consulting.com

954-893-9150 ccohen@fish-consulting.com

David Beyer @ www.quarles.com

813-387-0264 david.beyer@quarles.com

Todd Leiser @valpaktodd www.valpak.com

727-399-3091 todd_leiser@valpak.com