Page 414 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

» Be extra careful if you sell to minors. The rules for what you can or cannot
do when selling to minors are even more stringent. If you’re in a business
that may market or sell to minors (or have minors unintentionally buy the
product), conduct an inventory of your data practices immediately. You have
to be very clear on what you are allowed to collect and use. Keep in mind very
often parental consent will be required.
» Protect the data as if your life depends on it. Your customers are trusting
you when they share their data with you. Protect it as if your life depends on
it. If you get hacked or worse — sell their data to a third party without explicit
permission — you’ll lose the customer trust indefinitely. Also know, that your
customers will also hold you responsible if the third party gets hacked and
their private data is exposed.
» Don’t creep out your customers. Everyone’s gotten into the habit of
accepting privacy policies on the Internet without reading the fine print,
and not realizing what they’re agreeing to most of the time. When you’re
marketing to customers, don’t creep them out with marketing messages
that demonstrate you know a lot more information about them than they
may have realized.

» Use good judgment when developing data practices. The most important
rule when it comes to using a customer’s data or to advertising on a social
media platform is to ask yourself whether it’s the right thing to do. Ask
yourself whether you’d be comfortable with someone else using your own
personal data in the same way that you’re planning to. Sometimes that serves
as the best check of all.

Understanding New Data

and Privacy Laws

Data and privacy laws are quickly changing in the European Union and the United
States. We highlight these two in the following sections.The net effect: Your abil-
ity to target potential customers via social media platforms may be less potent in
the future.

General Data Protection Regulation

In Europe, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) governs all data for
individual citizens in the European Union, including the transfer of personal data
outside of the EU. To summarize, GDPR requires marketers to secure explicit
permission from their customers for data driven activities in the European Union.

398 PART 5 Old Marketing Is New Again with SMM