Marketing your business the right way to avoid the SPAM trap and regulator’s ire

With social distancing the status quo, many businesses have pivoted to largely marketing their businesses online. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram or email, it’s important to be aware that getting it wrong could result in fines or regulatory action.

It can seem so easy to use social media to promote your business, just pop up a post. However, you should be mindful that there are a number of legal ramifications you could encounter if you get things wrong.

My key tips are for best practice online marketing are:

1. Avoid being spam. The Spam Act requires that if you’re sending marketing emails or messages that you have to have permission from the person who receiving it. This involves having a database that records the consent in the first place. When sending emails or messages, they must contain your contact information, allow the person to identify you and importantly allow them to unsubscribe.
2. Ensure those who unsubscribe from your message are unsubscribed and don’t receive any more messages. In a recent case, the Australian Communications and Media Authority fined a large supermarket because it sent spam email to over a million customers who had unsubscribed.
3. Everything you say needs to be accurate and factual. The Consumer Affairs Victoria and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission can penalise businesses for make false or misleading statements online.
4. Be very cautious of allowing the public to comment on posts. If you allow comments on your social media posts your business can be responsible for defamatory comments made by third parties. You either need to turn comments off or moderate them vigilantly and remove them as soon as any allegations of defamation are made.
5. Getting privacy laws right. If the Australian Privacy Principles apply to your business, you need to make sure that personal information given to you is used only for the purpose it was given, not for marketing, unless the person has consented to using it for marketing purposes. There is an exception to this, where the person would expect another use because it is closely related to the reason they gave you the information, but it is always best to get consent such as through the person checking a box.

Not only is it important to get your online marketing right to maximise your businesses exposure and lead generation but getting it wrong means that you can be at risk of regulatory action, a fine or other penalty.

At OFRM we can help you with regulatory compliance, reviewing your terms and conditions and privacy policies to ensure your business complies with its obligations. Contact Lachlan Edwards or Siobhan Liston on 03 5445 1000.