The Only Guide - GDPR Compliance to build a Social Media Strategy

If you’re not hiding in a cave, or haven’t decided to skip over press articles, then you must have come across the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR compliance is now incumbent on all of your marketing efforts and other business operations. This article will help you gain an understanding of what GDPR compliance means for your social media strategy.

This past month, you probably observed a number of emails asking for permissions. These are mostly from companies, moving towards GDPR compliance, asking to be on their mailing lists. It's a small part of what post-GDPR world for Marketing looks like. For advice on Sales, give this guide a read.

The European Union enforced the GDPR in May 2018 although the EU has been working on it for the past couple of years. If your company disregard the GDPR and you put off compliance, you can get fined for up to 20 million euros or 4% in revenue: whichever number is higher. So, what does it mean for your marketing department?

GDPR Compliance and Digital Marketing Platforms

In general, people think social media is just about posting memes, or relationships, or engagement & interactivity. If you want to build your compliant Social Media Strategy don't care about data privacy or online security, then maybe the recent Congressional Testimony of the CEO Mark Zuckerberg will make you think again.

Soon after the enforcement of the GDPR, compliance became a trending topic in digital marketing. Many marketers are concerned with how GDPR compliance will shape their new campaigns. Another concerning point is how to use the social media tools & platforms effectively. Getting worried about asking for consent from followers, users or connections is totally natural. Thinking about how to store or use data in a gdpr compliant way is the last thing a social media marketer wants to worry about.

AREAS OF CONCERN WHEN BUILDING A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

·       Google Analytics

Google Analytics is the most common tool used by many digital marketers to analyse performance. It collects users' ID data, does behaviour profiling and has cookies. To be GDPR compliant with this tool, one can either add an overlay to the site which gives users a notification of the usage of cookies & asks for permission for entering the site.

·       Re-targeting Ads and Tracking Pixels

If your website is using re-marketing ads, i.e. Facebook pixel, you should inform the visitors as soon as they enter the site & obtain their consent.  For publishing sponsored content & affiliate links, you need to ask the client if they use tracking pixels or cookies for capturing the personal information & if they do, then get the consent from the visitors.

·       Email Opt-In

To be GDPR compliant with opt-in emails, first, verify if the email service provider is offering GDPR tools. Second, add a checkbox for the visitors to consent to everything, in the subscription form. Put a visible disclaimer, if the newsletter is using tracking pixels to keep an eye on when they open it.

·       Display Ads

If your website runs an ad from a third-party ad server, then your users should consent to the third-party server for using their data for advertising & marketing purposes upon entering the site. You need to inform your visitors if you use the cookies for targeting purposes.

·       Contact Forms

You should get explicit consent with a checkbox before you ask people to submit their information in any contact form.

·       Comments

Before a user leaves a comment they should give consent by a checkbox. You should also inform your users how you will use their information & which information are you going to display publicly.

·       Product Sales Takeaway

When selling products or services to EU residents, you should collect only the necessary information from the customers. You should also let them know how you will use their information. Make sure to get the consent for every purpose of data collection.

How GDPR applies to Social Media Marketing?

There are two main changes which are considered to be the biggest for the social media marketers. First, as a social media marketer you won't be able to send opt-in emails or letters. Second, you won't be allowed to drop cookies automatically without clear permission from the prospect. To be able to have a GDPR compliant Strategy, social media strategists are required to:

• Perform a complete audit of the website to determine the hold of data.
• Get to know about the information of EU residents they have connected to.
• Prepare an action plan on how to update the privacy policy for obtaining permission.

There are many social media management tools available for building your Social Media Strategy. Agencies, strategists & managers use them to get support with scheduling, analysing and building campaigns. These tools assist companies/brands to come closer to their users and help them generate leads and establish a strong customer base.

Social Champ - A GDPR compliant tool

Social Champ is one example of a compliant, easy to use social management tool which gives you the power of scheduling, repeating & analysing your content & helps users and brands to increase their audience reach by 75%. You can easily build your Social Media Strategy with it.

Since the users produce the content on social media, it means that GDPR applies to both content and its users. This is because it contains personal information of the users shared.

All the products & services of Social Champ are GDPR equipped. It provides a Data Protection Agreement (DPA) for all the users who are signing-in. According to the GDPR, Social Champ is not a “Data Controller”, but a “Data Processor” organization. This means it “only practices content according to the instructions given by the users through Social Champ’s features.”

The users have the complete right to control, collect, & use their content however they wish to. As a matter of fact, the users are the data controllers (in legal terms) of the content they process through Social Champ. In short, make sure your tools and processes for Social Media Marketing are GDPR compliant.

If you would like to know more about how you can comply with the GDPR, book a demo with us!

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