While social media has transformed the way that your business can communicate with current and potential clients, it has also made it a lot easier to say something that is perceived the wrong way. You would be surprised at how much harm can be done with a mere 140 characters!

One of the greatest features of Twitter is the real time discussion of trending events as they unfold. Social media users and managers need to be able to think on their feet to provide appropriate and meaningful contribution to the discussion, all in a matter of minutes.

In order to stay relevant, you need to be posting as often and as quick as possible. You should not sacrifice the quality and relevance of your tweets, just to post something. As they say, quality is better than quantity.

You should ensure that your tweet is not breaking any laws. The most frequently occurring legal issues associated with social media use are defamation, copyright infringement, confidentiality and privacy. You should avoid saying anything that may be perceived to be defamatory in nature. In other words, do not tweet anything that can ruin anyone else’s reputation.

Also, you should NOT tweet or post and words or images that you have not produced yourself. The exception to this is if you have permission to do so, or if you acknowledge the original creator. You need to maintain the confidentiality of your business, so never tweet trade secrets because this undermines the point of tweeting for your business. By sharing trade secrets, you lose your competitive edge, losing customers and ultimately, losing money. Finally, you should not invade anyone’s privacy online.

This means that you are not to include any personal information about anybody in your tweets unless they have expressly granted you permission to do so.

In this online discussion with Katherine Hawes you will learn what you can do legally on social media and what you absolutely need to stay away from. She’ll give you tips on handling the situation when you are the target of negativity or your name, business or brand is being discredited or infringed. If you’ve already had an experience it would be great if you shared it during the session – discussing real life situations and case studies are always useful for helping others to understand what can and does go wrong on social media interactions.

To purchase your ticket and to learn more about this event: Don’t Be A Tweet: What You Need To Know About Social Media Law.