Components of a legally astute social media marketing manager
First, the social marketing manager should be a person of integrity and of good ethical standards. He/she needs to respect customers’ right to privacy. He/she should be a person of integrity and good conduct since social media marketing may entail may scum projects and explicit contents. Hence, such a manager should always up hold the code of ethics and ensure the best services to his/her clients.
Secondly, the social marketing manager should be able to demonstrate creativity and responsiveness to customers’ needs. The manager is sensitive to online traffic of comments in forums, communities, blogs and other social platforms. The manager synthesizes useful details of discussions and comments to improve the marketing site.
The manager is a person who is trained in marketing. He/she is confident and capable of demonstrating social media communication skills. The manager has journalistic competencies of gathering and disseminating useful pieces of information. Such an individual reads widely and follows newsworthy links to learn new phenomena. This people also listen a lot and are keen to criticism from customers and users of social media.
Lastly, the social marketing manager should have social and interpersonal aptitude. This individual engages in a lot of social interactions like hanging out, chatting, laughing. He/she always approachable and accessible incase of need. Have natural desire and curiosity to meet new people, learn new things and also inform.
Methods of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in social media transactions
Online business transactions have been found to attract conflicts and disagreements leading to losses which are incurred by both the customer and the business account. Thus, such scenarios attract disputes some of which are genuine while others may not be legitimate. The customer will advance the grievances in an effort to secure his/her rights. However, the business enterprise will be keen and quick to suggest a resolution of the dispute in order to maintain clients and reputation. Dispute resolution techniques that have been empirically tested and have been found to be cost effective and efficient have been adopted in solving legitimate online business disputes. Alternative dispute resolution methods refers to ‘out of court’ conflict resolution techniques that include negotiation, mediation, arbitration, private judging and summary jury trial.
Negotiation calls for the disputing parties to voluntarily and skillfully put efforts that will resolve the dispute. The parties involved embrace dialogue and make binding agreements that will solve the problem. Mediation is a more private, informal and voluntary process that focuses on generating solution to the issue at hand instead of trying to find fault. A third party who is neutral to the dispute and skilled in mediation talks is usually involved to preside over the process and contract signing.
Another dispute resolution technique is arbitration where the dispute is presented to neutral persons who are experts in social media marketing and e-commerce. The arbitrator(s) will then review the cases and make a binding decision. However, his/her decision can be challenged through an appeal court especially if the arbitrator has been found to be biased or corrupt. This technique is more formal in structure but less expensive than litigation.
Private judging is the other ADR method. This is a situation where an ex-jury (judge) is requested to preside over dispute, of course with the consent of both parties. The hearing process is typical of a normal court and the retired judge’s decision is considered final(binding). An advantage of this technique is that it is very fast compared with the usual litigation process.
The best alternative online dispute resolution method should be one that is cheap and fast in providing a fair solution to the conflict. Thus, in disputes that result from social media business transactions, private judging and mediation may be the best techniques. This is because such methods are fast and may not be biased. In negotiation, one party may refuse to cooperate thus taking a lot of valuable time. Similarly arbitration may be biased or bribed to favor one party and deny the other justice. However, avoiding conflict and unfairness in business transactions long before a dispute occur is the best solution
How the federal government can best control consumer transactions
Consumer transactions across social media platforms can involve both legal and illegal business deals. Thus, such transactions need regulation and control by the arms of the government. The government can adopt a multi-layered strategy by implementing risk management programs for the risks and threats that emanate from social media. Such approaches revolve around but not limited to analysis of the social and evaluation of infrastructure, social engineering, as well as encouraging use of applications that guard against cyber attacks like spear phishing. The government also needs to streamline policy and acquisition controls, network and host controls so as to effectively regulate online transactions through social media.
The legislative branch has developed several policies and statutes as well as passed legislation on how internet transactions can be conducted. For example, it has passed the privacy policies that guide exposure and delivery of content (offensive) In social networks, laws and rules that guide on internet campaigning and usage in social networks has been endorsed and passed in several states. Some of the legislative policies and guidelines passed include Hawaii senate social media policy; Florida House of Representatives face book policy, and New York state senate disclaimer among others
The executive branch has been involved in implementation of social media policies, guidelines and statutes. This branch of the government has also formulated policies that guide online transactions for example The Oklahoma social media and social networking guidelines 2010 and Social media policy 2011 by New York state. This branch is also involved in developing programs that empower the population on social media policies and associated risks especially when doing a business transaction.
The federal government developed National Labor Relations Board which among its mandate is to regulate consumer transactions that occur in social media platforms. The government also enacted the United States Privacy Act of 1974 and Fair information practice principles in the 1980s which are referred to up to date when matters of individual rights to data and information access come into concern.
Agency relationship between social media provider and businesses that utilize the site for advertising
There is need to develop valuable business relationships between social media providers and advertising agencies. Numerous business relationships and networks develop in social medial marketing. However, maintenance and advancement of such partnerships is the most challenging. Work related networks established from social media mainly arise from individuals who initially had off the net links but choose to expand their network through social sites and incorporate parties with innovative ideas that can contribute to advertising. Such relationships are built on basis of social exchange and e-commerce whereby the social media provider presents a platform with followers or users while businesses utilize the traffic for commercial gain. Thus mutually beneficial relations that derive advice from experts exist between social media providers and advertising agencies.
References
BITS. (2011). Social media risks and mitigation. Washington D.C.: The Financial Services Roundtable.
Gurney, S. (2007, Jan 22). Alternative dispute resolution techniques:resolving disputes without 'going to war'. Retrieved November 11th, 2013, from www.frostbrowntodd.com: http://www.frostbrowntodd.com/resources-01-22-20071.html
Hubbard, D. (2013). 12 traits of successful social media managers. Retrieved Nov 12, 2013, from www.ragan.com: http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/12_traits_of_successful_social_media_managers_46979.aspx
National Council of State Legislators. (2013, June 23rd). Legislative Social Media Policies and Resources. Retrieved November 12th, 2013, from www.ncsl.org: http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/policies-related-to-legislative-use-social-media.aspx>
Schroeder, H. (2013). The art of business relationships through social media. Retrieved November 12th, 2013, from iveybusinessjournal.com: http://iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/the-organization/the-art-of-business-relationships-through-social-media#.UoHcnFMrcwo>
