Can non-traditional "influencers" legally affect your clients?

Last week I had the opportunity to attend an interesting event presented by @infuz and @stltweets entitled:
The State of Online Influence: Social Reach in St. Louis. 

The stated intent of the event was to "put a magnifying glass" on the concept of influence by exploring its roots and the challenges of harnessing it.  The event featured presentations and discussions by local Social Media influencers Matt Ridings (@techguerilla), Mayor Francis Slay (@MayorSlay), Jason Fiehler (@jasonfiehler), Brad Hogenmiller (@Javastl), Robert Littal (@BlkSportsOnline), Chris Reimer (@RizzoTees); and Todd Jordan (@Tojosan) and centered upon how Social Media is presenting a unique opportunity for new voices to be heard, and also allowing those in business and politics to have a better, more direct, and more timely mode of communication with their clients and constituents.  The climax of the evening was the unveiling of STL Index (@stlindex), which is being billed as a data-centric approach to measuring online influence in St. Louis.

While in many respects the event could be considered a marketing driven "coming out party" for STL Index, there were a couple legal take aways that I thought worth noting. 

First, at the end of the day, social media, social marketing, and social networking is still at its heart, networking.  Though the presentations were outstanding, the speakers well informed, and the panelists (and audience via twitter posts projected on the screen) entertaining, what made the event successful was the ability for the attendees to meet in person, engage, and converse about their shared interest in social media. While many, if not most, of this crowd had "met" online, via Twitter, Facebook, or one of the dozens of other Social Media sights which each of them frequent, those relationships were expanded and solidified by taking their online communications offline and in person. 

Businesses venturing into social media can learn from this.  It is simply no longer "enough" to have a Facebook page, or tweet your press releases.  The real secret of social media is engagement.  If you are not willing to take that step, you won't get as much out of the medium as you should.  While my marketing roots believes this wholeheartedly, my legal side understands that this does introduce some challenges and potential risks.  When your company, employees, and customers actively engage in social media, you almost inherently lose some control over your brand and message.  This lack of control is often sufficiently offset by the tremendous benefits that social media can provide to ensure that you want to be in the space, but there is no reason that you shouldn't take every step you can to also protect your business.  Social Media Policies specifically tailored to your company; Training all employees on the proper uses of Social Media and how improper uses can have adverse personal and professional consequences; and coordination between human resources, marketing, and legal to ensure that all are on the same page and working together to make sure your business is protected are just some of the ways to help protect your organization. 

Second, for those in the business community, what may be of particular interest, (and some concern) is that these new "influencers" are not necessarily those who we have traditionally considered to be influential.  Indeed, out of the STL Top 100 list, I think it is fair to say that there are many more bloggers and marketing types than there are politicians and CEOs.  Many of the people you find on this list are more likely to be in your HR department, or a member of your team who bloggs on a topic completely unrelated to your business.  Despite these nontraditional roles, these influencers have committed followings, and reach an enormous number of people, however, they are not necessarily traditional spokespeople and that may need to be addressed.  Businesses hoping to utilize social media should be aware of this, and ideally, should try to tap their own internal influencers in helping with their social media strategy.  Again, this requires thought, and developing policies which address these ever changing areas.

For those practicing in the social media law sphere, keep these non-traditional influencers in mind when developing policies and assisting your clients.  While they may have an enormous potential to help your clients' business, they may not be versed in important areas of the law, and that could have consequences.  Make sure your clients don't get caught up in avoidable problems.

Finally, I'd like to give a shout out today to our military leaders, special operations forces, and our President.  Job well done.

Let me know what you think.