Briefs enter the social media market

Players from PR, SEO & Digital, competing hard for ground in the newest game in town – social media, now have another entrant to contend with, at least in Australia – a law firm.

A Sydney legal firm, Turner Freeman has teamed up with comms agency SR7 to launch En Garde, a social media monitoring company targeting businesses, government departments and institutions, offering to police social media networks to “prevent social media marketing campaigns from becoming a platform for inappropriate content or attacks on brands”.

Quoted in mUmBRELLA, Turner Freeman partner Steven Penning said: “The management of online risk should be approached with the same diligence afforded to traditional risk factors such as financials, operational and material. Social Media risk can be managed properly if appropriate mechanisms and procedures are put in place and legal counsel who understand the medium are used.”

James Griffin, partner and head of Monitoring and Analysis at SR7, said: “Clients are being panicked by their agencies into creating social media marketing and PR campaigns often without due diligence being performed,” Mr. Griffin said. “Clients must know what people are saying about them or their products on Social Media before campaigns are launched.”