Simple precautions to take when using social media

Business booster: stay up to date with the latest technology while monitoring your own systems closely

Many operators now use Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and other social media sites with great success to promote their businesses. Parties, sporting events and menu offers can instantly be communicated to a potentially large audience.

New customers can be attracted and existing ones retained, without the need for costly advertising and marketing campaigns. But whilst it is tempting to concentrate on the side of your online presence that generates business, it is very important to monitor closely how your customers and non-customers alike interact with your social media pages.

A number of recent incidents have highlighted the dangers of using such social media forums. Indeed, by joining and using these sites, you may be unwittingly exposing your business to licensing problems and even prosecution.

This issue was highlighted recently when a bar in Darlington had its licence reviewed by the police after a teenage party promoted on Facebook allegedly ran into difficulties. Newspaper reports claimed that hundreds of teenagers bought tickets for an event at the premises and many were left out on the street. This allegedly resulted in scuffles breaking out and an arrest being made. This in turn led to a review of the licence on the grounds of protecting children from harm and the prevention of crime and disorder.

In another incident, teenagers posted messages on Facebook that a particular venue was a place where underage customers were able to buy alcohol, without the appropriate age verification checks taking place. This evidence was subsequently used by the police in proceedings against the operator.

A potential difficulty also exists with YouTube: if your customers post videos of drunken activity at your venue, there is a risk of running into difficulties with the licensing authorities and the video evidence being used against you in review proceedings or even in a prosecution. Clear and unequivocal video evidence of breaches of the Licensing Act might be hard to dispute if the matter comes before a licensing committee or magistrates’ court.

It is difficult to maintain control of your online reputation. Many operators are simply too busy running their premises to be concerned with monitoring the constantly updated world of social media websites. However, even if you do not use social media in your personal life, you should ensure that you keep up to date from the point of view of your business. The growth of smart phones has simplified this monitoring process.

In order to ensure that you do not fall foul of the online content that relates to your business, I would recommend taking a number of simple precautions:

Check your social media pages regularly. If there are any postings showing inappropriate behaviour, such as drunkenness, remove them immediately. If what you see concerns you, then investigate it.
Talk to your customers on a regular basis about how your premises are perceived on social media sites.
Google your own premises and check the results. Set up Google and Twitter alerts (the latter on TweetDeck) with the name of your premises so that you can keep up to date with new developments.
If an event at your premises is promoted on a social media site, ensure that you control the guest list and are able to meet your licensing and capacity requirements. Consider whether security (or additional security) is required.
If you are not the promoter, make sure that you work closely with the person responsible for this and ensure that they understand any licensing and capacity restrictions that may apply.
Remember that promoters may use their own websites to promote events at your venue. If any difficulties occur, it will still be your licence that is at risk. Ensure that you check the content published by promoters and if necessary enter into a contractual agreement to control that content.
The police and local licensing team in your area may have their own social media pages, in particular on Twitter. It makes sense to follow them to keep up to date with local developments.
Make sure that any promotions that you or your promoters advertise online could not be construed as being irresponsible.

Take advantage of all the immense benefits that social media sites have to offer your business. At the same time, take control of your online presence — it may not just be your customers who are watching.