Social media has changed the way people and businesses
communicate and interact. It allows businesses to increase brand
awareness, advertise products and services, provide product
information, run promotions, deal with bad publicity and gain
customer feedback. Previously, engaging with customers online
provided a competitive advantage; today social media is being
engaged in to avoid falling behind.
The developing law in this area and the experiences that have
been faced by various brands, indicates the need to stay on top of
this space and highlights the importance of spending the time and
money now to develop social media strategies and policies. This is
especially the case given that the Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission (ACCC) has indicated that one of its consumer
protection priorities for 2013 includes online consumer
issues.1
