In lieu of a frequently asked questions blog, I’m writing about three common things people should ask but most of the time don’t in regards to digital content.
This can be a touchy subject as we are all about some free content, even me. But…it’s still not an excuse. We have to play by the rules. Let me explain.
Images
If you tell me you got the image on your website from Google images an angel loses its wings. You can’t do that in 99.5% of the cases. You must assume that the image is protected by copyright laws.
Check out Pexels.com, Unsplash.com, FreelyPhotos.com, and the Chamber of Commerce-Stock Photo Search– these are sites that let you use their pictures, for free. That’s commercial and non-commercial use. In most cases, no attribution is required and you are allowed to modify them.
You can also pay for pics at istockphoto.com, shutterstock.com, and stock.adobe.com to name a few. They aren’t cheap but you’ll find a wider variety of subjects along with the chance that it’s less likely to have been used versus the free images.
Blog Posts
If you post a blog post that someone else wrote, you can’t take credit it for it. This would be copyright infringement.
Ask permission of the author to use their digital content. If you like a lot of the content they are writing, ask for blanket permission.
Bloggers love their content to be shared and it’s even part of a search engine optimization strategy to have your content syndicated out to multiple blogs so that you build links back to your site.
All that said, you still must ask. I prefer via email so that I have a written and documented “permission slip”.
Another option is to be inspired by the post to add more. Just like when you write a research report, create your own thoughts compiled from multiple sources and then link to the source content.
Email doesn’t have to be tricky. Here are some examples of if you should use an email marketing service such as MailChimp, or send the email from your personal account.
- Is money being exchanged (for-profit or non-profit)? Then you need to use an email marketing service.
- Are you emailing a lot of people, especially ones that may not know you well? Then you need to use an email marketing service.
- Are you emailing 10 people about Timmy’s birthday party this weekend? Send an email but use blind copy (BCC:) so that you don’t create an email chain discussion.
- Are you planning a potluck dinner in your office? Email away from your personal account.
Benefits of an email marketing service are that it meets all the compliance guidelines for a business that are outlined in the CAN-SPAM act.
Plus you’ll gain some great analytics tools and integrations to help grow your email list and customer database.
Digital Content Conclusion
Hopefully, that can help and give you some new tools to use going forward! Make sure you contact us for help when you need it!
This post was updated on 7/5/22 with updated links and information.
