You are a local entrepreneur. You work hard to keep your business booming. You know that you’re supposed to work on your social media marketing, and so you do just that. You’re also supposed to work on having an active online footprint, and so you do that too, slaying over your website and keeping your online presence up to date. Maybe even throwing in a blog post every now and then? All of it is not your hobby, heck, you've got to be out there in your store! But it’s part of the deal when you’re in the world of retail, right?

Keeping that active online footprint can cost as much time as keeping your business booming. Yet, the business, you know. But how do you know what content you can use without getting into trouble, and which content you’re not supposed to share? This is a whole different ballgame!

Say your new homepage is almost finished, that last picture is uploading… you don’t want to spend your money on professional pictures, so you just find one on the internet that ‘says you’, that speaks to you and matches your store and business.

Here you are, being a rockstar online, and yet this could actually be the end of your business! Did you know that taking random pictures from the internet is against the law, and is, therefore, a very pricey risk? Let us share some insights on how to NOT get into trouble.

Don’t try this at home!

You could avoid all these risks, by simply using the Embrosa app. Our pics and videos are all verified and legally yours to share. Or to even download and use for offline marketing purposes. And all of this for only 10 euro per month, which equals what, three coffees to go? But okay, back to online!

We were inspired to inform you about this when we laid our eyes on a useful blog post about this specific issue coming from the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce. For (small) local entrepreneurs, it’s hard enough as it is! Can you imagine being subpoenaed because of that branded picture that you shared without permission? Lots of hassle, headaches, and maybe - in the worst-case scenario - hefty fines! So, what to keep in mind when you’re out there trying to find visuals and text for professional use…

Limitations to Copyright

Creating your own content by taking pictures of the goods you are selling is by far the easiest fix. That is if your brands have not provided marketing material in the first place. We’ve written a blog post a while ago on how to make great pics with your phone, you don’t need an expensive photographer, honestly. Taking your own pictures makes you the owner of those images. Quite obvious, right? Well, that works both ways of course. So all the pictures you find on the internet, that were not taken by you, therefore automatically belong to someone else. The ‘rightful owner’ is the photographer that took the specific picture. So copyright is basically all over the internet! Everything that you can find, is protected by copyright.

Copyright is yours the moment you shoot a photo, write an article, paint a piece of art. And did you know that copyright remains valid on a piece of work, 70 years after the copyright owner has passed away? And did you know that even when you alter the image, say you ‘insta a filter’ over it, it’s still that same image protected under copyright?

Apart from the fact that someone else ‘owns’ the rights to a specific picture, there is something else to think about and that’s Model Release: “A model release, known in similar contexts as a liability waiver, is a legal release typically signed by the subject of a photograph granting permission to publish the photograph in one form or another. The legal rights of the signatories in reference to the material are thereafter subject to the allowances and restrictions stated in the release, and also possibly in exchange for compensation paid to the photographed.” (see Wikipedia)

So when you go online and find a picture that presents a model, using it for commercial ends, like your business website, could very well mean that the Model Release becomes an issue. So if you have to find your own pics, try to avoid this potential issue. Brands often spread their pics with an ‘don’t use before-date’ and a ‘not to be used after-date’ message. In our app, technology’s got your back. You only see what you’re supposed to see!

If you want to be sure that you’re using copyright-free pictures, next to having your content made for you or using Embrosa, alternatives are either paid picture databases such as Shutterstock and iStockphoto. Or, the free databases, such as the Unsplash Library or Pexels. The downside of the free versions? Their pics get used a lot and a lot ...

Quotation right

Last but not least, keep in mind: quotation right. Basically prohibiting you from copy-pasting any piece of text from the internet (or any form of publication for that matter) and sharing it as if it were yours. You can quote and you can use branded content, but you have to always refer to your source. And, if you’re using text from the internet for commercial goals, you need permission to do so, without a doubt.

Our two cents?

Don’t copy-paste your way into trouble. Know the facts, think about the use of pictures, videos, and other available online material, like blogs or articles. Yes, be out there online, engage with your followers, your customers. Ask your suppliers and sales agents for marketing material that is free for you to use online. And if they wanna make your life easier, they’ll make sure to ship their story with Embrosa. That way, all you'd have to do is get your smartphone out and download whatever branded picture you’d like to use. It almost sounds too good to be true, right? Try it, you’ll like what you see! Copyright that! ©