Posting photos shared by your customers across your social media profiles is a great way to promote your service or products.
You’re looking through your Facebook mentions or Instagram geotags and you notice an abundance of fantastic images from your customers. You’re not just going to let them go to waste, are you?
First things first, you must remember to follow the correct procedure in order to avoid copyright infringement.
“Copyright law gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and typographical arrangement of published editions, rights to control the ways in which their material may be used.” [Source]
The photographer automatically gets copyright over their image, meaning they have the right to judge what is or isn’t done with it.
So what should you be keeping in mind?
Get permission off the photographer
Be blatant with the customer about where you want to share their photo; whether that be across your social media or on your website gallery. Paperchase uses a great method for seeking photo permission on their Instagram profile. They leave a positive statement about the content, tell the customer explicitly where they want to use it and how they should reply, if they agree to the terms and conditions.
Consider using a watermark on the image
This ensures that you always give credit to the owner of the image. A watermarked image may come in handy on a platform like Twitter, because you don’t want to waste valuable characters in your post tagging the photographer.
Never claim that it’s your own photo
It’s important to make it clear that the image is not your own. If you’re tagging the photographer in the post, place the credit near the beginning of the text in order to demonstrate that you are sharing the photo.
Now go and take a look at what your audience are sharing with you - reposting images is a great way of saying ‘thanks’ and keeping your customers happy.
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