How do you feel about self promotion on Instagram/Facebook?

[redlottie13]

Hi all I have a question for salon owners please

...how do you feel about your staff having individual profiles on Facebook and Instagram to self promote their work?

It was never allowed when I was a stylist as the salon promoted our work for us and always mentioned who the service was done by. So clients always knew who to book in with, for that particular look!
The reason it wasn't allowed was due to inviting clients to contact stylists outside of work and the temptation to do the odd mobile client found through the salon.

Personally I don't like it, doesn't sit right with me. But I'm happy to find out what you all think.

Ps Staff contracts are being written this week so to make a decision xx

 

[Scrubadub]

When I was working in a salon the contract specifically said we weren’t allowed to do extra work on the side etc but literally all the staff there used to post pics on their own instagrams and Facebook etc. GDPR and consent forms say the the images belong to the salon so no one apart from the salon should be using them

 

[kingdomofbeauty]

Staff or self employed there is a big difference ?

Everyone in my salon is self employed, all of them self promote as they are self employed.

 

[redlottie13]

Staff or self employed there is a big difference ?

Everyone in my salon is self employed, all of them self promote as they are self employed.

Employed x

 

[AcidPerm]

Firstly, you can’t really control what people do in their own time, within reason. Therefore, your staff are entitled to set up their social media accounts and promote their hairdressing interests. So they can generally tag pictures, comment on other people’s work etc.

Some commercial organisations include clauses in their contracts that essentially boil down to ‘not bringing the company’s name into disrepute’ so they do monitor their staff social media accounts to check that they’re not posting inflammatory or illegal material. You could look at including a similar clause but you would need it carefully drafting by a competent solicitor to ensure it’s fit for purpose.

However, under Intellectual Property law, all work that an employee does in the course of their employment belongs to the employer and in law the employee cannot claim it as their own so they may not take pictures and post them on their social media accounts without your express permission.

In addition, any photos taken of clients must have their express consent before posting them online otherwise that is a breach of the revised data protection regulations (GDPR).

You do need to take control of this as you’re responsible for client confidentiality under GDPR and if a client requests you to delete their data, this would include any images taken in the salon. If the images have been uploaded to the employee’s social media accounts, you have lost control of them and could be held liable and fined.

Some staff erroneously believe that providing they take the photo on their own phone/camera, they own the copyright and can therefore post with impunity. They’re fundamentally wrong because it’s Intellectual Property law that’s the relevant issue and nothing at all to do with Copyright law.

Most salon owners won’t be too worried at this stage but if they attract any minor celebrity clients, then they’re the ones who will guard their online persona very carefully and employ others to police it for them.

 

[redlottie13]

Firstly, you can’t really control what people do in their own time, within reason. Therefore, your staff are entitled to set up their social media accounts and promote their hairdressing interests. So they can generally tag pictures, comment on other people’s work etc.

Some commercial organisations include clauses in their contracts that essentially boil down to ‘not bringing the company’s name into disrepute’ so they do monitor their staff social media accounts to check that they’re not posting inflammatory or illegal material. You could look at including a similar clause but you would need it carefully drafting by a competent solicitor to ensure it’s fit for purpose.

However, under Intellectual Property law, all work that an employee does in the course of their employment belongs to the employer and in law the employee cannot claim it as their own so they may not take pictures and post them on their social media accounts without your express permission.

In addition, any photos taken of clients must have their express consent before posting them online otherwise that is a breach of the revised data protection regulations (GDPR).

You do need to take control of this as you’re responsible for client confidentiality under GDPR and if a client requests you to delete their data, this would include any images taken in the salon. If the images have been uploaded to the employee’s social media accounts, you have lost control of them and could be held liable and fined.

Some staff erroneously believe that providing they take the photo on their own phone/camera, they own the copyright and can therefore post with impunity. They’re fundamentally wrong because it’s Intellectual Property law that’s the relevant issue and nothing at all to do with Copyright law.

Most salon owners won’t be too worried at this stage but if they attract any minor celebrity clients, then they’re the ones who will guard their online persona very carefully and employ others to police it for them.

What about screenshots though, if the original is on my salon phone, taken with consent and the stylist has screenshot it from our socials and cropped would I need to prove anything ?

 

[AcidPerm]

Obviously, once a photo is online you’ve already lost control of it, as a stylist or indeed anyone can screenshot it.
Therefore, you could make it a condition of their employment that they do not repost any salon images without your express permission. (Otherwise, they’ll just ask the client directly.)
That way, you’ll limit how much your employees can use those images for their own self promotion, if that’s your concern.