Small Business News

Handpicked Media paid Twitterers to promote its clients’ products; effectively to carry out “word of mouth” endorsements/advertising for its clients.  The OFT investigated, and after a 6 month enquiry concluded that Handpicked Media had breached the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations Act, and been misleading consumers by not making it apparent that the tweets had been financially endorsed.  Following the investigation, Handpicked Media agreed to make changes and stating in every tweet or blog that it has been written in return for money.  Given that Twitter has a 140 character limitation,  it has been agreed that on Twitter the “hash tag” symbol is sufficient for this purpose; e.g. adding #advert or #sponsored or similar, while in other online media it has to be spelled out in full (just like in the printed media).

This decision has preceded the new advertising laws, which have made it even harder for professional blogers and tweeterers to avoid similar investigations.  Under the new Regulations, when a tweet (or blog, or Facebook post) is really an advertisement, it must be clearly labelled as such or otherwise the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) will force the commissioning company to remove the online advert and content that is in breach of regulations.

What does it mean for your business?

If someone submits a complaint about the accuracy of your website content, social network posts or any other 3rd party online advertising material to the ASA, they will follow it up and take action.

If you are making offers that apply to restricted geographical areas or communities but reach via your social media or pay per click advertising others, too, you need to be make it very clear who can apply for or purchase.   If not, a complaint by someone who wants, but can’t have, your product could put you in breach of the rules.

If you mention anywhere on the internet your competitors or their products your comments or comparisons must be relevant, verifiable and fair.  

 If you advertise prices on your site, they must be up-to-date, ?clear about any additional costs (VAT, delivery etc) and the time taken for delivery.

You must have evidence to back up any claims you make online.  If your product “will save your customers £1000?s a year”, you must be able to demonstrate that it did indeed save £1000 a year to ALL of your customers.  This also extends to exaggerating the potency or effectiveness of your offers.  For instance, if you post that “our product will save you money” it could also be unacceptable unless you can substantially back this statement up with evidence.

Note that only one supermarket squeezed into teh top 10, and there was a conspicuous lack of high  street retail brands, such as M&S, John Lewis or Primark. 

‘What is needed is a balance between the consumers’ desire for a brand and the price they are prepared to pay for it,’ said Peter Walshe, director of researchers Millward Brown.”

Source: Data from Millward Brown, reported by Metro, 14th March 2011

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/858080-amazon-named-best-value-brand-in-britain

Business angel investing has grown significantly in the last 10 years in Europe.  EBAN has a key role in growing the early stage investment asset class from 3 billion € to an expected 10 billion € in the coming years.  As angels are becoming more active and sophisticated, collaboration with other early stage investors for deal flow, co-investment and exit opportunities are key.  This is the central theme of this year’s event.

Their survey of 315 small and mid-sized businesses showed that a third of their IT systems have been infected by malware picked up from a social network. Facebook appears to be the number one culprit, with 71.6% of malware infections and 73.2% of privacy compromises.  In addition, 41% of YouTube logins resulted in malware infections and just over half of Twitter accounts (51%) suffered privacy compromises.

In the US, an alarming, 35% of those who were infected via a social network suffered financial losses, some totalling more than $100,000.  Again, the top culprit was Facebook with 62% of those who lost money being able to trace the loss to Facebook use.

The risks associated with social media use at work are of course balanced against the need for managing the companies social media accounts, with over two-third (69%) of the companies using social media on company computers.  Only a third of the companies (31.7%) banned games.

On a positive note, more and more companies put proper social media governance policies in place for employees and try to maintain up-to-date network security solutions to minimize risk and ultimately prevent loss.

From 31st March 2011, visitors to the regional Business Link websites will be redirected to a new web page on the national Business Link website.  Local business support information, previously published on the regional websites, will now appear in the main Business Link website’s directories (Events, Business Support Finder and Contacts).

The main Business Link website businesslink.gov.uk is also getting a new home page that will direct you more easily to guides, tools and information about business support services.

A business start-up hub, including simple online training and support, access to online incorporation, a new tax ‘dashboard’ and information on government regulation is also being developed for BusinessLink.

If that sounds like what you are looking for in a social network, than this great list from Small Biz Bee is definitely for you.  Click here to view the list.

The Government is amending the Companies Act to bring small company audit rules in line with the EU minimum in 2012 to save UK companies unnecessary audit fees.  According to the plans, no small firm will have to have independently audited accounts any longer, saving 42,000 businesses £40 million per year.  

The Government is also considering removing the requirement for micro-companies to produce specific accounts for Companies House in addition to those they produce for tax purposes.  The changes would mean that the 2 million micro companies would produce just one simplified set of accounts and then be able to concentrate resources on growing, expanding and creating jobs instead of bureaucracy.

Government will also look at relaxing the audit and account rules for subsidiaries. The change will mean that dormant subsidiaries with parent company guarantees could be exempted from the requirement to prepare and publish annual accounts.