Social Media Marketing - 6 Jul 2018

A Helpful GDPR Checklist to Ensure Transparency and Consent in Digital Marketing

The immense size of the Internet and the new digital technologies that are associated with it, while convenient, have to an extent eroded consumers online privacy. Just recently the General Data Protection Regulation has come to fruition and with this new law there is now a requirement for digital marketing companies to drastically change the way they manage and store personal data and deliver digital marketing strategies (example, tracking online activity, intrusive marketing tactics).

In order to avoid lofty fines and to ensure that proper transparency and consent requirements are met, you can reference this helpful GDPR Checklist:

• Ensure to receive explicit permission and consent from consumers to communicate with them. Digital marketing material should include two separate boxes, one for terms and conditions and the other for consent to receive e-mail correspondence.
• Ensure document management is in place for storing records of consumer consent on how their personal information will be used by your company.
• Ensure your digital marketing content is written using clear plain language (excluding corporate jargon) in order to be in compliance with GDPR transparency.
• Provide consumers the ability to have all of their personal data removed or anonymized from your company databases upon request.
• Implement cyber security processes and protocols to ensure consumers personal information remains protected from data breaches and cyber attacks. Taking steps to appoint a data protection compliance officer who can ensure cyber security measures are in place and regularly reviewed and practiced will be highly effective in protecting consumers’ data when it comes to digital marketing.
• Ensure the right tools and processes are in place for both detecting and providing notification of data breaches in digital marketing within a 72-hour window.
• Ensure all third-party contractual partners are abiding by the GDPR and are in compliance as well, to ensure transparency and consent in digital marketing material.

With the introduction of the GDPR, all digital marketing companies will now be forced to improve upon their marketing strategies and digital marketers will need to work harder at delivering creative brand experiences to audiences, while making sure to be GDPR compliant.