Understanding FTC guidelines for influencer marketing. The FTC is cracking down on brands that aren’t following the rules and regulations for influencer marketing. Include disclosures The important point is for the influencer to get the message across to his/her audience that the brand is compensating him/her for the post. .” “Some of the products I’m going to use in this video were sent to me by XX’s manufacturers.” The FTC’s guidance is to make the audience aware of the nature of the influencer’s relationship with the brand. Make disclosures clear & conspicuous The basic question you should ask yourself when evaluating a caption for a sponsored post is, “Could anyone mistake this for a non-sponsored, organic post?” If the answer is “yes,” then the disclosure is not sufficient. Make the posts honest Brands cannot make false claims about their products in any kind of advertising. This rule applies to influencer content, as well. The FTC provides these three guidelines for avoiding false claims: You can’t talk about your experience with a product if you haven’t tried it. But what could happen to the individual content creator involved with a deceptive program? You may find yourself in the position to help your clients understand the FTC guidelines.
The FTC is cracking down on brands that aren’t following
the rules and regulations for
influencer marketing. Where they are and aren’t enforcing these
rules, though, has left many confused.
To help with your influencer marketing planning, we’ve outlined
what you need to do in order to keep your brand compliant with the
FTC Guidelines.
Include disclosures
The important point is for the influencer to get the message
across to his/her audience that the brand is compensating him/her
for the post. Surprisingly, there is no single correct way to do
this.
In the FTC guide, the organization outlines these two options
for statements as a way of properly alerting audiences that the
brand provided products for the influencer to post about:
“Company XX gave me this product to try . . .”
“Some of the products I’m going to use in this video were
sent to me by XX’s manufacturers.”
The FTC’s guidance is to make the audience aware of the nature
of the influencer’s relationship with the brand. If you’re
providing both product and additional compensation, then the
likelihood is increased that the influencer will give a favorable
review.
The addition of compensation beyond product trial could bring
into question the validity of the review. This makes disclosure
especially important.
The only two hashtag versions that seem to fully cover your
bases are #ad and #sponsored— these are the briefest ways to
declare that an influencer is receiving financial compensation, as
well as products, for a post.
Make disclosures clear & conspicuous
The basic question you should ask yourself when evaluating a
caption for a sponsored post is, “Could anyone mistake this for a
non-sponsored, organic post?” If the answer is “yes,” then the
disclosure is not sufficient.
The FTC requires that disclosures be “clear and conspicuous.”
Clear, meaning you can’t mistake it for an organic ad. Conspicuous,
meaning you can’t miss it.
When you’re giving creative direction to your influencers, make
sure that they understand the basic rules and give them some
examples of disclosure statements that they can use in their
posts.
Thinking that your influencers can bury their disclosure tag in
a second comment amongst a bunch of other tags? Think again. The
FTC guidelines clearly discourage that: “Preferably, design
advertisements so that ‘scrolling’ is not necessary in order to
find a disclosure. When scrolling is necessary, use text or visual
cues to encourage consumers to scroll to view the
disclosure.”
In short, these are the FTC’s criteria for gauging whether your
disclosure message meets their standards:
- Close to the claims to which they relate;
- In a font that is easy to read;
- In a shade that stands out against the background;
- For video ads, on the screen long enough to be noticed, read,
and understood; - For audio disclosures, read at a cadence that is easy for
consumers to follow and in words consumers will understand.
Make the posts honest
Brands cannot make false claims about their products in any kind
of advertising. This rule applies to influencer content, as well.
If the tea can’t really…
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