Social media use is so common that most of us don’t give it a second thought, but there are certain legal restrictions that apply. For example, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has guidelines for social media influencers clarifying when and how influencers must disclose sponsorships to their followers.
A social media influencer is someone with a dedicated group of followers who is viewed as an expert within their niche. When influencers recommend specific brands, their followers tend to trust their advice.
In other words, an ardent follower of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson who sees his Instagram post with a photo of himself wearing an athletic facemask and touting its benefits is likely to buy one.
Many of his followers don’t care that The Rock is paid handsomely by Under Armour to promote its products, but you’d likely feel deceived if you discovered that the trail shoes recommended by the host of your favorite fitness Facebook page, the bakery touted by a prominent local food-porn Instagrammer, the time-management app suggested by a productivity consultant on LinkedIn, and the cat litter praised by an adorable kitten on YouTube were really just paid advertisements.
The guidelines require an influencer to properly disclose any financial, personal, family or employment relationship to a brand.
The reasoning is obvious. I might not be in such a rush to purchase the cat litter your cat is recommending on YouTube if I know that you’re employed by Fresh Step. Likewise, I might not be as eager to visit the bakery hashtagged in your croissant photo if I find out your wife and sister own the bakery.
Learning that your boyfriend is the developer of the time-management app you suggested will cause me to wonder if the app is as great as you say, and I definitely won’t trust your shoe recommendation as much if I’m aware that Saucony paid you $1,000 to endorse the shoes – or just gave you a free pair of shoes.
Of course, this is precisely why social media influencers would prefer not to disclose the relationship: an endorsement is more effective if an influencer’s followers believe the endorsement is an honest evaluation based on the influencer’s personal experience and knowledge.
This is why the FTC developed guidelines to help influencers make appropriate disclosures so that their followers will be able to more accurately weigh the value of their endorsements.
When and What to Disclose
Influencers should disclose any financial, employment, personal, or family relationship with a brand. Receipt of free or discounted products or services should always be disclosed, even if you weren’t asked to mention that product or service.
You must disclose the relationship even if you think your followers already know, and even if you think your evaluations are unbiased.
The guidelines specifically say that tags, likes, pins, and similar ways of showing you like a brand or product are endorsements too.
How to Disclose
Disclosures must be hard to miss. They should appear with the endorsement message, not just on a profile or “about” page or at the end of posts or videos. The guidelines provide more information about where disclosures should appear on some specific social media platforms.
Disclosures must also be in clear, simple language and avoid abbreviations when possible.
Don’t Mislead
The guidelines remind influencers that they can’t legally talk about their experiences with products they’ve never tried and that if they’ve tried a product and hated it, they can’t say they liked it.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about these guidelines or about FTC guidelines for companies who compensate social media influencers and use testimonials in their advertising.
Photo by Olivier Bergeron on Unsplash
