Need to Know: The FTC’s Influencer Guidelines + TURNER Tips

Marketers, influencers and digital enthusiasts alike had an array of questions and concerns following the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) very first settlement with individual influencers for sharing undisclosed endorsed content. The settlement arrived in the wake of the government agency sending 21 warning letters to notable social stars earlier this year. To clear up any lingering confusion, the FTC recently hosted an hour-long Twitter chat.

TURNER’s Digital Team participated in the virtual conversation and pulled pertinent educational takeaways to share with you. We’ve also included our content recommendations that will help to ensure that you are complying with the FTC’s newly revised Endorsement Guides while continuing to organically elevate the user experience.

Make sure to CLEARLY disclose when you have a financial, professional, or family relationship with a brand. In order for your partnerships to be seamless and authentic, you want your influencers to align with the brand’s core values, appeal to the brand’s target audience and are genuinely interested in the brand’s offerings.

TURNER Tip: Avoid ambiguous language in your copy such as: #collab, #sp, #spon, or #ambassador. Have influencers include hashtags like #ad and #[BrandName] Partner early in the caption. That way, there is no confusion and followers do not have to press “more” in order to see the endorsement.

If possible violations of the Endorsement Guides are brought to the FTC’s attention, they will typically focus on the advertisers, ad agencies and PR firms involved.

TURNER Tip: You can avoid deceptive marketing by formulating written contracts that plainly outline the expectations of the influencers and provide explanations of what can and can’t be said about your products.

When developing social contests and sweepstakes that will involve influencers, ensure that hashtags explicitly stipulate that posts are incentivized.

TURNER Tip: According to the FTC, “sweeps” may be considered ambiguous and confusing to the audience. The hashtag should include words like sweepstakes, contest and giveaway.

Since visual platforms, such as Snapchat and Instagram Stories, share content that expire, disclosures should be superimposed over every post.

TURNER Tip: When sending an influencer on a sponsored trip, your brand or agency can work to create a template that will disclose the partnership throughout the trip in an appealing and stylish way.