Y’all. Don’t fret. That the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is sticking their nose into your business is validating. Yes, sure, it might be a bit of a nuisance, but well—what are you supposed to do if not comply? Influencer marketing, as we all know, has grown tremendously since its inception. The more it does, the more Johnny Law steps in to protect the consumer… or something.    Influencers

At any rate, we’d be doing you a disservice if we didn’t break it down for you because without you we’re nothing! We at REP are all about bringing influencers, marketers, and brands together—and to us, protecting that union comes along with helping it flourish.      Influencers

In short, the FTC publishes ever-evolving guidelines. Guidelines = rules and regulations, and in this instance, influencers, it’s probably not wise to adhere to the adage: Rules were made to be broken. So you don’t have to sift through the dense document, peep the summary below and you’ll be just fine.

What You Need To Know:

• Influencers are required to disclose their financial arrangement with brands/companies in a clear manner.

• This doesn’t mean you’ve got to say, “_____ gave me 15k to post about this shit.” In fact, it’s not entirely to do with monetary compensation. If it’s a barter (e.g. free product for a post) it’s got to be disclosed.

• #ad, #sponsored are common ways to do this.

• If your tweet or post links to a sponsored blog post, that messaging is considered sponsored and must be disclosed in the messaging.

• It’s best not to hide any of the above amidst an avalanche of hashtags, or obscure it in other ways. Remember, your audience isn’t just other influencers. Assume that a child or an elderly person is following along. If you think they’d be able to understand the messaging, you should be fine!

• Finally, the disclosure must be in the same medium as the advertisement posted by the influencer—and must be able to be easily understood by the layman.

For more on FTC shenanigans:

Click here, here, or here.

Influencers