The U.S. Word of Mouth Marketing Association (“WOMMA”) published earlier today a new edition of its Social Media Marketing Disclosure Guide (see: The WOMMA Guide to Disclosure in Social Media Marketing).
From WOMMA:
“As part of WOMMA’s continuing effort to advance and advocate ethical word of mouth, WOMMA has updated our social media marketing disclosure guide that highlights best practices and responsibilities of using social media.
The WOMMA Ethics Code is the cornerstone for prudent practices in the WOM industry. In light of the December 2009 effective date of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, WOMMA leadership responded to member demand for additional disclosures for social media marketing. This is a continuation of an effort started in 2008 when WOMMA began formalizing best practices by engaging industry leaders, members, nonmembers, academics and consumers.
These guidelines are considered living documents and are updated on occasion to reflect changes in regulation and in the marketplace.
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Scope of WOMMA Social Media Disclosure GUIDE
As social media is ever-changing, the WOMMA Social Media Disclosure Guide will be a living document – continuing to be refined to reflect evolving industry best practices. Note also that many WOMMA programs are hybrid in nature and are developed to incentivize traditional (offline) as well as digital and social initiatives. While the mechanics of these types of conversation might be different, the expectation is that such communications should be consistently ethical and credible, both in the online and offline environment. Key online platforms covered in this Guide include, but are not limited to blogs (eg., Blogger, WordPress), microblogs (e.g., Twitter, Pinterest), online comments (e.g., Disqus), social networks (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Bebo, Hi5), video sharing websites (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo), photo sharing websites (e.g., Flickr, Picasa, Pinterest), curated content (Storify.com, Paper.li, Scoop.it), sponsored content, affiliate networks, referral networks and podcasts. Note, platform names are for example only and may be updated from time to time as new platforms and types emerge or evolve.
Social Media and the Responsibilities of Marketers and Advocates
With the rising popularity of social media websites from blogs to Twitter to Facebook, the issue of ethical word of mouth marketing has taken on new prominence. Many brands and agencies are designing word of mouth marketing programs to foster relationships with social media participants (Those sponsored participants or speakers are referred to in this document as “advocates.”).
Responsibility of Marketers
Marketers must institute a company-wide social media policy that takes these responsibilities into account for their own employees and ensure that their agencies, partners, networks and vendors have policies that are in alignment with the marketer’s policy or guidelines ensuring that advocates are educated, monitored and supervised accordingly. Furthermore, marketers have a responsibility to ensure that their relationships to advocates are adequately disclosed in five ways. (These five ways can found in full detail in the Social Media Disclosure Guide).
Responsibility of Advocates
Advocates also have a responsibility to ensure their relationship to a marketer is adequately disclosed. An advocate must disclose his or her relationship to a marketer when making statements or providing reviews about that marketer’s product or service, or a competitor’s, as part of a marketing program or initiative in effect at the time of review or statement. Finally, an advocate must comply with stated social media or blogging policies.
Clear and Prominent Disclosure
No matter which platform is used, adequate disclosures must be clear and prominent. Language should be easily understood and unambiguous. Placement of the disclosure must be easily viewed, in the body of a message, in close proximity to the statement(s) the disclosure modifies, and not hidden deep in the text or deep on the page. All disclosures should appear in a reasonable font size and color that is both readable and conspicuous to consumers where they are accessing the content, provide context to the nature of the relationship being disclosed and be presented in a format which is consistently communicated across syndicated platforms or channels.
Policy Best Practices
As stated above, marketers and their agencies, partners and vendors are required to have a social media policy, playbook or guidelines that are clearly stated, communicated and in alignment. Below are key considerations with regard to developing best practices:
1. Mandate a disclosure policy that complies with the law;
2. Make sure people who work for you or with you have a policy in place to ensure compliance; and
3. Monitor what employees or advocates are doing on your behalf for claims and disclosure.”
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