Influencer Marketing 🤩

Influencer Marketing 🤩

“Influencers” use social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube, to develop and share content with their followers or subscribers, namely: consumers. Influencer content can include product review videos 📹 of anything from power tools to cosmetics 💄, carefully curated lifestyle and fashion 👗👢 photos, and compilations of desirable products, like the most comfortable face masks 😷 (#pandemic) or the best Christmas gifts 🎄🎁 for the foodie in your life.

The difficulty with this form of marketing is the average consumer may not be able to determine whether an influencer that endorses a particular product or brand is being compensated in some way to do so. If he or she is, that such content may engage the deceptive marketing provisions of the Competition Act if the fact of the compensation or benefit is not disclosed.

In fact, more than one-third of Canadian adults under 35 report having made a purchase 🛍️ based on an influencer’s recommendation. This number will only increase as a record number of consumers are expected to shop online this holiday season to respect physical distancing measures.

Following is the DO’s 💁‍♀️ and DON’Ts 🙅‍♀️ of doing it for the ‘gram’ 👇

DO disclose all connections 🔗 to relevant brands and products

In all posts, stories, and other online content that promotes a particular brand, product, or service, influencers should be clear about their “material connections” to the company in question.

Disclosures must be:

🌟 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫: Unambiguous, obvious terms like #gifted or #ad and a mention of the brand or product in question are preferable to ambiguous terms like “partner” and “ambassador.” Linking or tagging a brand or posting a discount code is likely not sufficient to ensure disclosure of a material connection is clear.

🌟 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭: The disclosure should not be buried in a long caption or list of hashtags #️⃣ and should be reasonably noticeable to consumers.

🌟 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞: Viewers should be able to see 👀 the disclosure on all devices without clicking 🖱️ or expanding. Verbal disclosures may be acceptable in some limited instances depending on the social media platform in question, but should generally be accompanied by written 🖊️ or visual 🖼️ disclosures, which are preferable. The text of visual disclosures should be large enough to be easily read by viewers on the medium in question.

🌟 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭: The disclosure should travel with the post when shared. For example, an Instagram story with the hashtag #giftedbycompanyA appearing in text on the post’s image would maintain the disclosure when screenshot or shared by another user. On the other hand, a disclosure appearing in the written caption of a YouTube video 📹 may become separated from the video when shared or copied to other platforms, so a disclosure appearing in the video itself would be preferable.

🌟 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭: Prior to posting any content, the influencers review the context of the post and consider whether, in the circumstances, the connection to the company in question will be clear ✨ to new viewers / subscribers. As such, influencers should not assume, on the basis of past disclosures, that a viewer will be able to discern the connection without a clear disclosure.

DON’T create misleading content

In addition to disclosing all material connections to the company in question, influencers should base any reviews, opinions or testimonials on actual experience and should ensure that representations are honest and not false or misleading.

For example, influencers could discuss their personal opinions 💬 after having used a cosmetics product, but should not make broad or generalised assertions that cannot be backed up. They might indicate that a product successfully covered their blemishes, but should not unequivocally promise it will cover all blemishes, unless such a claim is specifically endorsed by the company and based on adequate and proper testing. Brands should regularly verify that influencers are not making performance claims on their behalf unless these criteria are met.

Health claims are especially sensitive and typically need to be based on the product’s Health Canada-approved label. Influencers must stick to what has been approved and not exaggerate health benefits.

Companies should also avoid “astroturfing,” which includes sponsoring fake consumer reviews or testimonials or any other commercial representations that appear to be the genuine and authentic experiences of impartial consumers, but are not. Astroturfing includes requesting that company employees post their own positive reviews to inflate the average rating of the company online.

DO communicate 🗣️ regularly with influencers about your policies and expectations

Companies that regularly advertise or promote their products or services through influencers should develop or maintain influencer marketing policies covering the above-noted points and include reference to them in any contracts. All influencers affiliated with the company through receipt of paid sponsorships or free or discounted products, services or trips or other compensation or benefits should receive the policy at least biannually, as should employees and any agents the company engages for advertising.

It may also be appropriate for companies to include reminders about best practices every time they send a product or perk to an influencer.

The influencer advertising market is unlikely to shrink anytime soon and neither influencers nor brands will want to cut themselves off from the potential revenues associated with it, but they should do so wisely.

Reference:
Erin Brown, December 10, 2020, Limiting deceptive marketing risks on
social media