Ink Foundry - Social Media Marketing and Word of Mouth Marketing

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If your restaurant or hotel has ever provided any material compensation to an online influencer, such as a free meal or FAM trip and the relationship was not disclosed, that transaction may be in violation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines on ‘adequate disclosure’ expected to be released this Fall. And operators could be held liable for non-disclosure.

Restaurants and hotels need to be upfront about any compensation between the brand and the blogger to avoid negative repercussions from the FTC and more importantly consumers. Additionally, if the blogger fails to disclose a freebie, it could violate reader trust.

For any restaurant or hotel this means developing a core set of principles which guide relationships with bloggers and influencers. Digitial hospitality influencers will also need to create and clearly communicate when any type of compensation which has been or will be accepted.

Key Considerations:

Disclosure on both the brand and the digital influencer sides are necessary and non-negotiable.

There will be an expectation of brands to monitor activity.

Advertisers/brands could be held liable for bloggers who fail to disclose.

The “influencer” who has or will receive some form of incentive/payment/gift has an obligation to their readers to disclosure the relationship.

If money or a product is either loaned or given with out the expectation of being returned (kind of hard to return that great fine dining experience!), then it needs to be disclosed in an obvious location on both the brand website and the influencer blog.

Nine Best Practices:

• For The Brand
  • Publish a clear, detailed ‘terms of engagement’ on the website, brand microsite or campaign site.
  • Make a commitment to work with third party influencers who adhere to clear disclosure best practices by creating a one page influencer agreement.
  • Request that all third party influencers link back to the brands ‘terms of engagement’ policy.
  • A brand’s integrity and reputation are its most valuable assets, only work with agencies who commit to high ethical standards.
  • Create site badges for recurring programs.

• For the Hospitality Food, Wine, Restaurant Blogger
  • If brands don’t have a ‘terms of engagement’ for working with bloggers, then ask that they create one.
  • Commit to working with brands who adhere to standard disclosure best practices.
  • Disclose in each post. (yes, even on Twitter)
  • Create a policy that is visible and easy to read on your website, blog or Twitter account.
  • Include brand affiliation and /or your likelihood that you will receive compensation in the future in your bio.

The pending FTC guidelines should not represent a dramatic departure from current best practices for disclosure for experienced social media marketing agencies and hospitality brands.

• Posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009
• 1 comments