The rapid increase in marketing jargon and buzz words have left many a business owner, founder, executive or Board member looking glassy-eyed and slightly panicked. Terms like longtail keywords, native advertising, influencers, chatbots, earned media, ephemeral content and the likes, create goosebumps on the arms of marketing practitioners yet do induce that panic or disinterest in most others. One area that all of us in business need to be aware of due to its increasing usage and it’s often lacking, compliance requirements, is that of engaging influencers.
What is an influencer? Basically, they’re people with a degree of popularity with an audience, who use platforms to engage and share content with their audience, and weave in paid, free or sponsored content too. A modern-day, more bespoke form of the old fashioned ‘celebrity endorsement’. Often the reach is less overall, but the effectiveness can be greater as many of these people are really connected to, and respected by, their ‘tribe’.
Here’s the official word on what an influencer is, according to The New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority (ASA):
"An 'influencer’ is someone who has access to an audience by their established credibility and authenticity. They include bloggers, vloggers, tweeters, instagrammers, journalists, celebrities and people who are highly regarded in social circles, marketplaces or industries. Content created by Influencers is often non-commercial with seemingly editorial independence.
Influencers who develop and distribute content about brands may do so for commercial reasons to build their audience base, cover costs involved in running their platform and increase their income. Brands may engage with Influencers directly or indirectly via advertising or PR agencies to discuss, photograph, recommend or insert themselves into conversations about a product or service. This may range from providing free product or services to Influencers without any expectation of a review through to financial arrangements where Influencers are paid to distribute advertiser controlled content about a brand or service. When the brand has control over the content it is an advertisement and it must be identified as such. Failure of an Influencer to disclose this advertiser controlled content may leave a brand at risk of a complaint to the ASA.”
As this is a relatively new approach and exists across the ever-changing array of platforms, keeping up with the compliance and legal requirements has often been forgotten.
Early June 2019, Instagram announced it's ramping up the effectiveness of their channel for influencers, where Forbes report “Instagram, a Facebook-owned platform known for photos that inspire envy and ire, announced changes to its advertising strategy that would allow brands to promote influencer-created content in people’s feeds, even if those people do not follow the influencer’s account.” and “The ads will look similar to those already found in Instagram Feed and Stories but will be labelled “paid partnership.”
That labelling is key. The US and the UK do have a range of high profile cases recorded where they’ve warned or fined brands or influencers. In fact, since 2011, the US FTC (Federal Trade Commission – like the NZ Commerce Commission) has resolved at least 13 investigations involving social media influencer marketing. Interestingly The FTC sent warning letters to 21 social media influencers that it had previously contacted regarding disclosure issues on their Instagram posts.
And in January 2019 it was reported that the UK ad watchdog had issued warnings to "between 200 and 300" social media influencers for breaking strict rules around paid for posts on the likes of Instagram over the past few years”. Guy Parker, the UK ASA’s CEO said: “People shouldn’t have to play the detective to work out if they’re being advertised to. That means the status of a tweet, blog, vlog, Instagram post or story should be clear.”
Back here in NZ, the Retail industry site https://theregister.co.nz reminds brands that when using influencers, retailers must ensure the poster has specified that what they're posting is a paid promotion. This means either stating it within the caption or hash-tagging along the lines of ‘ad’ or ‘paid’.
Any hidden sponsorship, misleading statements or a vague notion as to whether it is sponsored or not can result in the brand and the influencer being reported for breaching advertising standards on that platform. Influencers are also required to pay GST on any payment received from advertising agencies or brands.
The ASA have published a Guidance Note regarding influencer marketing and say that “Rule 1 of the Code of Ethics states advertising should be clearly distinguishable. The Guidance Note is a reminder to all advertisers, agencies, media platforms including influencers to ensure consumers can identify advertising."
You can read here, the full guidance from the ASA.
It’s not enough to plead ignorance, and we don’t doubt that the reputational damage and the increase in the value of the fines will cause major issues for businesses here, so do seek assurances from your marketing leaders and/or providers that your brands are fully compliant.
