Quick Guide: How to Ensure Your Social Media Content Meets FTC, FDA and Google Requirements

Do you have sponsors or use affiliate marketing for your products and services? If you don't, maybe you've thought about it. Did you know that you should make sure your social media, website, and advertising content meets Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Google requirements. It's about truth-in-advertising. 

Honestly, I kind of glazed over when I first read this article at Social Media Examiner about "compliance," but after I read the entire article I realized that if we all follow a few simple guidelines, we should be fine. Those guidelines are listed here (so you don't have to wade through the entire article unless you want to).

First, a bit of background info:
Back in September 2014 the FTC started slapping wrists (warning letters) as part of what it called Operation Full Disclosure. In June 2015 it showed a clear direction on this, mainly that they are likely to start regulating not just print and broadcast advertising, but websites and social media as well.   

And the bad news:
You and your company are responsible for staying abreast of regulations when producing what's called "compensated content." For example, if you're working with bloggers or YouTube video bloggers you must make sure that the people producing that content on your behalf maintain compliance. 

Follow these simple guidelines and you should be OK*:

1. FTC: Disclose Early, Clearly and Conspicuously
   That's pretty much their main guideline. For example, when you publish blog posts, you should include a simple, clear and easy-to-find disclosure near the top of the post right below the title. Something like, "We have been compensated by So-and-So and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone." For video, do the disclosure right at the beginning.
   
   While the FTC doesn't mandate specific wording of disclosures, it still requires them even in short forms of media like Twitter. Use the hashtag #ad or put "Ad:" at the beginning of your tweet.
    
2. Google: Use NoFollow Tags for Links in Sponsored Posts
   To keep compensated content from unduly affecting search rankings, you should ensure all links in anything compensated (like a blog post) contain NoFollow tags. You (or your webmaster) can customize your links to include the appropriate code.  It looks like this: <a href="http://websiteaddress.com" rel="nofollow">websiteaddress.com</a>
   
   When you contract with anyone to produce content on your behalf, be sure to let them know to make links NoFollow since you're responsible for any content they create for you.
    
3. FDA: Discuss On-Label Benefits and Potential Side Effects
   The FDA has strict regulations for claims that you are allowed to make for prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) products. I'm sure you've noticed ads for drugs and the long list of info and side effects they include. So, if you are going to make health claims about your product, do follow the rules and provide the "risk information." Also, if anyone posts on social media or advertises your product for you, they must comply with the FDA rules as well. You should check with the FDA on this one to make sure your wording is correct so that you include the product brand name, its proper medial name, on-label benefits, and potential side effects.
   
   If the advertising or social media platform doesn't enable you to follow the regulations (you could not possibly post all the side-effects in a Tweet) you should avoid using that platform.

So, bottom line, embrace transparency. It's critical to maintaining your reader's and follower's trust. Also, I dunno about you, but I don't want to have any of those organizations after me!

:-D
-Robin

* Of course, when in doubt check it out with the FTC, FDA and Google. I'm not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, just me trying to help you wade through all the regulations.

The #1 Reason Why New Businesses Succeed

We are ALL startups (new businesses) when we begin and often as we go along and grow and change, no matter the size of our businesses. The reality is that most new businesses fail. Fortunately for us, this guy studied why new businesses don’t fail.  

I like it. I'm a firm believe that you get what you focus on, so, it's best to study reasons for success and not failure.

So, what does make for a successful startup?  The image above shows five areas that contribute to success. They all matter, but the biggest factor was timing. Not money, not ideas, not the team, and not the business model. 

Bill Gross is the founder, chair and CEO of Idealab, an incubator of new inventions, ideas and businesses. A long time entrepreneur (since high school), he has started (and sold) multiple companies. He got curious about the companies he now works with, a dug into the stats to see what matters most for success. It's not what you think, not money, not even a business plan. It's something that applies to us all no matter how small our businesses.

Watch this TED Talk, it's really good.

Enhance Your Reach With Rented Mailing Lists

We work with creative people including a lot of fine artists. We get a lot of questions about mailing lists. "Should I rent a list or just use what I have?" Here's what we recommend:

When you have an event to announce, or want to expand your reach with a postcard or brochure mailing, it might be a good idea to rent a mailing list in addition to contacting your own list. 

Why? Let's use one of our clients as an example. She was an emerging artist with her first show at a local gallery. Her own mailing list was very small, so in addition to relying on the gallery's advertising and mailing list (which was minimal) I suggested that we rent a mailing list - a snail mail list NOT an email list - to extend her reach and attract more people to the opening reception for the show. Here's what we did:

1. We rented a list through a reputable printing company who could print and mail the cards for us.
   Mailing lists can be "opt-in," meaning the people on the list agreed to be on the list, and "scraped," gleaned from public information like phone books. Both are OK, but check how often they "clean" the list (eliminating bad addresses) and check their BBB/Yelp ratings to make sure people are happy with the work. Since the printing company we used addressed the cards and used their first class bulk permit to mail them, we saved on labor and postage. There are many reputable companies to choose from, just do your homework or ask us to help. 
   
   
2. We worked with the printing company to carefully search for people to include on the list.
   We asked for people who lived within 30 miles of the gallery, with a household income over $75,000, and who had expressed an interest in fine art. Result: thousands of names and addresses. We refined the list down to a couple of thousand names/addresses as the budget was limited. 
   
   We did not ask for email addresses. In my opinion never rent or buy email addresses. The may say that the people "opted in" but, really, who in their right mind would opt in to be emailed a bunch of stuff they didn't ask for?
   
   
3. We designed a postcard using the same image the gallery used on their advertising.
   Using  colors and images consistently for each mailing/event helps people to start to recognize and remember you. Inviting them to an event (and especially a reception) imparts a sense of urgency, much more so than "Go look at my website." 
   
   Make sure whatever you mail gives your contact info PLUS a name, address, website url, and dates for the event.  
   
   
4. The postcards were mailed first class, about two weeks before the show.
   This gave people enough time to schedule it in, but not so much time that they put it aside and forgot about it.
   
   
5. We used the list as per our rental agreement.
   It's cheaper to rent a list for a one-time use than to use it multiple times. List rental companies do check on this by seeding the list with names/addresses. Stick to the agreement.
   
   
6. At the opening reception a friend carried a clip board with paper and asked people one-to-one if they would like to be added to the artist's mailing list.
   Many people gave their email address as well and this increased the artist's mailing list with people she CAN mail or email as often as she wants.
   
   The artist also made a point of circulating around the gallery, introducing herself to as many people as possible and talking about her art with them. We also paid for a bit of catering (appetizers, wine, soft drinks) to make sure people stuck around long enough to get a really good look at the art.
   
   
7. Result: The gallery was packed and the event was lively and energetic, the artist sold several pieces and added dozens of names to her mailing list. 
   
   Extra benefit: those names are people who have seen her work IN PERSON, who KNOW HER now, and who will certainly remember the great time they had at the reception the next time they get an invite, notice, or email from the artist.

Sound good?