Social PR Campaigns: The Government is Watching |
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| Event | Interactive 2012 |
| Format | Panel |
| Organizer | Steve Broback – The Parnassus Group |
| Speakers |
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| Description | So it’s time to start promoting that cool new service/gadget/restaurant your company or your client is offering. The plan is simple: reach out to “influencers”, send out the appropriate invitations, schwag, or other goodies, and get them to tweet/like/post etc. Maybe hold a contest, doing a drawing based on retweets of the magic hashtag. Easy, right? Not so fast. The FTC, state attorneys general, and other government agencies (and private individuals) are ready, willing, and able to pounce on promotional campaigns that fall afoul of legal requirements. The laws and regulations themselves are rigorous, can be costly to follow, but even costlier to screw up: inadequate disclosure recently cost one company $250,000 in fines for a series of blogger endorsements. When children are involved, the rules (and risks) get even more complex. That’s just the beginning. Want to give away a stack of gift cards from that cool coffee house chain or give a lucky winner the hottest new digital tablet as a prize? Be aware that many companies don’t appreciate the “exposure” you are providing by affiliating yourself with their brand, and may well send their lawyers your way. And don’t forget the social media services themselves have rules on how you may (and may not) use them for promotions. Luckily, effective and compliant social campaigns are easy to plan and execute if you know the legal landscape and take advantage of a few simple procedures and tools. |
| Questions Answered |
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| Level | Intermediate |
| Supporting Material | http://traderegulation.blogspot.com/2011/03/ftc-settles-with-company-allegedly.html http://www.iab.net/public_policy/openletter-ftc http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/jennifer-vilaga/slipstream/backlash-grows-blogosphere http://www.cmp.ly/home http://www.fuerstlaw.com/wp/index.php/24/ann-taylor-escapes-ftc-enforcement-action/ |
| Category | Branding / Marketing / Advertising |
| Tags | blogging, Marketing / PR / Branding, social influence |