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Facebook's New Branded Content Policy & The FTC's Defined Stance Over Paid Social Media
February 13, 2018
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Monetizing social media is an important stream for any business as we look for different areas of growth.
And with that comes ever changing rules.
Facebook's updated Branded Content Policies now states:
- You as the publisher and/or content producer are prohibited from accepting anything of value to post media you did not create, weren't involved in creating, or doesn't feature you or your brand.
- The new terms of service also forbids placing ads in audio, videos or images.
And as always, branded content may only be posted using the branded content tool.
Failure to comply can result in warnings, or for repeated violations, the shutdown of Pages.
The FTC also updated their paid social media rules recently.
Facebook's "handshake icon" does not replace the word "ad" or "sponsored." You still need to be clear the post is an ad.
FTC's Do's and Don'ts for Paid Social Media:
- Do use "ad," "#ad," "sponsored," or "promotion."
- Don't use #thankyou, #sp, #client; anything ambiguous or confusing.
- Don't assume Facebook's "PAID" built in disclosure through the hand shake icon is sufficient.
- Do superimpose #ad on platforms like Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook Stories.
- Do make sure the Snap, Instagram or Facebook story offers enough time for the audience to look at the image and see #ad.
- Don't talk about your experience with a product if you haven't tried it.
- Don't say a product is terrific if you were paid to try it and thought it was terrible.
- Don't worry if you write about how much you like something you bought on your own and you're not being rewarded.
- The FTC is only concerned about endorsements that are made on behalf of a sponsoring advertiser.
The FTC (and Facebook) basically looks at whether disclosures are easily noticed and understood.
And because Facebook is not a reliable partner - we want to pay attention to their every pivot. Facebook will always unexpectedly call an audible on "their rules" just when we think we've got it.
So to protect our brands, the overarching goals for every content piece (organic or paid) should be:
- Create Meaningful Interactions
- Build on Being Seen as Trustworthy
- Transparency
Focus on content (organic or paid) that's truly social and you'll do great.
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