Review Sites + Influencer Marketing: Rules of the Road

3 replies
We recently had a thread about the future of review sites. Lots of people jumped in with enthusiastic (and naive) opinions. However, especially if you are in the US, there are regulations on how you must disclose your relationship with the product maker.

I wanted to break this post out because people need to see it. The content here isn't opinion: it's fact. At the least, I hope if you haven't thought of these issues before, then these videos spark a realization. These are requirements for our industry and need to be taken seriously.

I see a lot of "fast and loose" plays out there. The public is--slowly--becoming more aware of disclosure requirements. Many reviewers do not yet disclose where and under what circumstances they received the product from...even though they should. For the unaware, this many not seem like a big deal, but what if the reviewer is:

> given the product for $0 or a discount in return for a positive review?

> required to let the product provider view and edit the review before posting?

> limiting the field of products to the range they themselves are an affiliate for?


I've most recently seen this in the drawing tablet field. Reviewers dismiss competing products after giving a cursory survey, and then recommend the two or three from the one manufacturer they're affiliated with.

If they don't tell you about this connection, is it a fair review? Is it legal?

Saying, "Here are the range of manufacturers, but you should really concentrate only on these from this single product maker, because they're the best" is not a fair statement. Yet it's being done all the time. And the public is for the most part unaware, believing what they see on the internet to be true.

Here is a recent video on the topic from one of the tech people I follow on Youtube



The catalyst as described was a demand from a marketing firm working on behalf of a nifty doorbell manufacturer to get a positive review in return for the product. That is described here:



Consider this situation: a third party marketing firm that connects social media influencers with product manufacturers for the purpose of getting reviews in front of a target market is allegedly behaving in a way the manufacturer, who hired them, is saying they do not approve of.

Things get snarled up pretty quickly.

I am pretty sure most people don't even know organizations like Famebit exist.

Anyone wanting to learn about the current state of affairs of influencer marketing will get the full picture from watching these two videos. Don't be lazy--educate yourself.
#influencer #marketing #review #road #rules #sites
  • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
    Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan View Post

    Consider this situation: a third party marketing firm that connects social media influencers with product manufacturers for the purpose of getting reviews in front of a target market is allegedly behaving in a way the manufacturer, who hired them, is saying they do not approve of.

    Things get snarled up pretty quickly.
    Thanks for your post Jason.

    Just last week one of the impartial media review shows on Australian television "Media Watch" discussed another similar situation where the route into getting a story into the news is no longer via a journalist and in many cases there is no journalism involved.

    The PR company prepared everything with various video clips, case studies, testimonials and reviews from users of a particular product along with expert medical opinions and filmed interviews.

    The story ran across all networks and in print media as NEWS but when the story was investigated all the reviews, testimonials, expert medial opinions etc were all paid for or were by people affiliated to the product being promoted.

    Nowhere was there any disclosure.

    The presenter made the point that with hundreds of journalists losing their jobs across the major media organisations (there was a story before this one where 120 journos got the axe at Fairfax) that these organisations now prefer to have content served up to them ready to go so they don't need to have any expenditure on creating content.

    Here is link to the transcript and there is a video on that page also.
    Media Watch: PR power wins again (21/03/2016)

    Best regards,

    Ozi
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  • Profile picture of the author nwik
    Thanks for sharing them. You created such a very informative thread.

    You two had a great discussion of facts. Thanks for sharing.

    Good to know things like this.
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  • Profile picture of the author onegoodman
    Thanks for the post, everyone specially in U.S. must be familiar with FTC Guidelines, or at least bother reading their Q&A for endorsement and reviews

    The FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking

    Shamefully, i have met a lot of bloggers and internet marketers who never even know what FTC and the fact they have guideline.

    I would advice everyone to read their Q&A which is a simplified version of what you should know as IMer.
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