Review Sites + Influencer Marketing: Rules of the Road
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.
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