The FTC is the Federal Trade commission. It’s a government agency that is responsible for consumer protection. It’s goal is to make sure business practices remain fair and stop scams and deceptive advertising. All of the crazy footnotes you see at the bottom of some commercials. They were required by the FTC. But what do fashion bloggers need to know about the FTC Guidelines? A lot, actually.
You need to know and follow the FTC, if you plan to share sponsored blog or social media posts, or you’re making money with affiliate links.You don’t want to find yourself on the wrong end of a law enforcement action. On the other hand, it’s also good to disclose, because your readers and followers have the right to know when you are sharing organic content and when you are sharing sponsored content.
Fashion Bloggers and FTC Guidelines
You have to disclose if you are being compensated to say something on social media, photographing something to share on social channels, or being paid a commission when people use your link to buysomething on the internet.
No doubt, that sounds super simple, but over the years people have used a lot of different techniques to disclose, and not all of them meet the FTC guidelines.The FTC wants to see disclosures that are conspicuous and located close to the claim or promotion.
Today I’m going to break down some of the biggest pieces fashion bloggers need tobe aware of.
FTC Guidelines and Blog Posts
You must disclose if you receive compensation in exchange for writing a blog post about a brand/product, or if you receive free product in exchange for a blog post. Disclosures can be written in text or on a photo, but they must be conspicuous, and must appear before any links that would lead a reader away from your site and over to the sponsor’s site.
Sample Blog Post Disclosures:
“This is a sponsored post written on behalf of my partner [brand], but all opinions are my own.”
“I was sent [product] to try by [brand].”
FTC Guidelines and Social Media Posts
You need to disclose before the link if you’re sharing a post on social media in exchange for monetary compensation or product. Youcannotbury your disclosure in with a clump of other hashtags, and it needs to come before a “read more”break. This is especially important on Instagram where you need to make sure you have your disclosure appear in the first three lines of text in your caption.
Sample Social Media Disclosures:
#ad, #sponsored, #[brand]partner
Social Media Disclosures that the FTC has said do not meet their guidelines:
#partner, #sp, #spon, #ambassador #collab
FTC Guidelines and Sponsored Videos
In addition, if you’re creating a video for compensation, or received free product in exchange for a video, you need to include a disclosure.The disclosure for videos is similar to what you would include on a social media or a blog post. There is one big thing to note. If you are talking in your video, you need to disclose verbally. But that isn’t all – you also need to discloseinwriting on the video in case people are watching it without the sound on.
FTC Guidelines and IG Stories orSnapchat
If you’re sharing a sponsored post on Snapchat or in an IG story,either in exchange for monetary compensation or free product,you need to superimpose a disclosure on your picture or video before sharing. If you have multiple videos or pictures, you need to include the disclosure on each one, to make sure your followers don’t miss it on the first one.
FTC Guidelines and Affiliate Links
In the past, influencers were regularly using #affiliatelinkto disclose their affiliates. The FTC has said this is not enough of a disclosure, because most people don’t know what an affiliate is. Instead, you need to explain what an affiliate link does as part of your disclosure.
Just like a sponsored post disclosure, affiliate disclosures need to be conspicuous, placed before any links, and not hidden on a sidebar or a websites terms and conditions.
Sample Affiliate Disclosures:
“I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.”
“I receive a cut of purchases made through the links in this post to support this blog, at no extra charge to my readers.”
If you are a fashion blogger and want to work with brands, make sure you protect yourself by always disclosing.
The FTC recently held a Twitter chat to answer influencers’ questions about their guidelines. You can see an overview and full collection of those tweets here:the FTC answers questions about disclosures from influencers.In addition to thisoverview, Iencourage you to read theFTCguidelines for yourself, because they go into deep detail about a lot of different scenarios in which you might be promoting a brand online.
Lastly, a few links from the FTC fashion bloggers should read:
XOXO,
BLENDstyles