What You Should Consider Before Working With Influencers — According to P&G’s Legal Counsel


Influencer marketing has taken over many industries, particularly the beauty and self-care industry. With such a large and loyal following, it is hard to deny the power and influence that online influencers have. So how do companies deal with such an important marketing tool in a legal and effective way? P&G’s legal counsel spoke to Social Media Today to break it down.

Nathaly Salgado
Sep 1, 2018 · 2 min read

Primarily, the FTC has started enforcing regulations that clearly state that sponsored posts must be clearly stated, and not hidden behind lengthy captions and hashtags. It is up to companies to enforce these guidelines to avoid any problems or even potential lawsuits. At the end of the day, while the influencer may post the undisclosed sponsorship, the brand will most likely get the most negative repercussions from these slip-ups.

This brings about one of the biggest problems with influencer marketing: the lack of control. While companies can send over scripts and talking points for influencers to display their products, the content will ultimately be created by the influencer, not the brand.Relinquishing control means opening the company up to liabilities that could tarnish a brand’s reputation. Aligning with the wrong influencer means aligning with their values and branding, meaning an influencer slip-up affects the company too.

The solution that P&G provides: clearly stated contracts that clearly communicate brand expectations as well as outlining legal requirements, in order to keep influencers accountable when they are representing a company.

However, despite, all the obstacles and legal hoops to jump through, influencer marketing is not going anywhere. In fact, influencer marketing has become an integral part of many companies’ marketing and PR campaigns. Social media platforms are noticing this and are attempting to make things easier. For example, Instagram has added a “sponsored post” feature that appears on influencers’ paid posts, ensuring FTC guidelines are being followed.

I believe that seeing as how important influencer marketing has become, more social media platforms, like Youtube, will help make sure FTC guidelines are being followed by including more features that will clearly show which posts are paid advertisements. I also think that companies will start to become more intentional and cautious when choosing which influencers to pay for sponsored content. Especially recently, the beauty community has seen many of their top influencers go down because of a controversial tweet or Facebook post. Companies cannot afford to go down with them.

You can find the original article at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/5-must-have-considerations-when-working-with-influencers-according-to-pg/522037/

    Nathaly Salgado

    Written by

    Third-Year Advertising Major at the University of Florida

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