360DigitalInfluence

Upfront Disclosure: John Bell is the President of WOMMA and Managing Director of 360 Digital Influence, which means I work for him and he controls my livelihood.

Sometimes I read a blog post and feel cheated. It happens when I run into references to a product or service that seems out of place or just unnecessary. I figure the blogger is paid for the reference, but I’m never sure. Maybe they just enjoy the product. Who knows? Well, knowing is important - important enough to feel a little off-put and a little wary of both the blogger and the brand.

WOMMA targeted this lose-lose result Monday in a live webinar discussing what exactly constitutes “disclosure” regarding relationships between brands and influencers. The diverse panel agreed on a lot. If a blogger/influencer has a relationship with a brand and writes about the brand they need to disclose that relationship clearly, candidly and upfront. To put it simply, there must be no ambiguity from a reader’s perspective that a relationship exists. Suggestions on how to eliminate ambiguity varied from having two separate blogs – one personal and one for reviews (which didn’t work for one blogger) - to disclosing relationships early and often in a post - even linking to a “Terms of Engagement” document that outlines the relationship. Ultimately, having set guidelines will benefit everyone and the discussion on best practices will continue up to and through the FTC releases their updated guidelines (likely October 2009).

What struck me as most interesting was the overwhelming sentiment that those who fail to provide full and clear disclosure will be “called out” and punished by the marketplace. The correlating result is a rational and utopic conclusion – the good people win. Unfortunately, the marketplace isn’t rational. It does self-police, but not that well. With a who’s who of WOM practitioners and an active Twitter stream, it was difficult to come up with one good example of a company or influencer being punished by the marketplace for failing to disclose a relationship.

The irrational marketplace is why WOMMA’s efforts to promote ethical practices are critical. We want the good people to win - especially the ones with superior products and transparent relationships with influencers. WOMMA is leading the effort to make it easy for people who want to do the right thing to know what the right thing is and how to do it.

In the complicated world of social media gray areas many questions still remain. What about Twitter? What does disclosure look like when you’re already working with 140 characters? What are the consequences for failing to disclose? A monetary fine? Would a punishment on WOM channels be more effective? And the persistent unknown - people will continue to search for loopholes and carve exceptions. How will they be addressed? What’s next?