Andy Sernovitz knows social media before we could say “mama ” or “papa” so I cant wait for his session. “we’re talking about ethics but really talk about Trust”. You need the trust of your community who like you/your product and share it with their friends.
The difference between honesty and sleazery is “disclosure”. When people say who they are and what they stand for it increases their reliability. I have seen it happening in real life over and over again. It’s not about enforcing rules, it’s about making sure everyone in the organization is on the same page regarding FTC stated what rules are, of how not to get in trouble:
1) Requires disclosure and truthfulness in social media – basically dont lie to people on who you are and what you stand for.
2) Monitor conversation and correct mistakes.
3) Create Social Media policies and training programs.
Andy is adding three tips from the socialmedia.org front:
1) never pay people to make statements on your behalf. that will ruin trust completely.
2) real disclosure – if you give disclosure, do it properly, e.g. not at the bottom of the post in small letters, but at the top, stated clearly. Needs to be upfront.
3) don’t lie to your mom 
So, what info do you need to include in your disclosure:
- who are you
- were you paid
- is your post/statement an honest opinion based on real experience?
Related articles
- Andy’s Answers: 3 elements of proper social media disclosure (smartblogs.com)
- Pfizer’s Simple Social Media Playbook (goodpromotionalpractices.com)
