Marketer Overview
On December 1, 2009 the FTC officially began enforcing their new “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,” which specifically address social media. Under the new guides marketers and social media content creators are responsible for disclosure of material relationships and the accuracy of content created as part of social media marketing campaigns.
IZEA’s Leadership in SMS Ethics
- OCT 2006 – Industry’s First Disclosure Policy™
- FEB 2007 – Industry’s First Disclosure Badge™
- APR 2008 – Machine Readable Disclosure
- MAY 2009 – Industry’s First Disclosure Audit™
- AUG 2009 – Disclosure Engine™ For Tweets
The IZEA FTC Compliance Suite
The FTC guide covers three basic areas of compliance: education, monitoring and enforcement. IZEA provides technology platforms and solutions designed to facilitate, automate and track compliance for any size social media campaign.
Education
Requirement
Marketers are obligated to educate and inform people participating in social media marketing programs of their responsibilities surrounding disclosure and claims.
IZEA Solution
- IZEA University provides free educational courses covering the responsibilities of all social media marketing campaign participants.
- Participants are bound by the Terms of Service of each platform, which require disclosure and FTC Compliance.
- Systematic prompts with disclosure reminders prior to each campaign.
- Advertiser controlled campaign information regarding product claims.
Monitoring
Requirement
Marketers are responsible for actively monitoring each piece of content created by campaign participants to ensure compliance with the guidelines.
IZEA Solution
- Every IZEA platform provides an FTC Compliance Dashboard with real-time view of submissions
- SocialSpark provides marketers with the industry’s only Disclosure Audit™.
- Sponsored Tweets enables marketers to pre-approve messages and ensure compliance via its proprietary Disclosure Engine™ technology.
Enforcement
Requirement
Marketers must halt any program or individual involved in deceptive representation upon discovery. Marketers should make reasonable effort to correct any misinformation and discontinue utilizing individuals who fail to comply with the guidelines.
IZEA Solution
- Every IZEA marketplace allows advertisers to view, flag and deny compensation to those participants who fail to meet disclosure or factual accuracy requirements.
- All dispute, flag and issue resolution data is stored by IZEA. We provide record of advertiser enforcement of the FTC guidelines if needed.
- IZEA removes social media creators and advertisers who fail to comply with FTC guidelines from its marketplaces.
