- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 0
-
Sparkle (0)
Are social media marketers implementing the new Facebook contest rules and meeting their obligations under FTC guidelines? Survey says: maybe not, or at least, not yet.
Social media marketing -- a bit like the wild west of our imaginations -- a little bit glamorous, a little bit dangerous, and as practiced by some, perhaps just a little bit dirty.
At the end of 2009, however, the Sheriff came to town. Or at least a few parts of it. Facebook's new rules for contests and sweepstakes were announced in November and updated in December. The revised FTC guidelines for endorsements and testimonials went into effect on December 1.
The landscape is bound to change. In fact, strictly speaking, it should have already. Marketers had plenty of warning about the proposed changes to the FTC guidelines, and their responsibilities under them. The Facebook changes were more of a surprise but they seem fairly straightforward (and a revenue boon to third-party app developers) although there was a great deal of confusion about whether you could require someone to be a fan to enter a contest. The answer, by the way, is "yes," although you cannot have the action of becoming a fan equal an automatic entry in the contest or sweepstakes. There must be an explicit entry form, and there are very specific rules governing how you can administer the contest on Facebook.
I wondered: Were marketers informing bloggers of the obligation to disclose when they offered free stuff? The evidence, including that in my own inbox, indicated: not so much. Every so often, I would hear of efforts like Procter & Gamble's for its Vocalpoint program. They sent an e-mail informing community members of the FTC requirements and telling them how P&G would support them. Not surprising perhaps, given that P&G's programs and products were cited in more than one news story about the guidelines, but still smart and commendable.
By and large though, it seemed the offers were still coming without any information about the FTC requirements. On the Facebook front, on Christmas, an e-mail from Lands' End promoted a contest that one could enter simply by becoming a fan on Facebook. Oops.
Now, I adore Lands' End, and think their marketing is top-notch. If a big brand could make such an error, what about the smaller ones on Facebook? Not to mention all the bloggers who had been running contests to build their fan bases. It seemed to me that perhaps marketers hadn't got the message yet. So I decided to do a survey.
Disclaimer: In no way does this survey purport to be scientific or definitive. I just wanted to get a better idea of what was going on in these two areas and figured a survey would give me access to far more data points than conversations and Twitter chat.
It was promoted to my Twitter and Facebook friends and here on the blog, and to Blog with Integrity's fans, followers and e-mail subscribers. Friends and colleagues kindly retweeted and e-mailed the link, as well. The survey was published on December 27th and closed on January 4th.
Here are the raw results with a little bit of analysis.
- Started the survey: 243
- Completed the survey: 198 (81.5%)
"One to 10 pitches per week" was reported by more than half the respondents. The answers to the next two questions were equally compelling. Seventy percent (70.2%) reported that the number of pitches they receive on average every week had stayed the same since December 1 when the FTC guidelines went into effect, and 63.7% reported that pitches since December 1 contained offers for free products, review products or other compensation.
Seems like business as usual. Time for the money question: Thinking about the pitches you've received since December 1, 2009, that offered free products or other compensation, *generally speaking* how many have contained guidance or information about a blogger's obligation to disclose his/her relationship with the company?
It's cut off in the chart but that orange bar in position one represents nearly 50% reporting that NONE of the pitches contained any
