Do you occasionally (or regularly) love to put your company in the spotlight thanks to a fun collaboration with a content creator? Then chances are you’re forgetting a few legal things to get right. We listed 4 important things you shouldn’t forget when you hire an influencer for advertising.
It has taken a while for unequivocal regulations to emerge, but they are here now. From now on, content creators must adhere to a well-defined set of obligations. This also means that you, as a company, have an obligation to correctly engage your influencers. So that they and you are completely in order.
#1 The right references
One of the most important rules of the new legislation is that all content creators must clearly state that it is a collaboration. A collaboration can be indicated by a clear hashtag for example #partnership #ad #advertising at the front of the post. The post or story should also always clearly include your brand name.
Make sure you activate or accept the partnership label. It’s best to ask the influencer to take care of this once the collaboration has been established.
#2 Invoice or payment receipt
A content creator who works with brands on a regular basis from now on must be in order with the legislation for this. But you as a brand must also use the right documents to justify payments. (Actually, this was always necessary). It is best to request an invoice with all the company details from the content creator. Or if the content creator does not provide a company, then it is best to draw up an expense report. Even if you are only sending products, your company should have a listing of which products the content creator has received and the exact value.
You can also collaborate with content creators via a platform such as SMART.
#3 Ask for an honest opinion
You may not ask a content creator to lie and present a product better than it is. You can, however, ask to use soothing language in the case of negative experiences. Or ask the content creator to focus only on the positive attributes of your brand or products.
#4 Be careful with call to actions with young people
If your product is primarily aimed at young people, then you should not ask the content creator to call to action. Posts aimed at children should not include things like ‘buy now’, ‘go to the store now’. You also may not mention that your products make them better than anyone else. A mention such as ’this will make you the best of your group of friends’, is not allowed.
Collaborating with content creators can be an enormous boost for your company. But precisely because social media does not always make it immediately clear that it is advertising, there are now regulations in place to protect them. It is therefore your role as a company to handle this carefully. After all, they are your potential customers and the experience with your brand starts long before they have actually bought something.
