Three guides to safe social media outreach under new FTC disclosure regulations

The FTC released their first substantial upgrade to their guidelines on endorsements and testimonials since 1980, and we’re thrilled to see that ethics and common sense won out.

We’ve been promoting ethical, honest disclosure for years, and the collaborative hard work of Social Media Business Council members received a big nod as the community’s open-source Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit was heavily reinforced in the new FTC regulations.

The FTC makes it clear that there are three things you need to do to limit your liability. These exact steps were recommended in the Social Media Business Council’s guidelines, which were published in July 2008.

Three Guides to Safe Social Media Outreach:

• Require disclosure and truthfulness in social media outreach.
• Monitor the conversation and correct misstatements.
• Create social media policies and training programs.

For a quick crash course on how to stay ethical, check out GasPedal CEO Andy Sernovitz on social media ethics at BlogWell Minneapolis:

Tags: Andy Sernovitz, Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit, FTC disclosure, FTC Guides, FTC regulations, GasPedal, social media ethics, wom, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing