how to be an ethical influencer - a discussion with susan magee
- Sandra O
- Nov 5, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 10, 2022
As an influencer, I believe that remaining authentic and transparent with my followers is a crucial part of being an ethical influencer. What is an ethical influencer you may ask? Well, ethics by Google definition means “moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity.” So how do ethics differ from morals? One's morals apply to them individually, so you and I may have different morals because these are principles based on our own judgements of what we believe are right or wrong. While, ethics refer to rules that a social system provides us with, and are related to professional work, in this case influencer marketing.
I’m currently taking a graduate course titled, Ethics for Professional Communication, and through this course I was able to finally grasp the difference between ethics and morals as explained above. I recently had the opportunity to discuss ethics from an influencer standpoint, with my professor, Susan Magee. As a creator who wants to dive more into the field of traditional blogging it was helpful to get some pointers and even articles from someone who knows A LOT about blogging, so I'm going to share her insights throughout this post.
Courtesy of: Stephen Wu
Disclosures
Susan brought up the importance of imposing disclosures over all content that is being endorsed whether in video format, or photo format, through text or voice overs.
According to the FTC, "If you endorse a product through social media, your endorsement message should make it obvious when you have a relationship (“material connection”) with the brand. A “material connection” to the brand includes a personal, family, or employment relationship or a financial relationship – such as the brand paying you or giving you free or discounted products or services."
As a creator I offered some insight from my own creator briefs and documents about various ways creators can go about doing this. By law it's mandatory that #ad be used in all content being endorsed and placed with the first three lines of a caption (before "see more...") or within the content itself.
For example in the reel below, I placed #ad in the first line of this sponsored post with NARS Cosmetics.
Now, for bloggers who are writing long-form content posted to a blog, and not utilizing micro-blogging sites such as Instagram, and TikTok where the #ad is necessary in a post, there's a little more leeway. According to Susan, it’s easier for bloggers to be transparent, because you have your whole site to work with. “You should post a disclosure in your main navigation and build in redundancies,” she says. “That means you should also prominently note on your About page that you post sponsored content and you should link to the full disclosure policy.
Then for a sponsored post and/or a post with affiliate links to purchase the product(s) you’re endorsing, you should have a clear disclosure at the top of the site indicating the post is sponsorship content and/or that you are being paid or that you will earn a commission through purchases made via links from your site.
Supplying these disclosures is how you show that you’re an ethical content creator who is following the law and who respects her followers. Susan shared with me an example disclosure for a blog post about Ulta. She recommends a blogger put at the top that "Ulta has supplied the products for this post.” You can also write: “I would never recommend a product that I didn't believe in."
Additionally, you may need to state that this is a paid post, or that you have an agreement with the brand, and that you should say something like: "There's nothing more important to me than being up front with my followers and readers."
While talking about this with Susan I felt as if one's creativity could suffer or often be diminished by having to blatantly include these disclosures, specifically for video creators. I explained that I, and other creators, have felt like the way that it's presented in our contracts, that we must explicitly state it, instead of somehow integrating it, and the creativity and flow of how we do things kind of takes away from our creativity as a whole, and how our followers will receive um the content we put out.
Susan reminded me that the goal of the regulations is to protect the consumer and to protect the social media follower. "This is what the Federal Trade Commission says needs to happen,” she said. “So I understand that there might be that tension, but, on the other hand, I do think that people appreciate transparency. Consumers are getting more savvy; they know that the influencers they follow are monetized and that’s how they can keep creating great content.”
Susan pointed out that “It's not a good look” if these disclosures are hard to find, so in blogging it may not ruin it and they are easy to add to blog posts. Video creators do have to think “out of the box” and find more creative ways to implement these disclosures in an Instagram story or a Reel.
She asked me what brands are suggesting that I do.
I explained that usually like for a reel or something, you can just put the disclosure in your caption, which is fine. I do know some creators that have to say, "Hey, this video is sponsored by so and so...," I realized that a lot of my friends have now started putting disclaimers before they start posting their on stories, and they'll write "the following slides are sponsored posts" just to give them a heads up, and I think that's a great way of going about it.
I have an upcoming collaboration with FabFitFun showcasing a Winter Box, and I actually have a promo code my followers can use to create their own box as well, so I asked about how I should go about adding a disclosure to the video that I'm making for TikTok?
Susan helped me out and started drafting some sample voiceovers I could use for this upcoming video such as:
"Hey, guys, I want to make sure I'm completely one hundred percent upfront with my followers. Yes, I will get a commission from those who use my code, and hopefully, if you know me by now then you know I don't recommend products that I don't like to use myself."
I later personalized this in my own way that would resonate with my followers and drafted this outline for the video:
"Hey, guys! FabFitFun sent me this winter box for me to review and unbox for you guys, so here are all the different pieces that I got."
I'll probably take one each and share a clip of them. Once I'm done sharing them, I'll say the following:
"Thank you so much FabFitFun for sending me all of these pieces, make sure to use my code _____. And just to be one hundred percent honest, I do receive a little commission on whatever you guys purchase and would never steer you wrong, or recommend things that I don't personally love."
After this process and exchange between the two of us, I finalized how I wanted to go about this upcoming video as well as potential brand collaborations in the future.
"Brands are covered by liability insurance for their advertising; you're not," Susan reminded me.
That's something that stuck with me throughout this entire discussion. If for some reason a consumer wanted to sue based on a video that I made, I would be in trouble, and the brand would remain safe. I could suffer from things such as cancel culture and ruin my reputation as a creator, so it's not as though these rules are in place to hinder a creator, but instead protect the creator and followers.
As a creator who wants to be ethical and do things right in this space, it might look like additional work taking all of these extra measures, but in the long run, it will be worth it.
I hope you take the time to consider implementing some of these points in your future collaborations, as I will be doing the same.
To read more about the guidelines from social media influencers, attached are the two articles referenced during our discussion:
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