And prior to conducting the sweep, the ACCC asked The public for tip offs about influencers who do not [00:02:00] disclose advertising in their posts. In other words, if your competitor in the influencer space wants to take you down, it's not too hard to do with a tip off to a regulatory body. Disclosure plays a big role in the trust equation too.

This means if you are not trustworthy, you are less likely to grow your audience, have meaningful engagement, and be booked by brands. This might not be your favourite subject, but it is an important one. Let's get into it with some more detail. Starting off with disclosure and trustworthiness. In last week's episode, I discussed Influencer trustworthiness in detail.

To build and engage our audience. To attract more brand work. To increase our income. Influencers who consistently disclose sponsorships are more likely to be viewed as trustworthy and honest. And this will engage your audience, which will lead to more brand work. Easy! Righto, let's talk about campaigns and why disclosure in brand collaborations is important.

When we look at successful influencer campaigns, where transparency was key, clear disclosure usually leads to Increase sales and brand trust.

Really, really interesting. I've actually done some research around this in this employee. generated content or employee created content, ECC, EGC, whatever you want to call it, another new trend. I'm digressing, but the trust thing is really important.

There was also really embarrassing media coverage resulting for the brand and the influencers. Not a great place to be in. And we know this backlash goes beyond potential legal implications and bad media. Cancel culture is strong. When you don't do the right thing with disclosure. There's a big chance it's going to blow back on you as well as the brand. Will you bounce back? Maybe, but why take the risk? I want to talk a little bit about these governing authorities and the regulation sweeps that we're seeing. At the top of the episode, I spoke about the Australian and US governing bodies doing sweeps. These sweeps are happening in many countries. Other countries are stepping [00:07:00] up with their regulatory oversight.

The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK and similar bodies in other countries have been implementing stricter guidelines and taking action against non compliant influencers. And this shows a global trend towards More transparency in influencer marketing. The tolerance for non disclosure has gone and patience for non compliance has run out.

There is an expectation if you are going to be working in the space as an influencer, you understand the basic compliance requirements of your job. It is your responsibility to stay informed on disclosure requirements in your country. If you're not sure of your obligations, join us for a discussion in the Moots Facebook group.

I will link the group in the show notes. Let's have a chat about Best practices for effective disclosure. You have to make your disclosure clear and noticeable. Place your disclosure at the beginning of a post or video to make sure it's visible. Don't bury it somewhere. For example, use clear statements like sponsored by brand name or at brand with their tag or hashtag ad at the start of a caption or a video.

Make it clear and noticeable. Consider maintaining a consistent style for disclosure across all of your posts and platforms to help your audience quickly recognize sponsored content. As a consumer of social media, and consumer, I really don't care whether the content's sponsored or not. In fact, I'd rather see that it is than find out later that it wasn't.

By embracing good disclosure practices, you're going to manage your legal risk and enhance your credibility. That deserves a gold star. Righto. You can check the show notes for links, find all the episode resources and other recommended listening in the expanded show notes at thebusinessofinfluence.com/EP28. I hope you'll join me for next week's episode. Until then, stay creative.