Founder and CEO of Sway Group, an award-winning agency that specializes in influencer marketing with a focus on B2C nano and micro campaigns
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Recent estimates of U.S. spending show how influencer marketing has evolved into an increasingly mainstream strategy for modern brands. This year alone, marketers are expected to spend $16.4 billion on influencers and their brand campaigns.
Even as more and more businesses embrace influencer and social media marketing, some sectors may be faced with more of an uphill battle than others. Marketers working in regulated industries—finance or healthcare, for instance—have the extra challenge of complying with restrictions on what they can and cannot promote on social media platforms.
While it’s true that certain industries are banned from advertising altogether—including weapons, explosives, illegal products (i.e., drugs, tobacco and adult products including sexual and reproductive health products or services) and more—social platform restrictions affect many brands.
However, this doesn’t mean that industries that are faced with regulations can’t take part in influencer and social marketing. Regulated brands can still find great success with their social marketing and influencer strategies, as long as they stay within the allowed endorsement protocols.
Here are three main takeaways for brands facing industry regulations on social media:
Understand The Platform Restrictions
Start by reviewing the current advertising and promotion policies on targeted social platforms: Meta’s policies affect Instagram and Facebook, while TikTok’s are unique to their platform, and Twitter has its own set of rules.
It’s critical to note that not only do you need to be aware of the platform advertising policies before you plan an influencer program, but Meta and TikTok also have specific policies for influencer sponsorships that have to be followed when influencers create branded content. In some instances, the policies for influencers are even more strict than the advertising policies.
A consistent review process can help ease the challenges of working within platform content restrictions. For instance, it’s important to check influencer content for anything that might be a platform red flag, such as including an image of a child in a post promoting alcohol (even if it’s a family BBQ and the kiddo is simply playing in the background).
Platform restrictions affect all kinds of brands: finance, cannabis, alcohol, gaming/lotteries, pharma, OTC meds, dating services, subscription services, cosmetic/weight loss and more. Be sure that all platform policies are continually reviewed to ensure ongoing compliance. If not, you’ll face rejected ads, or worse, expensive fines from the FTC.
Work Within Industry Regulations
Some businesses have the extra challenge of navigating complicated marketing rules that are particular to their own industry. Banking is one example of a heavily regulated industry, while prescription drug promotions must adhere to FDA regulations as well as conform to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Industry-regulated brands obviously need to comply with their own strict reforms on top of social media rules in order to avoid fines and sanctions. In these cases, it can be extremely helpful to partner with creators or agencies who understand industry-specific regulations and guidelines for marketing and communications.
Some regulations may vary state by state, like for gaming/lotteries or alcohol sales. It might seem overwhelming to be faced with a complex web of federal, state and social media platform regulations, but it really comes down to content review. Is a partnered influencer over 21, in the right state and saying the right things?
One way to ease the process of working within strict regulations is to partner with the same influencer or set of influencers over time (check out some tips for working with influencers). Campaigns based on one-off partnerships may be less effective, given the learning curve for understanding what’s possible to say and how to say it.
Consider Creative Solutions For Restricted Products
Industry and platform regulations can prevent brands from certain promotional activities, such as sending a product to an influencer for them to try out and ultimately recommend.
Campaign limitations often require a creative approach in order to engage audiences authentically. When an influencer can’t speak directly to the experience of using a product, consider alternative messaging that achieves the campaign goals.
For example, let’s look at some influencer-centric strategies that could be used for promoting a prescription drug on social media. There are limiting policies around prescription drugs and branded content on all the major platforms. For instance, on Meta, you can only promote prescription drugs with sponsored content if the brand has applied and been approved to do so, and then the posts must be shown only to those ages 18 and over.
Brands can work within these rules with flexible campaign content prompts, which can include asking influential social creators to:
• Explain their personal connection to the product by sharing genuine experiences caring for a person afflicted by the disease the partnered pharmaceutical brand has a treatment for (without explicitly promoting the medication).
• Raise overall awareness for a disease while directing audiences to ask their doctor about the promoted medication.
• Talk about how they deal with a disease or medical affliction, sharing lifestyle tips and advice for like-minded audiences within the pharma brand sponsorship.
• Work to help combat misinformation by sharing medication or disease-related myth-busting facts and updates.
Strict regulations around what can and can’t be said (not to mention what can and can’t be officially advertised) means that plenty of companies simply don’t have the same marketing freedom as others. It’s a situation that requires adjusting to today’s market realities and customer needs: Regulated brands can’t ignore the fact that their audiences are on social media, so they need to invest in the processes to stay compliant and find success online.
Dealing with compliance and government regulations on top of social platform rules can be a resource-intensive effort for some industries, but it definitely doesn’t mean that social media marketing is a non-starter. By focusing on being creative with what’s permitted, brands can turn challenges into opportunities in the social media realm.
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