Actually, there’s no ethics alert. Nothing in social media ethics should be news to you. In 1914 Woodrow Wilson signed the Truth in Advertising rules that gave the FTC the authority to protect against “Unfair and Deceptive” practices. Since then, they’ve seen the rise of every new marketing practices: TV, direct mail, multi-level-marketing, infomercials, and […]
4 key groups to train on word of mouth ethics
May 14, 2013
This is a post from our WordofMouth.org project. Check it out for more great word of mouth marketing tips like this every day. Nobody is going to put their reputation on the line to recommend you if they have any questions about your trustworthiness. It takes a long, long time to build this level of trust — […]
The original WOMMA Ethics Code
November 13, 2012
The Word of Mouth Marketing Association is the leading organization for word of mouth marketing ethics. We founded the group first and foremost as an ethics organization — to raise this worthy practice to a higher level. We were raising the bar, with a plain-English call to action. We committed to inspire others to do the […]
Fundamental Principles of Word of Mouth Ethics
June 11, 2012
Word of mouth marketing is first and foremost about ethics and earning the trust of our fans. Here is the opening that I wrote for the original WOMMA Ethics Code in 2005 (it has since been watered down by lawyers). 1. Happy, interested people will say good things about you. It’s doesn’t take much more […]
Word of Mouth and Social Media Ethics 101
February 10, 2012
Hi, I’m Andy Sernovitz, and I’ve been fighting for ethics in marketing since the early 90’s. I wrote the original WOMMA Ethics Code and SocialMedia.org’s Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit. I’ve also worked with the FTC and numerous ethics experts over the years. I’m pretty sure that I’ve made more speeches on word of mouth ethics and […]
A conversation about word of mouth and social media ethics
June 18, 2011
I sat down with Bob Pearson to discuss word of mouth ethics for his great new book Pre-Commerce. Read Part 1 and Part 2. An excerpt: Q: A lot of companies are still gun-shy about jumping into social media. Many of them are worried about the ethics, policies and rules of the road—and rightly so. […]
Social Media Ethics Briefing: Staying Out of Trouble — live from BlogWell
January 6, 2011
Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on February 2 to hear Toyota, Texas Instruments, REI, Kellogg’s, Dell, Coldwell Banker, Sabre Holdings, and InterContinental Hotels Group share social media case studies. You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal — and you’ll see some brilliant […]
Ethics alert: PR firm busted for social media deception
September 6, 2010
The FTC just busted Reverb Communications for lying in social media. Their employees were pretending to be consumers, posting fake reviews, and failing to disclose that they were paid. Full details here. Folks, if you lie in social media, you will get caught. The FTC enforcement campaign is just beginning Truthfulness and disclosure are the […]
Video case study: Social Media Ethics Briefing: Staying Out of Trouble
February 11, 2010
Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on February 16 in San Diego to hear Starbucks, Clorox, Intuit, Avery Dennison, USAA, Community Medical Centers, State Farm Insurance, and the U.S. Navy share case studies in corporate social media. You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program […]
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