Native Advertising Guidelines Released from the FTC

Using native advertising practices has been one of the most effective options for marketers for quite some time now.  The reason they are so effective, of course, is because they look and feel very similar to the rest of the content on the page.  Even if consumers can see that it is a sponsored post, the content has the same feel as the rest so they naturally seem to trust it more.

Native Advertising Guidelines Released from the FTC

Unfortunately, many marketers don’t go far enough in ensuring that the visitors to their page can easily see whether they are reading a normal post or it is an advertisement.  This is where violations to laws and regulations can come into play.  Unless you have an attorney to review every native ad you post, however, it can be hard to determine whether you are in compliance with laws or not.

To help address this concern, the FTC has just released a new guide called, “Native Advertising: A Guide for Business” that will go through this potentially complex form of advertising to help marketers learn what they can and can not do.  According to the FTC this report was designed to, “help companies understand, and comply with, the policy statement in the context of native advertising.”

Any marketers who are using native advertising will want to go through this report to learn whether or not they may be in violation of any laws.  It is written in an easy to follow format that will allow you to quickly gain the information you need without having to waste hours of time (or hire an attorney) trying to figure it out.

Director of the Bureau Consumer Protection, Jessica Rich, said of this report, “The FTC’s policy applies time-tested truth-in-advertising principles to modern media.  People browsing the web, using social media, or watching videos have a right to know if they’re seeing editorial content or an ad.”  This set of guidelines will help make marketing using native ads much easier and less risky.

If you are a marketer who uses, or is thinking about using, native advertising make sure you take some time to read through this new set of guidelines.  It can be found on the FTC’s site HERE.

One more thing to keep in mind is that if the FTC has taken the time to put together this set of guidelines to help marketers, you can be confident that they will be taking a closer look at digital marketing practices in this area in the coming months.  Marketers who continue to violate their set of standards will likely face fines of some sort.  The publishing of this from the FTC may be a signal that they will be taking greater enforcement efforts against violations related to native advertising in the near future.

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