Barry Levine says, “Influencer marketing — where bloggers, YouTube celebrities and others are paid to wax enthusiastic about a new shampoo or whatever — is a Wild West with rapidly moving boundaries.

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) acts as a tough sheriff trying to cover millions of acres of territory with few helpers, as it orders sponsors here and there to cease and desist when influencers in those sponsors’ campaigns post an endorsement that doesn’t adequately identify itself as sponsored. Recent examples include Lord & Taylor and Warner Brothers, both last year.

To help the sponsors and 52,000+ influencers in its network avoid this kind of rough justice, influencer marketplace TapInfluence released this week The FTC Auditor, which it says is the first automatic compliance tool for influencers.

There certainly is a need, according to research conducted by research firm Altimeter with TapInfluence. They found that only about a third of marketers follow up with influencers to make sure they are adhering to the FTC guidelines“.

TapInfluence adds tool to automatically check influencers’ posts for FTC compliance

Martech Today

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