How Does A Brand Stand Out Under the Latest FTC Disclosure Rules?

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently updated the .com disclosure document for 2013, to protect customer against false and illusive online product and service promotions. The document was originally released in 2000, and this new version is focused on emerging digital channels including social networks and blogs.

Apparently, These new rules will bring great benefits for customers. But is it a bad news for marketing efforts? 

Not exactly!

After all it’s a general rule applying to everyone. New rules could also guarantee a fair market environment by eliminating deceptive or anti-competition behaviors. On the other hand, if use properly, brand will receive a win-win situation. By giving away transparent information that customers want, brand is expected to gain customers’ trust in the long run, which could increase brand asset in turn.

In the global market, there are three main concerns with this new rules:

1. Don’t think it too hard. It’s much easier than you think.

Don’t feel so stressful for the new rules. It doesn’t need to be complicated or take away from your marketing messages. Remember the objective of the disclosure is to protect consumers from being misled by advertisements or claims or deceived by the omission of necessary information. What you need to do is to make clear, conspicuous and unavoidable information, so that the content you produce communicates transparently with your audience.

2. Think it seriously while writing disclosure.

In a global market, you are not only serving people in a same culture as you are. So think it seriously while writing disclosure. Ask questions such as: “Is it clear enough for customers to get all the information they need to make decisions”? “Is it clear enough for customers speaking other languages?"

3. Take it as an opportunity to stand out.

It’s difficult to have a purely fair competitive environment, and there are frauds or non-transparency here and there. While if you take this rule as an opportunity to show your transparency, you might stand out among competitors. For instance, you might win a good image if you provide all the possible risks including extra charge or flaws. In this case, what consumers will think is an honest seller with considerate service. Who will deny an honest man thinking what they think? 

Content Marketing: Get The Most From Facebook 's New News Feed

Content marketing is any marketing format that involves  the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to engage with customers. The “content” tops short of a direct sales pitch or call to action, but which seeks to positively influence a customer in some way. This “content” can be presented as news, videos, white papers, ebooks, inforgraphics, etc. So unlike traditional advertising, content marketing wins a higher positive response since customers are associated with a positive experience with a brand.

Facebook just announced its new and improved News Feed that will be launched in a few days. The new News Feed has three advantages, richer stories, choice feed and a consistent user interface across devices. This update will provide more customized experience, which means brand pages will have more opportunities to engage with prospects and customers by creating relevant updates.

To be more specific, Facebook will position content front and center to keep users informed with updates. These updates will directly display images and summaries, where posted articles also featured bolder titles, longer descriptions and highlight the original publishers, which could drive users directly to the entire piece.

The other nice thing about this new update is that users of Facebook will see all of their connections who have added the same Page and a portion of that Page’s Timeline photo in the updates. Therefore, content marketers will have more opportunities to reach prospects if their content is shared with multiple friends.

Take game BioShock as an example, their BioShock 2 Facebook Page have 132,856 likes and only 221 talking about this. However, we can see that content marketing has a larger response rate than the regular advertising. Their Very BioShock Marriage Proposal had 271”like” and created buzz among their fans. The vote they launched for the upcoming livestream won the largest participation in the past twelve months. Here I'm very confident that these advertising will boost Bioshock's exposure with the new News Feed. 

Are You Fascinated?

You’ll never get a chance if you don’t knock the door. Now we are living in a rushed age, people are rushed for everything and few would like to stop, so here are the questions：

Regardless of a brand or a single person, how could you stand out among the competitors? How could you attract the attention from the rushed people?

Sally Hogshead @SallyHogshead got the secret for you: Fascinate your audience. She also created the following 7 triggers revealing people's strengths. 

• Trust
• Power
• Alarm
• Passion
• Prestige
• Rebellion
• Mystique

But here comes out another question, how could you be fascinated? In my opinion, the answer is pretty simple, 

Be Yourself.

Because,

You Are Unique.

Take me as an example, my primary trigger is "TRUST" and "POWER", which confirmed my previous perceptions on myself. What I need to do is to be confident, reliable and influential whether as a group member or as an organization leader. Yes, it's easy. Never hide or pretend and just be frank. 

Take this principle to digital marketing, rather than use big words or jargon phrase, the best way is to provide what customers demand and how you could solve their problems. It's straightforward but effective. What's more important, show your prospects the way they are fascinated.