LinkedIn Endorsements: Another Form of Poking

By Montrie Rucker AdamsMay 10, 2013 Blog endorsements, linkedin, references

A few months ago, I began to get emails from LinkedIn that said, “Such-and-such has endorsed you.” I thought, “What is this? What does such-and-such know about our business. I guess I must be doing something right.”

Well, back in September 2012, LinkedIn announced a new profile feature called “Endorsements” which allows co-workers, clients, business associates, etc., with the ability to recognize an individual’s skills and expertise.

How does it work? By visiting a connection’s profile, you are presented with an Endorsement box. In the box you will see skill sets the connection has placed in their profile. If there is a skill set for which you would like to endorse them – and it is not there – you can add the skills or expertise. However the connection must approve these before they will go LIVE and appear under their endorsement area.

So how reliable are these endorsements? Over time, I have had to opportunity to sit back and peruse various profiles of people I know both personally and professionally. At first, I saw endorsements that I believed. I knew that the connection had those skills. I either know them from working with them directly or I know someone who has. However, as the feature has grown in popularity, I have started to notice it has turned into a form of “poking” someone so that the other person will endorse them. Poking is a feature on Facebook that was designed to nudge another person or to attract attention to a friend. It seemed fun at first, but then people started to get angry and wondered why that feature was even there – “it’s annoying” most people have said. And… Facebook has now removed the featured and most people haven’t even noticed it.

People are starting to loosely endorse connections . They may not necessarily know their skill sets. They want endorsements.

The bottom line: Know who is endorsing you and know who and why you are endorsing a connection. You want your relationships on LinkedIn to be authentic.

Introducing LinkedIn Endorsements from LinkedIn

Your Advertising Legal Responsibility

By Montrie Rucker AdamsMarch 4, 2013 Blog advertising, children, children's online privacy protection, consumer protection business agency, coppa, endorsements, enviromental marketing, federal trade commission, ftc, ftc.gov, green guides, health claims, marketing, online advertising and marketing, telemarketing

You are in business and now need to develop marketing materials and a marketing and advertising campaign. There are rules that must be followed when marketing your services and products. Below are snippets of useful information from the Bureau of Consumer Protection Business Center under the Federal Trade Commission.

Whether a business is an established global brand or a start-up, effective advertising and marketing can be the key to its success. All businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure that advertising is truthful and not deceptive. No matter where an ad appears – on the Internet, on the radio or television, in newspapers and magazines, in the mail, or on billboards or buses – the same truth-in-advertising standard applies. Additional standards apply if you use telemarketing in your promotional efforts.

Advertising and Marketing Basics

Under the law, claims in advertisements must be truthful, cannot be deceptive or unfair, and must be evidence-based. For some specialized products or services, additional rules may apply.

Children

If you advertise directly to children or market kid-related products to their parents, it is important to comply with truth-in-advertising standards. (Questions about kids’ privacy? Check out the FTC’s resources about COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.)

Endorsements

Do you use endorsements or testimonials in your marketing? Do they meet the standards of the FTC Act and the Endorsement Guides? Find out more by consulting FTC compliance resources.

Environmental Marketing

Companies are offering consumers an ever-growing assortment of “green” options. Whether your environmental claims are about the product or the packaging, you will need competent and reliable scientific evidence to support what you say. Find out more by consulting the FTC’s revised Green Guides. Have you spotted what you think might be a deceptive claim or practice? Contact the FTC at green@ftc.gov.

Health Claims

Companies must support their advertising claims with solid proof. This is especially true for businesses that market food, over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, contact lenses, and other health-related products.

Made in the USA

Do you promote your products as “Made in the USA?” Under the law, some products must disclose U.S. content. For others, manufacturers and marketers who choose to make claims about the amount of U.S. content must comply with the FTC’s Made in the USA policy. Is your company up-to-date on what’s required?

Online Advertising and Marketing

The Internet connects marketers to customers across the country and around the world. If you’re thinking about advertising online, remember the rules and guidelines that protect consumers also help businesses by maintaining the credibility of the Internet as an advertising medium.

Do you have questions about children’s online privacy? Read about the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

Telemarketing

The FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule helps protect consumers from fraudulent telemarketing calls and gives them certain protections under the National Do Not Call Registry. Companies must be familiar with rules banning most forms of robocalling. If you or someone working on your behalf is telemarketing products or services, know the dos and don’ts before planning your strategy.

Visit their website for more in depth information on each area – http://business.ftc.gov/advertising-and-marketing.

The Celebrity Endorser: Can It Work For You?

By Montrie Rucker AdamsNovember 7, 2012 Blog bloggers, branding, celebrity endorsements, endorsements, oprah, oprah's favorite things, pitching your product, product reviews

“I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV,” is one of my favorite, most memorable line from a celebrity endorser. It was the mid-‘80s and Vicks 44 used Peter Bergman, who played Dr. Cliff Warner from my beloved soap opera, All My Children to endorse Vicks 44.

Celebrity faces have represented products and services for over 100 years. In the early years, one celebrity would characterize one product. From print material to billboards to television commercials – that one celebrity was the “face” of that brand.

Back in 2002, Oprah Winfrey aired her first “Favorite Things” show where she shared products that she felt were noteworthy to her audience . Plus, they would make great gift items. The show typically aired around the beginning of the holiday season in early November. The best part for the audience was that they were given some of those products to take home. Product categories included food favorites, beauty and body care, books, music and home and high-tech discoveries.

Several years later, the segment began to spotlight specific groups. For example, the 2004 audience members were teachers. In 2005, the audience was volunteers from Hurricane Katrina. In 2008, the show aired in May instead of November due to the nation’s economic hardships. In 2009, instead of a massive audience giveaway, Oprah held a sweepstakes where there was only one favorite things grand prize winner.

Oprah Winfrey’s product endorsement can take a business with virtually no website traffic to crashing its hosting services. It means that those businesses can count on making lots of money – just by her mentioning it – and, especially if that product is listed on her Favorite Things.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have access to Oprah, but if you look closely around you, in your circle of influence, you are bound to find someone Oprah-like that has a certain amount of clout.

Do your research. Ask family, friends and even other business associates if they know the “who’s who” in your area. As a matter of fact, see if there’s a “Who’s Who” local directory in your business community. These people could be corporate big wigs or they could be well-known bloggers who write product reviews. Find those people and get your product to them. For starters, ask if they would not mind reviewing your product and writing a testimonial. If you are creating an ad or commercial, ask if they would endorse your product or service.

Check out some of the products that made it to Oprah’s 2012 Favorite Things List. Who knows, one day you may be one of them (wink wink).