Don’t fall foul of new UK blogging laws

Are we witnessing a ‘Scooby-Doo’ moment for UK online marketers, where their cunning disguises on the nation’s message boards are suddenly revealed? And would they have got away with it if it wasn’t for those pesky law makers in Europe?

New word-of-mouth-marketing laws in the UK (as of May 26 2008) are targeting ’sharp practice and aggressive selling tactics’ - e.g. pretending to be a typical ‘man on the street’ - to promote products, services or sites through relevant web message boards, forums or blog postings.

Although the new media industry is currently working out what the exact impact of the regulations will be (otherwise known as the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008), it’s by no means the end of the road for online promotion and marketing.

By adopting a transparent and best practice approach, your online marketing has less chance of incurring the wrath of the web’s highly sophisticated contingent of online activists.

You may even improve your online marketing efforts in the process. After all, no-one likes a Scrappy Doo.

Things to remember:

• Avoid registering with a discussion forum simply to push products. Forums are notoriously close knit, and any whiff of ‘trolls’ whose posts consist of thinly veiled promotion will be highly criticised or completely ignored. You could also be banned for life.
• If you’re planning on setting up a presence on popular social networking sites, use positive phrases like ‘official’, ‘trusted’ and ‘the only place to find’ to demonstrate your identity and improve your influence. 
• The new regulations do not outlaw engaging with your customer base for research or gauging ‘what’s hot’ for your target audience, so use this opportunity more to shape and improve your product or service before launching and marketing it.
• Continue to be inventive with blogs or social media in marketing activity. While setting up a deceptive blog to improve sales is a no-no, clearly branded blogs can be a valuable addition to any campaign. 
• Perhaps most importantly, be transparent at all times. As well as protecting your company and brand, you’re more likely to improve consumer trust and repeat visits - important aims of any marketing campaign.

Find out how Cimex can help you stay on the right side of the new regulations - contact Dan Williamson on 0207 324 7780 or visit www.cimex.com/content.

**In the spirit of transparency, the image featured in this article is in fact a Scooby-Doo looky-likey and not a blog marketer.