If you’ll recall from my blog series back in February, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently enacted guidelines for bloggers’ disclosure of gifts and other forms of compensation.

Last week a Daily Online Examiner article revealed that Ann Taylor Loft received a warning letter last week from the FTC after they provided bloggers with gifts at a January preview of the retailer’s summer line. The warning highlights the importance that bloggers disclose all material connections to companies they write about.

Other companies may not be so lucky to get away with a warning. According to the article, Ann Taylor took a few steps that prevented it from being reprimanded more severely. They posted a sign at the preview requesting that bloggers disclose the gifts if they posted comments about the preview, although the sign may not have been easily seen by all bloggers. Luckily for Ann Taylor, many of the bloggers did disclose the gifts and Ann Taylor put in place a written blogger disclosure policy shortly after the preview.

The fact that the FTC sent the warning letter to Ann Taylor indicates that they are actively investigating companies who may not be taking their guidelines seriously. It is very likely this is the first of many warnings and reprimands the FTC will make as their investigations move forward.

Is your company doing its best to comply with the guidelines? If not, it may be time that you consider implementing a social media policy and training your employees on what your expectations are for marketing via social media. As we learned from this example, simply having a corporate social media disclosure policy in place helped Ann Taylor avoid major fines and repercussions.

The FTC’s guidelines have made it increasingly important for companies to be more careful about the bloggers they partner with, check the blogger’s background and insist on disclosure. If a blogger you’re considering partnering with has not thoroughly disclosed relationships in the past, you may need to think twice about partnering with them.

Your organization may also consider utilizing more public relations initiatives that simply present stories you think the blogger will find interesting and relevant in hopes that the blogger will write about them. If bloggers write about your company, product or service without compensation or free products, the post does not require as extensive of a disclosure.

Online conversations are effective at generating word of mouth, so it can only be expected that companies will continue to build blogger relationships. However, your company must be careful to create a culture of compliance and work with bloggers who recognize the need to follow the FTC’s Guides.

First, cases from Kmart and Wal-Mart illustrate how companies and bloggers have chosen to or not to disclose material connections and payments for endorsements in the past.

Kmart generated significant positive word of mouth from its 2008 holiday season blogger campaign. Six bloggers received $500 gift cards to post entries about their experiences at Kmart, positive or negative. Each post was identified as a sponsored post. Each blogger was able to give away an additional gift card to one of their readers. For readers to enter the contest to win a $500 gift card from the bloggers, the reader had to promote the contest and Kmart to their Twitter followers or post a blog comment with the item they wanted most from Kmart. This was done more than 3,000 times on blogs, yielding 600,000 network connections. It was also tweeted more than 3,000 times on Twitter which generated considerable discussion.

In contrast, Wal-Mart created a stir with its sponsorship, through Working Families for Wal-Mart, of a blog where disclosure was not apparent. In 2006, a couple made a cross-country trip across the U.S. in an RV, parking at Wal-Marts for free. The couple started a blog called “Wal-Marting Across America”, which frequently posted stories of Wal-Mart employees they met along the way. All of the featured Wal-Mart employees only had positive things to say about the controversial corporation. Wal-Mart denied hiring the couple, but it turned out that Working Families, which received funding from Wal-Mart, decided to sponsor the couple’s entire trip when it learned about their plan. Working Families paid for the couple’s flight to Las Vegas to pick up the RV, extended the trip’s duration, provided an RV emblazoned with the Working Families logo, paid for the gas, set up the blog and paid the woman to write blog entries. While there is a Working Families banner on the blog, nowhere does it disclose that Wal-Mart sponsored the trip.

The differences in disclosure between these examples (and many others) illustrate why the FTC may have decided to create regulations around endorsements and testimonials.

The Vandiver Group is working with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) to help the industry understand and apply these new guidelines. Donna Vandiver serves on the Membership Ethics Advisory Panel and you can learn more about the guides at the WOMMA web site.

Check in next week to discuss the impact the regulations may have on your business.

Do you stand apart from your competitors and other sites that your audiences visit? It may be time to consider refreshing/re-doing your Web site if:

a. Your color scheme is similar to key competitors.

b. The design says “I’m from 2000” instead of “I’m ready for 2010!”

c. You’ve added information over time to the site and it lacks logical organization.

d. It’s difficult for visitors to locate the information they want most.

e. The site has an excessive amount of words.

f. The content hasn’t been updated in the last year.

It’s important to develop sites with a strategic layout and design that reflect the corporate culture and key messages. A Web site should always be designed with the content in mind.

As you read the criteria above and start thinking to yourself, “We need to create a new site or update our old one,” TVG has the team of copy writers, designers and Web programmers to make your dream Web site a reality.

Have you ever worked for a company with so many acronyms that they provided you with a list of definitions? Or has the increasing use of abbreviations for texting and social media left you scratching your head?

Acronyms can be helpful and time-saving in internal groups with mutual understanding of their meaning. However, communication is impeded when listeners misunderstand the acronym. Some common acronyms with multiple meanings include:

FDA- Food and Drug Administration, Flying Dentists Association
TMI- Too Much Information, Top Management Issue
CDC- Centers for Disease Control, California Department of Conservation
FBI- Federal Bureau of Investigation, Food Borne Illness
AIM- AOL Instant Messenger, American Institute of Mathematics

One way to ensure you will communicate a meaningful message to external audiences is to model effective language with internal audiences. Clearly identifying acronyms internally will help you and your co-workers communicate more effectively with external audiences, including the media.

Remember as you communicate that conveying your message is most critical. Slow down and clearly identify what your acronym means to ensure your audience is on the same page as you.

In the current economy, networking and personal interactions may be more important to business development than ever before. Strong employee networks can help increase awareness of your company. Here are some tips for how to make networking work for you.

1. Create a targeted strategy. As any good chess player knows, tactics without strategy might accomplish advancement, but it may not provide the best path to continue on. Identify which types of organizations and events employees will enjoy while providing connections to persons you want to know about your company. A focused approach to networking ensures participation in relevant professional organizations by the most appropriate employees. Strategic networking decisions with consideration of individual employee interests and personalities can be a smart investment of time and money for your organization.

2. Research potential organizations. Research industry-related organizations and regional committees to learn about their goals, activities, and required time and monetary contributions. Determine their meeting dates and times and create a listing where employees can sign-up to attend.

3. Actively engaged employees embrace networking opportunities. When one member demonstrates enjoyment and benefit from belonging to an organization or attending an event, other attendees feel their enthusiasm and are more willing to speak with them. Be sure that your employees enjoy their professional organizations. If they don’t, perhaps you can recommend another organization that is more up their alley.

4. Social networking is important too. LinkedIn and Facebook are two of the most popular networking tools that not only create connections between friends and family, but also provide insights into extended networks of colleagues and business partners. Employees who list your company’s name on their profile helps increase awareness with others they are networked to. Your company should ensure that if it is listed on an employee’s social profile, that the employee represents the
company in a positive manner consistent with the company’s values.

5. Encourage community involvement. Personal community involvement of employees helps them meet people and network through social circles. Employees who are excited to contribute to their own communities are an excellent form of word-of-mouth and awareness of their company.

If you’re trying to increase awareness of your company, networked employees can be great building blocks. Best of luck utilizing these tips to engage your employees and increase your networking opportunities. If you need help devising a community engagement strategy with networking initiatives, please contact us at tvg@vandivergroup.com.

Tim Bajarin at PC Magazine also took a stab at top tech predictions for 2009. Tim believes the tech industry will recover more quickly than real estate and auto markets and will hopefully begin its drive to growth in the third quarter of 2009. Tim also argues that smartphones will gain greater prominence in the U.S. and Europe. Smartphones will help everyone stay more connected in the years to come.

2009 tech predictions were all over the web this month, including from Mark Anderson, CEO and publisher of Strategic News Service, in an interview with BusinessWeek’s Arik Hesseldahl. His predictions include a bright future for the gaming industry, smartphones, flash drives, wall computers, carry-along PCs, improved broadband improvements worldwide and voice-enabled technology. Some of his most interesting predictions include a completely integrated internet system that learns and knows its user over time.

Over at CNN Money, forecasters believed big luxury items would suffer the most with the economic downturn, with one major exception- the smartphone. The article also takes a look at cloud computing, “in which software and other applications are delivered to end-users over networks, or “the cloud.”

Still interested in more predictions for 2009? Take a look at ComputerWorld’s compilation of predictions from a variety of industry leaders.

The strides technology and other industries are predicted to make in 2009 will likely affect how we as an industry communicate. So don’t forget to check your smartphone or you might just miss out.

I graduated in May. It’s been a busy year for me with graduation, beginning my first real job, participating in my first jury duty, purchasing a home and getting married. I was very involved at Truman State University participating in regular service activities with a service organization and assisting others as a Student Advisor on campus. Now I find myself seeking ways to give back to the St. Louis community. There are so many things to learn from others when you volunteer. Volunteering has helped me create connections with people I otherwise may never have met.

As a business person, I believe engaging with the community has a number of benefits. It provides a different perspective from daily work. It also lets businesspersons use their skills in different ways, learn new things, develop or enhance leadership skills, network with others who have a similar passion and, most importantly, to give back to our community.

Businesses have so many opportunities to engage with the community and it can be an important external communications tool. So, as you try to decide what your New Year’s resolution(s) will be, don’t forget to consider volunteering.

1. Develop a communication strategy that includes all components of the internal and external vehicles and plans for messaging throughout the year.
2. Create a consistent process to coordinate timing and delivery of internal and external messages.
3. Have plans in place to mobilize your team to respond to crises or issues; practice and refine your plans as needed.
4. Create an ongoing dialog between Corporate Communication, PR, Internal Communication and other key stakeholders (Human Resources, Legal, Information Technology).
5. Leverage new media as a component of your communication strategy.
6. Reinforce the purpose or goal of internal channels to help employees know and understand how to use the medium and get the most out of it.
7. Create a brand voice and replicate it through coherent, consistent messaging.
8. Educate leaders and executives to make smart choices about vehicles and channels.
9. Don’t forget the value of traditional channels.

As the New Year approaches, how do you plan to send consistent messages to all of your stakeholders?