Q: Is it really that important to disclose when your trip is hosted and/or paid for by a brand?

A: Chances are, you're looking around at prominent creators with millions of followers and they never seem to disclose a damn thing. 😅 And you're right: many of them don't! But that doesn't mean you should follow their bad example.⁠

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If you’re going to become a creator of any kind and start working with brands, it’s really important that you stay on the right side of the law. So in short, yes, you need the proper disclosures.

If you were paid a fee or commission to post something, or if you got something for free in exchange for posting about it, you have to disclose that to your audience.

That’s not just a courtesy. That’s according to the guidelines that the FTC, or Federal Trade Commission, has in place for creators and influencers.

The FTC’s job is to make sure consumers aren’t being misled by false information, so that’s why they care whether or not you’re being transparent with your audience. You have to tell your followers anytime something of value has been exchanged that could impact your recommendation of a product, service, or experience.

Neglecting to do so could result in fines for you and the brand you’re working with, not to mention the damage it could do to your reputation.

Don’t be intimidated by the guidelines; they’re actually very simple to follow. 

If it’s a paid campaign, the brand will usually tell you exactly how they want you to do the disclosure. It will usually be #ad or #sponsored, and it needs to be conspicuous. For an Instagram in-feed post, for example, it should appear before the “more” link in the caption. Don’t just bury it in a bunch of hashtags at the end. The bottom line is that your disclosures need to be impossible to miss and should use straightforward language.

For comped travel, the FTC guidelines aren’t as specific, but the basic idea is that you need to let your audience know that you got it for free. We will often disclose that in a full sentence like, “Thanks to so-and-so for hosting us.” And we usually add #hosted. 

Different creators do it different ways, but the idea is to be as transparent as possible.

I find that, unfortunately, many creators, especially larger ones, really play fast and loose with their disclosures.

They probably don’t make clear disclosures because they think that not including those will make them seem more “authentic” to their audience, as if these are trips they just happen to take on their own instead of travel they are being paid to do or getting for free.

My take is that, apart from the legality of it, you also have a responsibility to your audience to be up front and honest. If you got to travel for free or if you got paid for something, your audience should know that.

That doesn’t mean that your audience is going to automatically dismiss your content!

They can still get valuable insight into a hotel or destination from your content, even if you have a commercial relationship with that hotel or destination. But your audience has a right to know what that relationship is, so that they can make their own determinations as to how to interpret your content.

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Take care,

Carmen Sognonvi

Founder, Top Flight Family