A big part of marketing includes showing how popular something is. It makes sense. If other people like a product, more people want it, too; the more, the merrier. Online reviews, number of “likes,” even just word-of-mouth—all of it builds social proof. However, can chasing after this popular approval actually be a legal landmine? Surprisingly, it can; a business actually has a legal responsibility here. There are a lot of details, and the legal community has a whole bunch of strong opinions on the topic, so let’s move on to the next section.
Faking Until Getting Sued
Social proof works because humans are wired to follow the crowd; nobody wants to be wrong. This gets exploited all the time and results in marketing teams thinking, if everyone else is doing it, then let’s get some extra likes, comments, and followers. Now, the legal angle is when this “proof” is all fake. Creating fake reviews for your product or service could land a business in very serious legal trouble.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) keeps a pretty close eye on marketing and advertisements. The FTC has explicitly said that paying for fake reviews is not okay; this goes against federal advertising and consumer protection laws. It hurts customers who end up spending money and also businesses that are actually honest. However, there are some high-quality platforms that can provide real followers that won’t cause these issues as those are highly active and not look like bots. One such example is StreamOZ that helps you buy real twitch viewers to improve your social proof without any issues.
Involving Influencers Raises Risks
The influencer side of things also brings a risk. Many companies work with influencers to make them seem legit, but what happens when these influencers just say pretty things that aren’t real? This is a hard topic to cover because there are actual people involved, and the influencer’s reputation is on the line.
The FTC demands that influencers clearly reveal when they’re getting paid to promote something. These rules are there for a good reason; if brands don’t make every detail perfectly clear, the brand could get into a lot of legal issues, including having all of their profits taken from them. People assume famous folks who endorse them are authentic, but they are often paid, and business owners have a legal responsibility to make this clear. If it looks like they endorse it, there is a paper trail necessary to ensure that it is perfectly legal.
Deciding Legally: The Person
When it comes to deciding if social proof is legally dangerous, courts look at a few things. One big element is what’s called the “reasonable person” test. If the average person looking at the advertisement is tricked by the social proof, there is a good possibility that the businesses will lose.
For example, look at “weight loss miracle” cases with amazing testimonials and pictures. The courts will ask: Is it likely a reasonable person reading those testimonials would believe they show results? Cases like these end up causing significant losses to certain companies, but they also encourage other similar businesses to operate above board to avoid legal risks. However, some businesses will think they can cheat the “system” because they think they are smarter.
Staying Out of Trouble
To stay away from legal problems, it’s really crucial to know that the biggest key is always being honest. Make sure everything written about the product or service’s reviews is real. Don’t try to make up endorsements; always work with verified people, and keep the records to prove it; every penny must be accounted for to stay perfectly legal. This may be expensive, but businesses that invest in this will almost always get a better return in the end.
Actively seek out fake reviews; it happens. When fake things come up, be really quick about taking them down. Keeping a careful watch will go a long way to making your business more defensible in terms of law. A big lesson here is that following the legal requirements actually contributes to long-term business success.
Conclusion
Social proof is a helpful marketing tool to get customers engaged with a specific product. However, it also could be a trap. Businesses need to remember that if they use it the wrong way, it will damage things. The real key here is to follow all the rules and stay truthful, or everything might fall apart really quickly.
