Social media marketing: What’s legal and what’s not?

With all the hubbub surrounding social media marketing, it’s easy to check your ethics at the door. Remember when Wal-Mart got caught astroturfing - that is, setting up a a corporate blog that masqueraded as grassroots buzz? The blog, Working Families for Wal-Mart, earned Edelman - the public relations firm responsible for it - a suspension from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

Underhanded tactics like astroturfing aren’t just unethical, however. In some cases, they are illegal.
There are numerous FTC regulations surrounding social media practices, including buying links, giving bloggers freebies in exchange for writeups, and viral content. In addition, Google has its own standards on what’s ok and what’s not.

Of course, these regulations are notoriously difficult to enforce. But, before you begin any social media initiative on behalf of your product or company, it’s worth it to understand what’s truly illegal, what’s simply underhanded, and how you can embrace social media without abandoning your ethics.

Read the full article, “Is Social Media Marketing Illegal?“, at SEOMoz.