If you work in word of mouth and social media, you’re in the trust business.

It’s this trust that earns you the respect and recommendation of your fans — and it’s where all great word-of-mouth and social-media programs begin.

In my recent BlogWell presentation, I shared a few of the fundamentals on how to earn trust:

• Never pay for love. When you pay for an endorsement, it tarnishes not only that referral — but every future one afterwards. When fans know you sometimes pay for love, it’s hard to trust any of your recommendations.
• Use a real disclosure every time. It’s as simple and plain English as the phrase, “My name is ___ and I represent ______.” Make it clear and make it obvious.
• Don’t lie to your mother. Whatever you’re doing, your intentions and your affiliations should be understandable to the average reader. If your own mother would be confused by what you’re doing, ask yourself, “Why are we lying to our moms?”

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you like this presentation, be sure to check out our upcoming BlogWell in Chicago on Aug. 11.

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Paul Beck, executive director of interactive marketing and advertising at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, moderated a panel that aimed to debunk the biggest myths about social media. The experts: Jory Des Jardins, co-founder of BlogHer; Riccardo Zane, president of Agency.com, New York and Chicago; and Patrick Keane, chief executive of Associated Content.

I’d like to share Des Jardins’ straightforward and convincing approach to busting the first social media myth: Sponsored conversations are a sin.

First, Des Jardins talked about several “bad apples” that give sponsored conversations a bad rap:

• Deceptive origins. When a brand blogs or tweets under the guise of a character without disclosing it.

• Paid endorsements included in editorial content. Paid reviews should be kept separate and should be clearly marked as such.

• Promotional, lacks authenticity. These won’t resonate with your audience.

Next, Des Jardins explained the stance of BlogHer, a community of women bloggers. The group set its editorial standards for content in 2006 and then used those as a springboard for commercial content standards soon thereafter. They believe that publishers and advertisers have a responsibility to enforce best practices, even if bloggers don’t. Des Jardins shared BlogHer’s standards for sponsored conversations, including:

• Transparency. You must disclose the fact that it is a sponsored conversation. BlogHer’s sponsored conversations share this right off the bat.

• Separate the sponsored review from your editorial. BlogHer has an entirely separate section for special offers and sponsored content, which Des Jardins says is very popular.

• Sponsored conversations should be marked with “nofollow” tags.

The take away? Don’t be afraid of sponsored conversations, but make sure that yours isn’t a bad apple.

Image credit, iStock

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