I am warning all companies right here and now, not all bloggers are honest. Now you will find the vast majority of them are, but then speckled in there are a few bad apples. It happens in everything, but you have got to do your due diligence in researching a blogger.
And what I’m here to talk about today is the bloggers who don’t stand up to the standards I would think a company wants.
Running Giveaways
I have been running giveaways here on my blog for the past year plus. It’s great for the blogger to get more exposure and for the company too. But there are certain rules that we as bloggers have to follow. And I know at first I wasn’t aware of them until I started talking to more bloggers.
If a blogger has been in this for a while, then I would expect her to know her stuff. Now she doesn’t have to know EVERYTHING pertaining to FTC (Federal Trade Commission) guidelines when it comes to running giveaways, but honestly some of this is just common sense. It needs to be fair and it needs to be clearly stated who is eligible.
Over my time as a blogger who runs giveaways I have been doing my due diligence in finding out the best way to run giveaways and making sure it is done correctly. While no one from the FTC is actually monitoring the millions of blogs that are out there I certainly want to make sure all of my ducks are in a row and that I’m not doing something wrong which a disgruntled loser of said giveaway could call the powers that be attention to.
So I have read up about everything I can get my hands on. Things from the Bureau of Consumer Protection about promotion. Which basically tells you how not to be deceptive. Don’t dangle a carrot in front of people’s faces that you’re not going to follow through on for whatever reason. And before you say, but I’m not selling anything here, oh yes you absolutely are. You are selling yourself and people are paying with their time and trust me, people do not want their time wasted.
Tons of bloggers have talked about this like here with Blog Giveaways: Staying Legal. One thing that stuck out to me here was that you have to accept all valid entries. And valid is pretty loose in favor of the entrant. If you require a comment and they don’t answer your specific question you still have to count it because they took the time to do the comment. Remember this one people because this is what has prompted my writing about this topic today.
Then there is this little gem from Social Media Explorer called Next Crackdown On Bloggers: Sweepstakes And Contests. I love this one because it breaks down all of the things you must make clear in your rules and guidelines. A great check list to keep when you’re putting together your giveaway or sweepstakes rather. It also explains the difference between these things just for clarification purposes. And did you know that Facebook has its own guidelines that cover sweepstakes? That’s right, when you get Facebook involved they don’t look too kindly on certain things. Well, that’s linked to in there too.
So lots of reading has to be done to make sure you’re following the letter of the law when it comes to running giveaways on your blog. And this is just federally speaking. Each state has their own rules too. For example, New York and Florida both have certain bonding criteria of a sweepstakes. If a prize is valued at a certain amount of money, then you have to get it bonded. And that might be a hefty price tag for the blogger and one which she may not be willing or able to deal with.
How Does This Hurt Companies?
So now you’re wondering as a large company if you outsource giveaways to bloggers, then how does their mishandling of a giveaway hurt me any? Well, you see the company is still responsible for this stuff. Of course you can only do so much. Telling a blogger what needs to be in there for example. If you can prove that you supplied all of the requirements to the blogger and she did not follow through, then you’re probably going to be free and clear. But remember this is also taking up your valuable time having to fight claims of mishandling of a giveaway.
So it’s best to make sure you’re working with a legitimate blogger. One who’s going to follow the rules. Not one who likes to break the rules and do things however she wants to do. Not someone who refuses to take the time to learn the laws which regulate this kind of business. Not someone who bans people from her site just because she doesn’t like them.
And realize that people who are aware of the rules are going to be entering these giveaways too.
That’s Right, I Enter Giveaways
In addition to the occasional giveaway that I run on my blog I also enter them from time to time. And I will tell you I get a bad taste in my mouth not only about a blogger who doesn’t follow basic rules pertaining to giveaways, but also about a company. Because between the two one of you should know what’s going on.
Here’s a story about what happened to me which has put a sour taste in my mouth about blogger giveaways. Now keeping in mind that I truly believe this is an extremely rare situation. I believe in my heart that most bloggers want to do honest and fair giveaways for their readers. And of course in many cases we are not lawyers and are not always completely up to date on the laws, but basic common sense does tell us that we need to run fair giveaways and there are certain ways to achieve that. Banning people is not one of them.
So yesterday I saw that Danielle Elwood dot com was giving away a blogger notebook. Nothing big, just a little one subject notebook that she probably paid all of 50 cents for. I don’t really need a notebook, but I’m a blogger and exactly the person this giveaway was being promoted to. So I entered. There were three things on this Rafflecopter widget that I had to do. Leave a comment with the url to my blog, like on Facebook, and follow on Twitter.
Now, I will admit Danielle does not like me. As a matter of fact she has me banned from her twitter. I have “known” Danielle since before she was a blogger and I have challenged her every step of the way with what she writes. I rarely see eye to eye with her. And she does not like when I point out her inconsistencies. And I’m not talking how she changed her mind on something about being a parent from her pre-parent days, I’m talking about how she writes one thing on one blog and then a few days later something completely opposite on another blog.
So why do I continue to follow her and read her? Because we are in a very similar niche. Heck we even live in the same state. Because I have two children who are the same age as her children and I personally think it’s good to be open minded enough to read opinions that don’t jive with your own. If nothing else it makes my convictions stronger that I am doing things right. I am not fearful of a different opinion. I encourage it and ask for it. People like Danielle on the other hand throw temper tantrums and cry troll when people don’t agree with her. Certainly makes it difficult to learn from others when you’re sticking your head in the sand.
But that’s neither here nor there. I entered the giveaway. I commented with my blog URL as requested, I tried to follow on twitter but couldn’t, and when I went back to see if my comment had been approved just moments later I got this page:
See up there in the browser? That’s her website address and this is the page I am now brought to because she has decided to have a personal vendetta against me. I think it’s safe to assume that I will not be winning that notebook. That my comment did not get approved.
In this case this is a self hosted giveaway so at least she’s not dragging a poor unsuspecting company into her illegal activity. But as a consumer, I am not happy about this. I have just as much right to enter this giveaway as the next person. And remember what I said to remember from earlier? The thing about determining a valid entry? Yup, I took the time to comment. Heck, I answered the question she asked even. And literally minutes after doing so I have been banned from her blog.
Now you tell me, is that fair? Is it fair to say well I don’t like this person or what she stands for so I’m just throwing this entry out? No, it’s not fair or right at all. And according to the FTC, it’s also illegal.
It’s illegal on so many levels. The Bureau of Consumer Protection would consider that to be a violation of the FTC’s Deception Policy Statement. While no actual money changed hand, remember I am still a consumer of the blog and what she’s selling is her words. I was deceived into believing I had a chance at winning something she intended to be for blogger. I clicked on the link from her Facebook fan page which had these words with the link:
Blogger? Enter to win! I am giving away a blog notebook!
So, looks pretty deceptive to me. Yes, I’m a blogger. I went there to enter to win and my entry has been declined because why? Not because I’m not a blogger because I clearly proved that by linking to my blog as asked. Not because I don’t live in the US. Not because I’m not 18 or older. Nope, simply because she does not like me. It’s clear as day here people. And that is unfair. We don’t get to pick and choose who can enter our giveaways and the winners need to be chosen completely at random, not after weeding out all of the perceived bad apples.
What Does This Mean For Companies Moving Forward?
While this particular giveaway was self hosted I will tell you this doesn’t help companies moving forward. When she has a giveaway which is sponsored by a company, which she will, I am now unfairly not being allowed to enter her giveaway. How do you feel about that companies? I see a giveaway posted somewhere for a cute cloth diaper lets say and I click on it and guess what? I’m deceived again into thinking I could enter, but instead I’m brought to the same page saying, “You are banned.”
So guess what companies! This little stunt of hers has now just fallen right into your laps. Every company from here on out who works with Danielle Elwood on a giveaway is now violating FTC guidelines and they are deceiving consumers. Is that what you want to get yourself involved in? I certainly wouldn’t want my name being associated with FTC violations and deception of consumers.
What’s A Company To Do?
More research has got to be done of bloggers before you align yourself with them. It can’t be based solely on numbers because you are talking about your reputation. You must delve deeper into the blogger. Do a google search. Read up. Do your homework.
Read how they have run their past giveaways. See how things were handled. If possible see if problems came up. You might even want to try contacting other companies, especially if there was an issue, to find out how it was addressed and what it was like working with that blogger.
And please make your requirements more stringent. Require them to not have people banned from their site or from commenting. Require that they not have people banned from Facebook and Twitter if they are going to use that as an entry. And require them to dot all of their i’s and cross all of their t’s.
Read up on the FTC guidelines when it comes to running giveaways. Give your bloggers the tools to represent you correctly. Then you can avoid embarrassing and costly situations like this. Because lets face it, this does cost you as a company.
As a blogger I will tell you I also am not opposed to signing contracts which tell people clearly what is expected. This way both parties are in agreement. It protects me, the blogger, and it protects you, the company. I have in many cases signed contracts to work with a company and I do everything in my power to make sure I am representing them the way they want to be represented. I hope more companies see the advantages of protecting themselves in this way.
This should all be common sense, but sadly it is not and we have to protect ourselves. Have you been the victim of an unfairly run giveaway?
Thanks for the links
You know me I am always trying to stay up to date on this. I live in FL and I believe it is $5000. So I do not even get into blog hop giveaways because it could go over that amount and supposedly it counts to the $5000.
Interesting, so even though you might be offering a prize worth $20 the share fact that the total of the hop could add up to $5000 means you need to be bonded? Who knew. Things seem pretty lax here in CT. Basically do it fair and include disclosure information and you can’t charge people anything. I certainly never knew there was all of this stuff you have to worry about to run giveaways and I’m still learning, but I certainly know right from wrong and what is happening with people being banned from blogs that’s just wrong if you’re going to run giveaways on it. Of course a blogger is entitled to ban people, but I think she needs to then decide if doing giveaways is important to her. If it is then you can’t deceive people in that way.
She has banned me as well. I have no idea why. I have already complained to every company that is sponsering her. If I lived in CT I would most assuredly complain to the Department of Consumer protection.
Since she does tie-ins to Facebook I have complained there as well. Are you aware that she is now accusing YOU of plagerizing her? I think it is you. You did do a summer reading list for Moms right?
And a Meal plan series as well right? She has accused you in her latest blog (which you are banned from reading) of plagerizing her, and causing her to stop both of those series because she was discouraged.
You can read her blog plenty of other way-even by using any wifi address remotely.
LOL, I did see that she was accusing me of stealing her ideas. I did a book club this summer, not a reading list and nothing at all like what she did and yes I post my menu on my blog along with thousands of other bloggers. If I’m the reason she stopped doing those things then what’s her excuse for any number of countless other endeavors of hers that have flopped? Most recently her convert 2 cloth thing. I am not her scape goat. And she only wrote that because she was trying to take the focus off of her illegal doings. Well, maybe if I make Monica look like an idea thief then people won’t notice that I am breaking the law. Hey, if I’m an idea thief what does that make her? She stole someone’s picture and put HER watermark on it claiming it as her own. How many “craft” ideas has she claimed as her own? Like that business card storage thing. Funny how someone at the last BlogHer she went to had created and wrote about that exact same design, only she did it BETTER. That’s the problem with her is she never improves upon anything. She takes things away instead of putting things in. And everything she does bombs. So yes it’s completely my fault that she did not follow through with planning a menu for her family and also my fault that she didn’t read and talk about the books she claimed she was going to read this summer. Yup, I prevented her from doing that. I’ve also apparently prevented her from completing her convert 2 cloth project, her One Mom Digital Media site (which by the way was jacked from Talking Finger), her Trendiest Kids thing, and I’m sure I’m the cause for her not having a “Shit my kids say” post in a while. She can point her finger at me all she wants, but since her hands are dirty (figuratively and physically speaking) she’s only making herself look worse.
You are one crazy lady! Why do you continuously chase her down and harass her!!! If you don’t like her, then just ignore her. It is making YOU look bad. Not her. She is still a popular blogger and companies still like working with her regardless of your false statements. Don’t you see how immature you look? On twitter you BASH her all day with your friends about her personal life. Why would she want to be friends with you or let you in her life…or her blog. I just think you need to be a kinder person to her. Think about it!
This coming from a person who went back through hundreds of blog posts to find this one and who apparently is following me around on Twitter. Interesting.
Believe me, I do not want her as a friend. With friends like her you don’t need enemies. Been there, done that with her, never again. I don’t know why you’re so hell bent on making me stop. If I’m completely wrong about her, then she has nothing to worry about. The problem is the proof is out there. She knows it and that’s why she goes to any means to try and stop anyone from shedding the truth about her. FYI, companies have seen her for what she is and you will notice she doesn’t tend to work with companies again.
Monica, you tweeted this blog post today! I didn’t go back through your blog to find it. After I posted my comment was when I realized it was from 2012. Why did you tweet it then?
I have a system that automatically tweets blog posts actually. I didn’t tweet it I haven’t even been on twitter much today. Its all done randomly. But you are still following my twitter after you said you were done with me. Although, you’re not actually following me on twitter though are you? You just look me up to see what I’m saying about Danielle, don’t you? Probably doesn’t look too good on you telling me how I should behave when someone could say you’re doing similar things to me. Very very interesting.
@Mamaintheburbs I guess it’s one of those “Do as I say, not as I do” moments? Danielle claims to be harassed when she harassed many of us for years. She has enough trouble looking out for herself, I guess reinforcements are in order now?
Dana, what reinforcements are you talking about? Just curious.
And no I don’t follow your twitter feed. I would prob be interested in reading your blog if you didn’t bad mouth other bloggers. I just don’t get why her going to bars has anything to do with you. I know you were in a parenting group back in the day… but what does any if that have to do with if she gets a new puppy or not. Obviously she is doing something right. Her giveaways for her anniversary are all from companies she has worked with in the past. My new blog hasn’t been set up yet, a designer is working on it, but she has given me great advice. And she is friendly with other bloggers that I respect and I know. Sorry that I commented on an old post, I didn’t know twitter can do that! How does it know what post to pull? Oh and if your post was so striking why did only three people comment. Your numbers vs her numbers in blog comments, Facebook followers, and twitter followers says it all. I’m new to twitter, been on it for less than a year. But I wrote for a website that Danielle used to write for. I respect her writing.
You don’t follow my twitter feed, but you just so happened to see that this got tweeted today. Just like you just so happened to see other tweets I made to other people. All of this I find fascinating. My blog is very rarely about what another blogger does, but when things happen I write about it.
The gist of this blog post is there are laws and regulations to follow when doing giveaways. Danielle does not follow those rules and companies have been burned because of it.
As far as tweets about her dog goes are you aware that she used to have 2 Cocker Spaniel puppies. She got them right before she had her oldest. Pet store puppies she bought with the intention of breeding. Then one of them was left outside for long periods of time and barked incessantly and she got rid of her beloved pet. Now that’s all well and good for her and probably worked out better for the dog. But now she goes and gets a pit bull puppy in a home where I think she has 2 cats (she did at one time anyways before one ran away, but then came back, maybe ran away again???) and an “aging” dog that’s going blind. Do you know anything about the breed? Does Danielle? They are other animal aggressive dogs. Will Danielle do obedience training with this dog? She didn’t with her other dogs. And because she didn’t take the time to train it neighbors were complaining about her dogs. So she had to get rid of it. Pit bulls are not highly desired dogs to begin with. So what happens when things don’t work out with this dog? It is extremely concerning that she would add another dog to the mix after what happened with her last dog.
Now as far as the numbers for blog comments goes I’m not sure which blog of hers you’re reading, but from what I’ve seen her blog doesn’t average much more than mine does. Not that the amount of comments is a true measure of a successful blog. If you want some tips I’d be very cautious about getting them from Danielle because she has a long history of illegal acts.
As far as the automatically pulling blog posts goes it’s a WordPress plugin which I have on my blog. I set up the categories I want it to pull from and how far back it can go and how often it posts to twitter, but other than that it randomly pulls from my blog. Helps breathe life into some older posts.
When you get your blog set up I’d love to read it so please feel free to come back and let me know. Unless you are too afraid I’ll begin to “attack” you that is. For the record I have nothing against you. My relationship with Danielle is a very long and complicated one though. I have no idea what she has told you about me and I’m sorry that the impression you have of me is crazy and mean. I am none of those things. I have just been through a lot with Danielle and have come to learn even more about her and I don’t want others getting wrapped up in stuff with Danielle. If you look around enough there are enough people who know of the many lies Danielle has told and ways in which she has harmed other women. It’s not normal for a person to have to go around and change her email address every few months because someone is “stalking” her. I have had the same email address for over 13 years. Danielle makes all of her own drama and is hardly a victim. My friends that I tweet with all but one I met after meeting Danielle and all had very similar experiences or even worse than mine. She has a very long past of trolling message boards and causing problems for other people. I won’t tell the other ladies stories because they are not mine to tell, but it’s all very eye opening. And yes, one of the ladies has met Danielle IRL and she was burned big time by Danielle. Sometimes you just have to wonder why would one person have so many enemies?
And Dana1974, I wonder if Gina gives two shits that you tweet nasty comments about her too!
She threatened to sue me, so I guess she does
Why did she threaten to sue you? For some nasty tweets? I mean who needs that! You are a big enough person to not give two shits about TFB? Why go after her?
Monica, I appreciate your long message. One thing I will say is pitbulls are good dogs. Yes they have a bad reputation for being aggressive and mean, but I believe it’s the owners fault. The owner needs to train and properly take care of this breed. If you look at the list of dog breeds that are aggressive, there are way more aggressive dogs than pitbulls. Our good friends have three. They were all rescue dogs and they are so well mannered. We let my daughter play with their toddler and the dogs are never a problem.
I was not aware that she left her dog outside. Something like that actually makes me cringe. I also do not shop at pet stores for my dogs- we only adopt. So that’s something we agree on.
As far as the other things go, yes I have checked your twitter feed from time to time ever since you responded to my retweet of Danielle’s post. Still don’t know how you saw that if we aren’t friends. But anyway I just find it funny that you bash her and @ her in all your tweets when she has you blocked. She doesn’t read them so hy bother.
How did your friends get burned by her? What did she really do to you that was so hateful?
How do you know she has changed her email address? She has told me that you and your friends try to contact the companies she works with and run her name through the mud. The reason I know is one of those companies a friend of mine works for and sent the message back to her.
I guess I’m wrong about your blog numbers. I will say her writing on The Broad Side is doing well. Her feminism article got picked up by CBS.com. That’s impressing!
I’m lad you have nothing against me. I just wish you and your buddies would take it down a notch. Don’t you think people who read your tweets are sick of hearing about Danielle’s life…..
I do not believe that Danielle is going to take the time to care for that dog the way it needs to be cared for based on what she has done to her animals in the past. People change, but Danielle has a tendency to throw herself into things and not follow through. It’s one thing when it’s blog stuff, something else entirely when a living creature is involved.
As I said, it’s not my place to tell other people’s stories, they can tell you what she did to them if they want. As far as knowing her email address changed a bunch because I ran the group we were on together and she was constantly having to change her email address because she was being harassed by one person or another. Or so she said. She caused a lot of drama in our group and tried to start a lot of trouble with people. She even tried to put a wedge between me and the group by implying that I wasn’t being truthful about my baby’s death. It back fired on her since one of the people in the group was watching my kids when I went to the hospital. She made it like she tried to send me flowers at the hospital and they were returned to her though and when I asked her what hospital she sent them to she never responded.
There’s no way for us to run Danielle’s name through the mud. She does a pretty darn good job of that all on her own. We simply bring her untruths and inconsistencies to light.
As far as tweeting to Danielle goes, she sees every single tweet. She is well aware of what we are saying. Don’t let her fool you. She’s reading them and she’s scared because she knows that we have the truth on her. She has been trying to run and hide for years. Her behavior dates all the way back to her high school days. She hasn’t changed much since then. So do be careful.
Meant to type *glad* in my last paragraph. This iPad is too sensitive.
Oh I remember reading this post of Danielle’s
http://www.danielleelwood.com/how-not-to-make-friends-with-bloggers-dont-steal-ideas/
And just now as I was looking at your blog noticed you had these topics in your navigation bar. Are you the one she was talking about? Did you steal from her blog or copy her ideas…. Just curious!
Ha, no I did not “steal her ideas”. Menu planning is something that is done on many many blogs and something I have been doing off and on for years. Even used to talk about it in the group I was in with her so guess one could say she stole it from me, except the concept of menu planning is not something that I or she even originally came up with. Putting it on my blog keeps me accountable.
The summer book club that I did last summer was actually in the works well before she announced her thing and actually the two were nothing alike. I did a book club, she read books and reviewed them. Really not the same thing and it’s not uncommon for multiple blogs to have similar things happening. I do a Fitness Friday which other blogs do something similar to that. I do a Where Were You Wednesday and other blogs have a similar picture link up. And actually there’s a blog called More Than Mommies which has a book club, if anything my summer book club was like what they do all year long. They have an actual book club in their home though and then bring the discussion from that to their blog. I was having the book discussions on my blog every week. Really nothing at all like what Danielle did and I think we might have launched them around the same time, but I guarantee you that I don’t do anything like that without thoroughly thinking things through and that was weeks of work for me, not something I just slapped together.
Okay! Well I guess she was writing about someone else or was making this stuff up. I know I apparently don’t know her as well as you do. Thank you for answering all my questions. But I all seriousness, if you block someone on twitter and they try to tweet to you… It still comes up in your @/mentions? I thought that was the whole point of blocking someone,
I’m very sorry you suffered a loss. I have suffered 3 so I know how much it hurts.
No, it won’t show up for her to see, she has to either search for herself or search my tweets. But there is not a doubt in my mind that she does one of the two and does it often.
Sorry to hear about your losses as well. It’s a difficult thing to go through. Always harder when someone tries to discredit the validity of it too. Did you see my campaign to share angel babies? http://monicasmommusings.com/campaign-to-share-angel-babies/
If you can or want to you are welcome to join in.