Social Media Influencer Overview

Consider who you are engaging with, whether it’s a patient, HCP, advocate, etc. and plan accordingly. Some categories of influencers may have certain restrictions or reputational risks that may merit additional contractual protections. Corporate Communications or Product PR must be involved in this review process to make those assessments. Furthermore, approval from the appropriate Corporate Communications/Product PR external communications lead is required to register this influencer engagement.

Make sure you’re taking steps to verify the authenticity of the influencer and the influencer’s followers. In some cases, influencers may appear to have large followings to seem more popular and charge brands a higher rate for engagements, when in reality they have inflated their numbers with bots.

Some simple tips for your vetting process:

• Perform a content investigation to check the quality of what they publish.
• Use tools to track this influencer’s follower growth over time
• Check their comments and see if they have a lot of spam in their post commentary.

Assess how close the influencer is to the topic of promotion and be able to justify why this influencer is the appropriate choice.

Investigate any negative press around the influencer to ensure he or she does not have a tarnished reputation or behaviors that don’t align with our values. Take a look at other brands this influencer has worked with in the past.

Please also be mindful of the tone the influencer takes when engaging with their followers.

Email [email protected] requests that an exclusion and debarment list check be performed for the influencer to ensure they are not disqualified, debarred or excluded from Federal healthcare programs. This should be performed each time an influencer is contracted, and documentation of its performance must be maintained.

Your contract must specify the start and end dates of your involvement with an influencer.

You must pay any influencer with whom you engage to publish content on behalf of Genentech or a Genentech-owned brand. Compensation structure to be based on Fair Market Value and please refer to the non-HCP Influencer Compensation Requirements SOP.

When engaging a patient, total compensation from Genentech must not exceed annual limits defined by policy.

While influencers may author their own content to ensure an authentic tone, Genentech must be involved in the review of said content and will provide guidelines that the influencers must follow. Genentech must ultimately approve the content before it can be published. The team or individual engaging with the influencer is responsible for ensuring appropriate review and approval from key stakeholders such as legal, PRC, etc. It is mandatory to include and receive approval from Corporate Relations in that review process.

Below are some key points of guidance to follow from FTC and FDA perspectives when assessing or developing sponsored content.

• All sponsored content posted by the influencer must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the influencer.
• Any claim made by the influencer in sponsored content must have adequate substantiation and be consistent with FDA-Approved Labeling.
• The influencer should refrain from making claims about their experience with the product that are not representative of what other patients could expect to achieve; otherwise, the influencer must clearly and conspicuously disclose what the generally expected results are.
• Any claims of benefits associated with a product must be balanced with appropriate risk information. All product discussions must include the product’s indication, most significant risks, and a link to the prescribing information for the product.

Further, if a Genentech-owned social channel reposts influencer content, it is imperative that the post is not presented out of context or reworded in a way that distorts the influencer’s original opinion or experience.

All disclosures must be “clear and conspicuous” meaning the disclosures use plain and unambiguous language and stand out. To ensure transparency for Genentech on social media, as well as comply with guidance from the FTC, any campaign where we’re paying to have other groups or individuals post content on behalf of the company must contain the branded handshake tool as well as include the language “Sponsored by Genentech” at the beginning of the post. The hashtags #sponsored, #ad, #spokesperson are not sufficient on their own.

For more detailed instructions for disclosures in scenarios other than standard in-feed posts, the FTC provides guidance specifically for influencers with details about disclosing on platforms with Stories, videos, live streams, etc.

If a third party organization has its own format required for legal reasons, please work with the Digital Communication Governance Committee (DCGC) to ensure the disclosure meets FTC requirements for clear and conspicuous disclosure.

It’s required to have community management plans and protocols in place before allowing an influencer to post in partnership with a Genentech brand (corporate or product). Specifically, the Genentech employee responsible for registering this influencer must decide who will be monitoring the comments, replies, or direct messages for the influencer, as well as determine the frequency of monitoring.

Additionally, the Genentech employee responsible for the influencer engagement must prepare and equip whomever is responsible for community management with appropriate responses, escalation protocols, etc. that align with the brand. It is required to include a member of Legal and Corporate Relations in the development of those plans, which should clearly define an escalation process for potential scenarios that would require action.

Prior to an influencer publishing content, responsibility of reporting adverse events (AEs) must be clearly designated. For example, if promoted posts are being monitored by an agency or third party vendor, the Genentech employee leading the engagement is responsible for ensuring that the designee has the appropriate training to report AEs, product complaints, safety findings, etc. within 1 business day. In addition, the Genentech employee must reach out to USDS to alert them to the activity, keep a record of the training certificates, and ensure that Case Transmission Verifications are being submitted at the agreed-upon interval per the contractual requirements.

Please use this contract template. For engagements where Pharmacovigilance (PV) language is included in the contract, please ensure that all safety requirements are being implemented and followed: Roche Vigilance training completed by designee for AE monitoring and reporting, training certificates collected and housed by activity owner, and completion of case transmission verification by designee at agreed-upon interval with USDS (please ensure USDS is notified of these activities).

As part of the contracting process, influencers will need to participate in a brief training hosted by Genentech to review guidelines for social media engagement on their personal channels. This will include a summary of the FTC guidance, FDA regulations and Genentech’s expectations for appropriate ways to engage on social media while the influencers are contracted with Genentech. The training must be provided at least annually to influencers under a contract with Genentech, a Genentech employee must be present when the training is provided, and documentation that the training was provided must be maintained. Please contact your product PR representative for more information.