Wide targeting: During the first half of 2024 alone, the US presidential election garnered over 100 million mentions across social media platforms worldwide, according to NeoReach's own recently released research report. A hotly contested election with high-stakes impacts translates to unmapped territory for most influencers, and campaign organizations aren't specifically targeting political content creators, according to NeoReach CMO Steph Payas. "It's not just a particular niche that talks about politics and news. It expands to all niches across social media. They're going to lifestyle creators, fashion creators, and beauty creators with diverse followings."

Reducing risk: But uncharted equals opportunity for companies like NeoReach, and its leadership is certainly uniquely positioned for the call. "In a previous life, I was on a team at another company that worked directly with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and the FTC to develop the original disclosure guidelines," Michalak says.

The challenge is that the current rules fall short of being hard mandates, thus leaving too much room for interpretation on influencer advertising disclosures. "From my perspective as a CEO and a holder of liability for our company, it would be a hell of a lot easier if [the FTC's rules] became hard and fast regulations as opposed to just guidelines." For its part, NeoReach advises overt disclosure in the form of sponsored hashtags and transparent copy. However, the onus still falls on creators to properly employ best practices, and keep the personal and professional well-established in their feed.