'Influencers'

[Lalalalalabambaa]

I'm so annoyed about this and need to get it off my chest!
I run a small online business, by small I mean just me. I only started a year ago and I'm working really hard to get this off the ground.

Anyhow, I was contacted by an influencer who said she loved my products and would like to promote in return for gifted products. We agreed terms over instagram messenger, and she agreed to promote on her main feed, her (z-list celeb) partner's feed plus another new account she's set up.

I'm not really into doing collabs, but between these accounts there are around 400,000 followers so I thought it could be a good opportunity. I sent her gifted products (worth just under £150). And.... nothing.

1st msg- did your order arrive OK? 'Yes, I love them thanks'
2nd msg - any update on the content? 'Sorry for the delay, I'll make sure its out this week' (this was last week)
3rd msg - any update? Silence.....

I'm just so annoyed that some people feel entitled to free stuff (that has come directly out of my pocket)!! Not to mention the money I've spent on extra stock in anticipation of extra orders. Before anyone calls me stupid for agreeing to this, I feel stupid and won't be doing this again.

Has anyone dealt with this situation before?

Did you outline your expections of timeframe and deliverables (i.e 3 stories, 2 main posts and 2 reels)?

If you didnt specify these it will be hard to quantify now after the fact.

Personally i would message one last tine outlining the agreed expectations then requesting a fuull refund or it will be small claims court.

You have their name and address so will be simple enough.

Give it a week or so then publicly shame her. Fucking free loading leeches these people are and they deserve to be shamed for constantly pulling this shit.

Hi, yes I did. We agreed a post and story on all 3 accounts. I've taken screenshots of our chat on instagram just in case she blocks me.
Think I'm going to give it another week then send her an invoice for the products. The most annoying thing is she obviously likes what I've sent as it's in the background on her other posts (but no tag to me)!

I’d give her a couple of weeks at least to do the posts before I started hassling her. Quite often influencers don’t just snap photos like the rest of us- they’ll have a photographer with them, organise a small shoot and then go away and edit the photos. They usually only post a set mum of times a week, and will plan what content they are putting out. How long ago did you actually send her the stuff?

If they feature in her other posts you could consider reporting to the ASA as she should declare the products as gifted.

I would message again and say that you would appreciate the items being advertised as agreed by x date or you will take further action.

@Herdinggoats She received them a little over 3 weeks ago. I'm almost certain that she isn't going to post or reply to me again now, but I'll give her until the 4 week mark to make sure I've been fair.

@MintTwirl Thank you, that's a brilliant idea!

This is breach of contract and if she doesn't start responding, you could go down the small claims court route. You had a contract to supply her with the product in return for agreed coverage and she hasn't honoured that contract.

I’d @ her and post pictures of the messages. Have they posted about something else???

id call them out! You haven’t had a response. You’d be doing a service as she will be targeting other businesses.

now you also know - don’t give anything to an influencer for free. Someone who does that sort of thing won’t need to ask for it.

Never give things to an influencer as a collab. They are constantly trying it on

I don't know much about influences but a lot of them seem like twats from things I read.

I'd put it down to experience and don't be pressured by influences in the future