Bloggers and brands

[homebythesea]

I love blogs, YouTube, Instagram etc but sometimes do wonder what's in it for the brands especially regarding blogger events.

Straight up reviews of things they get sent I totally get- they try things on/ use a face cream, wax lyrical about how great the thing is, people click through and buy said item. Straightforward advertising. No problem with that at all.

But when a blogger is invited to a dinner, or night away at a hotel, or a movie premiere by a brand I just don't get what is worth the expense? From the blogger perspective they get a night out and a goodie bag and maybe even paid to attend. But what does the brand get in return? A brief tag on an Instagram pic, some photos of beautiful place settings at dinner......but not necessarily sales?? These events must cost thousands to put on.

Hopefully someone with some knowledge about these things will enlighten us!

Again.... are they real followers or the agency.... Victoria Genevieve always talks about this and says about an app called social blade that can show whether these are bought/real followers. She is one blogger who has been on about transparency for a long long time

It's all about the drama!

I really don't think the followers are fake, it's only 1k. Also, I'm sorry to say I don't think we should exaggerate the influence of this thread, or Kats instagram account. 65.1 or 65.2k followers is still very small for a professional account as is the Mumsnet readership.

I'd tend to agree with Bananajam if they were referring to this point, that's its more about following the drama. Although you don't need to follow to see it (I don't).

Yes, I'm coming round to the view that the Instagram storm was perhaps not as un-business like as I had first thought. It may not be orthodox business practice but it certainly looks as if Gleam aren't too concerned about it.

I still wonder what their clients think though, many of whom will be quite 'old school' in their view of customer service.

I think she went from 65.1 to 65.2k which isn’t a thousand, it’s a hundred surely

Paintbox yes I realised that too, my bad!

Mrs

Is it my imagination or has the Christmas Capsule wardrobe post (that featured all hush and garnered a lot of negative comments) vanished from DMBL40's blog?

Yes I couldn’t get anything from the link either

I wonder if Hush didn't want all that negativity on (what I imagine was) a sponsored post.

It's still there

doesmybumlook40.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/a-capsule-festive-wardrobe.html?m=1

Let's not promote untruths!

It Is there now but it wasn't about 45 minutes when I last looked.

So it is! I really couldn't see it either. I take back the above musings!

I agree that we should be careful about posting any untruths or personal attacks. This has so far been a balanced discussion about transparency (albeit with one blogger in mind); I would hate to give fodder to anyone on IG about us being “jealous haters”.

Yes, I do think the "transparency" message in this thread was diluted early on by a few comments about DMBL40 which were untrue, or at least unjustifiably personal (i.e. she must earn x much money, she stages her no-make-up appearances, she mentioned Ugg so she must have been sponsored etc.), and I do think that is probably what riled her the most.

Which is a shame, because her defensive reaction made things worse.

I shall continue to follow her because, tbh, to me it doesn't really matter if it's sponsored/gifted content or not - I make my own judgements about what I like and want to buy.

I didn't say she 'must' make a certain amount of money - I believe I said I guessed she could be making around six figures which is slightly different to what you said CointreauVersial.

And actually I think how much bloggers make is pretty pertinent. So may people seem to think they are SAHM's earning some pin money or getting the odd free pair of dodgy boots and that just isn't the case for the big ones.

I don't begrudge anyone making money out of a blog and am certainly not jealous or a hater - you know because I am not 15 But would just like to see the same transparency that journalists etc have to show.

I still really struggle to see why it is such an issue and lordy if any of them do branch into youtube - the gossip/comments they have to deal with is awful.

I've been thinking more about the transparency thing and think I can better articulate why it matters to me. So it's not at all that my decision on whether to buy will depend on whether something is gifted or not. It's more that the sheer quantity of stuff some bloggers have sets up unrealistic notions of what's 'normal'. I know intuitively when I look at insta that much of it is gifted and no ordinary person could possibly afford so much. But nevertheless it does send a subtle and insidious message and few people are immune to that. A clear reminder of how much of the stuff they wear is gifted just helps a bit with this.

But I also still feel strongly that bloggers could engage in this debate (if they want to) calmly and rationally. Acknowledge the issue and either make the change or don't but maybe explain why if you don't think it's important. KF's response is extraordinary. It reminds me of the mean girl at school - you're either in or out, and if you're out she'll gather her gang to make sure you know it. It really is unpleasant.

Yes, berry - that's pretty much how I feel. I didn't have any issue with DMBL40 per se until I saw how she chose to whip up Insta into such a frenzy....... the whole thing has been an eye opener for me, how bloggers work, authenticity and transparency. And, no, I didn't promote any untruths - the blog in question was taken down and then put back up again.

Spot on @berry! Instagram is an aspirational platform. People look at these accounts and want to keep up when it's not possible. It's completely normalised unrealistic levels of consumption.
And I was really surprised at the Instagram response from DMBL40 and her keeping all those sycophantic and aggressive comments. Very Mean Girls, I'm expecting her OOTD today to be mostly pink...

Yes exactly Juan - (I'm on a roll now, will shut up soon!) but this is not just a question of pointing us in the direction of interesting brands we might otherwise have missed or giving us styling hints and ideas. When it gets to this level, what bloggers are actually doing is to create want when there is (generally) no real need. That's their whole point. So that we all buy more - not differently. Even though blogging has been seen in fairly gentle terms that is in fact pretty hard edged capitalism, whether they like it or not. And so I think that it's fair if sometimes we question the methods, and try to redress/deconstruct the balance of power between advertiser/influencer and consumer/customer.

This is going to sound like I'm slinging arrows now so I hope it doesn't sound too blunt, but on one level I wouldn't expect DMBL40 to engage with these debates in any meaningful sense, because there is nothing on her blog which suggests that she engages in that sort of introspection more generally. That genuinely is not intended as a criticism, merely an observation, it's just clearly not her thing. Better duck now ...

I agree with your last paragraph, @berryupset. I don’t think IG is a platform which encourages critical analysis.

I’ve also been thinking more about transparency. This issue is, in my mind, so similar to the challenges and debates around digitally altered images used in the fashion press (and other media, but specifically fashion in this instance). It’s about portraying something which isn’t quite what it seems. It’s about offering aspirations which are actually much harder to achieve than they may first seem.

I don’t think many bloggers send stuff back though I know Alex from The Frugality said before she sends items she wouldn’t use or wear back.

Anneli Bush gets an obscene amount of stuff gifted, she’ll often show, for example, a pair of shoes brand new in their box and a few months later will have them for sale in her blog shop listed as brand new or nearly. So profiting from the gifts.

Kat has her outfit of the day on instagram now, the word ‘gift’ has been replaced by a more subtle ‘g’ - today’s ‘g’ is a leather jacket from Jigsaw.

The amount of stuff Anneli Bush gets is OBSCENE.

the word ‘gift’ has been replaced by a more subtle ‘g’ - today’s ‘g’

Because typing ift is so much effort?? Sheesh, we're only on what day 2 or 3 of the all new improved disclosure and we've taken a step back already.

‘g’