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!

So, is this how it works? Brand pays blogger to write a monthly blog. Blogger promotes favourites with a click through link and then receives payment for these sales as well. Very, very neat - and I am the muppet parting with my cash. I will never looks at blogs the same - how incredibly naive I am.

Flea, you've left out the consulting fees. Where a blogger advises a brand on what their readers (ie target market) would and wouldn't like to see. You're unlikely to ever hear them mention it as there's usually a NDA involved.

Wow, White Company offer 5% on all click through sales. Why didn't I know this!

And do you know that when you click through, the website places a cookie on your computer to track it so they can give the commission to person who referred you. The cookies tend to stay on your computer for 30 days so even if you don't purchase then and come back say 2 weeks later, they still get commission. Oh and for some affiliate programmes (not all), the blogger doesn't just get commission for the item they were promoting. So say you click through to look at a Christmas candle they featured, you don't make a purchase but go back 2 weeks later and buy an entire bed linen set, the blogger gets commission for the bed linen since they're ultimately the one who sent you to the site. Not all affiliate links work like that but some do. Makes you think twice about the "Swipe Up"! where the affiliate links are never disclosed

I don’t think it’s always as obvious as that even. Lots of bloggers have a “shop my instagram look” page on their blog. If you click through on that and the link goes through as a rstyle.me link then you are probably paying commission to the blogger on that as well.

Oh I didn’t know that about the cookies. Need to do a cookie clear out I think.

Ffs - what is a cookie clear out and how do I do it.......... doesn't that mean that I have to reset all my passwords too?

I can recommend the Ghostery browser extension which blocks most tracking technology and will tell you when you've clicked on an affiliate link without knowing it. You can whitelist preferred sites. Less hassle than continually clearing your cookies and your internet loads a lot quicker.

If you want the 5% or above affiliate sales for yourself there's plenty of cashback sites that give you those nominal discounts on a purchase (but if using Ghostery you need to whitelist those sites).

If you click through on that and the link goes through as a rstyle.me link then you are probably paying commission to the blogger on that as well.

There's no probably about it. Rstyle.me is a huge affiliate network and it seems to be a bit of a badge of honor to be part of it as you do have to apply to be accepted. You need a certain number of followers to get in. But once you're in, it's open season on linking everything from clothes to interiors and home stuff.

I noticed one blogger the other day was doing a changing room instastory and did a swipe up to link to a dress that she was trying on. She didn't even purchase the dress. To me, putting an affiliate link on an instastory to something that you didn't even purchase for yourself but you might earn commission on is unforgivable.

Thanks botemp (we met on the Parisienne thread a couple of days ago!). Am off to research Ghostery......

Grudging head nod is just fine for this France dweller!

I'm glad to see the conversation has moved on to affiliate links as the non-disclosure of these by bloggers bothers me a lot.

nandio, you own a small business, right? Would be curious on your thoughts on affiliate links as I can imagine it's simply not something most small businesses could afford to partake in those large affiliate programs. Or if you do, surely that, in turn, drives up the prices to cover the extra cost of sharing these sales?

botemp - thanks for the heads up on the Ghostery browser extension, sounds helpful.

Flea - The Parisienne has been mentioned here before, is it a thread here or blog? Could you direct me, thanks

First attempt at doing this so here goes www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/3075278-Ive-just-got-back-from-five-days-in-Le-Marais-and-Ive-decided-I-want-become-Parisian-sil-vous-plait?msgid=73705488 - it's a thread on here at the moment which is almost the antithesis of blogging - just good old fashioned recommendations in a very affirming way.

Flea - thank you, I have given up on blogs completely.

I know we have moved on to affiliate links but would like to ask are there other known agencies apart from Gleam?

I have seen bloggers who are friends, plugging the same products on Instagram, I am now thinking are they part of the same agency?

I’m not sure I can get excited about affiliate links. Bloggers must spend hours working on posts that we the readers enjoy and sometimes use for inspiration. Do we expect them to do this for nothing?? We can always go to the website separately if we feel very strongly that the blogger shouldn’t get a couple of quid from the sale of a garment.

I have mixed views on affiliate links. I also think if a blogger has gone to the effort to find a few gems, done a decent review of them and put an outfit together for their blog, then I wouldn't have a problem with them getting some commission on the links.

If they have just put together a random page of clothes and shoes that every other blogger is wearing, like those overpriced Golden Goose trainers that they haven't even bought themselves or some looky likey Air and Grace trainers that they have been given anyway, then I think its a bit cheeky.

Either way, I think its polite to tell us though.

And, as I said, I do understand that business is business - it's the murky nature of it that riles. I now believe that theses bloggers are being led by "here's my pick of affiliate links" rather than a more personal approach. Of course they work hard and no, I don't actually begrudge them the money, it's the transparency that's the issue for me. I am naive but I did think I was following someone's personal musings and now I feel I am just being sold to relentlessly.

I've just looked at one blogger's affiliate link page and it is very Topshop heavy. There is no mention of any commission earned on the links. And lo and behold, there is a blogger Topshop affiliate programme with 8% commission on new customer sales and 6% commission on existing customers. With a 30 day cookie period.

ui.awin.com/merchant-profile/6009

Disclosures surrounding affiliate links appear to be mandated by the FTC in the States but who knows who is monitoring this stuff in the UK (I suspect no one). Anyone can set up a blog and these are being done in such an amateurish way that no one is taking any heed of whether any regulation would apply to them.

I agree if it's a well written blog post that's taken time to research and write and there's unique content and products in there that are not doing the rounds on all the other blogs then I have no problem clicking through as long as it's been disclosed. But I won't give you a click for sweeping round your living room on an instagram story and swiping up for a rstyle link to a candle.

A lot of them are using the argument, "but there's a disclosure on my website" and then linking products on Instagram. It's a completely different platform though and you shouldn't have to go over to a separate website to read a disclosure. If you're linking on Instagram you should be disclosing on Instagram.

www.asa.org.uk/news/Insight-affiliate-marketing-new-advertising-guidance-for-social-influencers.html

who knows who is monitoring this stuff in the UK (I suspect no one)

See my previous post. The ASA have set out the rules but I think you're right in terms of the monitoring. Probably discussions like this one and people challenging bloggers on an individual basis when they see something they don't like is the extent of the monitoring at the moment.

I don't mind affiliate links either to be honest. However, you will notice how Zara is not often featured in blogs as I don't think they do any type of affiliate programme.

I've just looked at 4 blogs. 2 had some disclosures though emphasised the commission was 'small' (I am not sure I would describe 8% as particularly small - small would be 1-2% in my head). The other two had no disclosures, or none that I could find anyway. The two that did have them were either buried right at the bottom of the page in the smallest font they could find, or on a separate page, away from the linked products. I'm not convinced any of them would meet the requirements of the ASA.