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!

@ithasbeenalongtime 👆🏼 X

Star gate might be the weirdest exchange I’ve ever read on insta 😂😂

@abucktoothedgirlinluxembourg Apologies. Tired, hormonal, shouldn’t have responded!

You don't have to apologise @EDited76 I just felt pulling her up on it was a bit over the top. I felt sorry for the person who had posted it because it really was quite an innocuous comment, but she then had to fend off a load of people laying into her for having an opinion. Some of the follower comments on IG are a bit Single White Female for me, which is another reason why I have had to unfollow a few accounts that I used to enjoy.

FWIW, I thought the scarf was gorgeous though . Its interesting that you say it wasn't a sponsored post though as the scarf was gifted - I would have said it was a sponsored post in that case. Guess that just shows the rules are very muddy at the moment.

What I find insulting is a lot of the bloggers calling out this thread, calling posters ‘twats’ and so on are conveniently forgetting or choosing not to acknowledge that many of us ARE their audience

Seriously. How hard is this to grasp? I do both MN and IG. And I’ll bet that the people who frequent a style and beauty forum are bigger spenders on the brands these women advertise than the hundreds of ‘OMG you do you hun’ sycophant fangirls leaving comments all over IG. I know I personally spend ££££ as a direct result of IG, which I’m glad to do because if someone takes the time to style something up in a way I like/introduce me to a new brand that I like the look of/find that perfect cut item I’ve been searching for, I don’t mind if they make money off me. I just want to know what is behind their recommendations, which I think is fair enough.

Re the Anna post: this woman is very far behind the curve for an ‘influencer’. I’d forgotten about this thread altogether until I saw her post. Don’t think she really added much to the conversation, actually I expected a bit more from her.

Thats exactly it re the Anna Hart post. I dont understand why she would be so dismissive of a group of people who potentially are her audience? I get that the blogging community are a close group and that it must be hard to see someone comnent about you or a friend in a negative way, but she has dismissed the whole of Mumsnet with her ill advised comment, not realising that many people likely read Mumsnet and also her blog! Its a shame as i liked her blog and feed but have unfollowed as it just didnt sit right with me.

botemp thanks for the Vestoj reminder and link. The local stockist wasn't there any more (shops can be transient round here) and then I'd forgotten. Authenticity eh?

I clearly don't get out enough because I'm still open mouthed at that breastfeeding sneer. As lots of people have already said, who exactly does she think her audience is? And to think they accused us of not supporting women.

It's especially ironic that she is pleading for all bloggers not to be tarred with the same brush, then makes lazy, sweeping generalisations about the rest of us. A little self-awareness wouldn't go astray!

I found the whole blog post a garbled, confused mess. I couldn't work out if she was slagging off her followers, brands or other bloggers. I think it may have been all of them

That is exactly it. I thought her post made some good points, but the whole "the forum doesnt even deserve to be named" thing has really riled me. So because a few people on a thread with almost a 1000 posts have made rude/offensive statements we all get tarred with the same brush? Convenient to ignore the many posters who made valid thoughtful comments.

It's actually really ironic, because a couple of years ago on here (S&B) there was a spate of posts raving about Anna's blog, by a few different user names but recognisable as the same person. A lot of them also contained affiliate links (before the MN-generated affiliate links came into play) so I had assumed it was Anna herself.

IIRC there were no posts in breach of MN talk guidelines, only retracted post by request of users for various reasons. Not once has MNHQ has had to step in and do a little 'ahem'. As far as MN threads go this has been a very tame thread. If there has been anything akin to slander a blogger can take action against that, not too long along Younique was quite prolifically making use of that on here. MN has gone to court and lost in its effort to stop private correspondence being handed over about a poster on a thread about a plastic surgeon, etc. It's not the prettiest of businesses conducts but it is professional conduct that's enabled to protect their brand.

It's interesting to see them all gather together like this. I personally can't take anyone seriously who retorts with name calling. I respect that some bloggers came on here despite it being an audience turned against them. I was disappointed that all were either tepid or evasive when questioned about the need for standards and regulations even if it emerged from within in their own industry. That would require them all to work together and is mostly in their interest to not all be lumped together as charlatans and snake oil salesmen by protecting themselves with guidelines as to how a blogger should operate and interact with both audience and brands/agencies.

Yet they seem hell-bent on continuing on as they are in the moral grey area and seem to perfectly bandy together when one of their own is attacked. In my view that means it's only going to take one big scandal to bring it all down like a house of cards. When one of them messes up and exposes common practice the internet won't be as tame as this thread has been. As soon as the ASA gets any teeth it will be game over for many.

Also beware the media, the biggest losers in the blogger game are free lance journalists who have seen their per word count fees steadily slashed over the past few decades and seen jobs given to untrained digital counterparts. Vogue (US) has already punched out once with quite a media storm attached, it's only a matter of time before they all descend with just a hint of blood in the water.

*from a poster, not about. They were PMs IIRC.

I was hoping that chloelocestoshop would come on here to apologise for calling people knobs on that much discussed Instagram post but she hasn’t and I am disappointed. It didn’t seem like her to use those words but she did and as someone above said, it’s the clubbing together of the bloggers when they feel threatened. None of that sat well with me.

Just read some of her replies to people on her insta, she’s very rude. Telling someone they don’t seem to have a friendly approach or humour? (Have to admit I’d never heard of her before this thread).

I follow a number of the people mentioned - I’ve always assumed that most clothes were gifted. DMBL40 makes me laugh and I don’t think she’s changed that much since she was a poster on Damsels. I like Erica Davies too as she seems quite normal.

My only problem- and it’s not really a problem- is that they all go to the same things (Daniel Galvin hair thing today) so it can seem rather like watching the mega popular girl clique from School being fabulous whilst you’re being Billy no mates if that makes any sense.

Also everyone has a lot of the same clothes so they can all look a bit samey - but maybe I’m jealous of the mountains of cashmere jumpers and lovely scarfs etc

Out of interest why would someone with 28k followers describe themselves as an influencer - seems a bit conceited?!?

I honestly find the whole assertion that "you must feel jealous of me because I get free stuff" quite in bad taste, even if it is true for some.

The way I see it (and I work in finance so it's just a personal opinion), as a blogger you have two types of audience, one is those that use you for research and discovery and have the purchasing power and intent (like Kit above), and the other those fangirls that live vicariously through you "haters r gonna hate hun" type. Ever thought who would bother watching an "unboxing" video? They are actually quite popular. The former probably doesn't give a damn you received a free candle as they could go buy ten IF they believe the quality is good. This is the group that cares about the ad disclosures, the other group is just there for voyeurism and feeling they are your best friends. But when brands care about exposure and impressions, rather than actual purchases (which is evident from so many that are in trouble), until they are able to tie back their PR spending to their revenue (and as we know e-commerce is quite low-tech) you will get thousands of of "influencers" who would jump on the bandwagon and score sponsorships by being close to the PR agencies.

DMBL40 makes me laugh and I don’t think she’s changed that much since she was a poster on Damsels.

No, she hasn’t. She was a bit marmite back then too though as I recall.

I do remember some of them took the huff and made their own group for the specially invited 😂

I think you're so right Ana, you've hit the nail on the head.

I agree, Ana, has a very good point about the demographics. We're not mindless consumers, I believe that attitude is generally highly represented on MN and especially the MN S&B board. It's a difficult to reach demographic that advertisers/brands desperately seek because of the potential spending power and they're often brand loyal if it something agrees. People often overlook that that spending power is there for them largely in thanks to a certain discern, and even if the spending power isn't there, the discern for the few things one does buy is there among many posters here. We may be a minority in the totality of it all but we do hold a certain sway when it comes to brands, especially on a person to person level (which remains the most effective form of advertising), we share things we love with like-minded people, be it on here or in our immediate social circles with similar spending powers/attitude to spending.

I also agree Ana. I am still likely to purchase something I see promoted on IG if it appeals to me, and I see myself as fortunate to have the spending power to be able to do so. However I am far less likely to purchase from brands if I find out that they don't want to be upfront about the fact they are trying to sell me something. I'm less inclined to deal with brands where I don't get vibes that they uphold high standards of integrity, because it makes me doubt other things that are important to me, like general customer service standards, product quality etc.

My job is in a loosely related industry and I received an email the other day about a paper titled 'why every brand should be using influencers in 2018' so if IG is bad at the moment, its only going to get worse as every other brand jumps on the influencer bandwagon

However I am far less likely to purchase from brands if I find out that they don't want to be upfront about the fact they are trying to sell me something

Agree.
Something else that would put me off is overexposure. Once every blogger and and their dog has been sent it, I'm no more interested.

I read a really interesting article recently about facebook and how the inventors knew it was addictive and messed with people's heads - every like or positive comment gave a mini dopamine hit which people get addicted to. IG is no different really. No wonder any negative comments get slapped down like ejecting someone who is trying to spoil your party .

In spirit of: However I am far less likely to purchase from brands if I find out that they don't want to be upfront about the fact they are trying to sell me something

I hadn't really expected this thread to fill up, but if it does, is it maybe worth considering continuing it as a sort of watch thread, less focused on bloggers but the brands that turn us off with their stealth behaviour, extending to SM campaigns as a whole? For example, Charlotte Tilbury's MO both on these boards (suspected) and how they operate with influencers (rumoured with some difficult to ignore 'coincidences') has stopped me from buying anything from them ever again. On the back of this thread and the 'twats' comment by their PR reps, I won't be buying from MKT Studio as a result.

Ithasbeenalongtime, I think there's an article in the Guardian today by a very remorseful former FB employee today, lamenting how he helped ruin society. Will have to look up a link later.

I’m up for a watch thread @botemp. This has been such an interesting discussion over the last few weeks.

Read the Guardian article, a brief but horrifying insight from an insider. I have been consciously cutting back on my social media use anyway because I started to realise the corrosive effects on my mental health. I’m going to focus on this even more in 2018 but it’s a tough addiction to crack!

www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/11/facebook-former-executive-ripping-society-apart?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other