Bloggers and brands 2.

[Merriboo]

continuing the discussion from the previous thread about transparency and disclosure (or lack of) by bloggers

"I’m hoping this blogger bubble bursts soon to be honest, I’m not sure what message it all sends to young women. What do you want to be when you grow up...a social influencer" ABuckToothedGirlInLuxembourg

THIS!! And it's not just young women, it is having a profound affect on young men too. Both my teens are obsessed with social media and the youngest is particularly taken with the notion of becoming a social influencer at the age of 13. We constantly debate it and I have been clear that it isn't something they should consider until they are an adult. Unbeknownst to me my youngest made his IG account public and was hit with a ton of unwanted messages (some of which were truly vile, sexual predator shit) and a load of nasty abusive comments taking the rise out of him. I discovered what had happened and the relief on his face when we talked about it and dealt with it was huge.

I wouldn't want to share images of my children on my IG account because it is my business account. (actually, that's not true. I have twice shared images - both times they were the backs of their heads) but they wouldn't want me to feature them either. All these IGers who constantly have their kids in the frame; they grow up thinking it is normal to film every activity or daily nonsense on a gadget and upload it for the whole world to see. It strikes me that these people look at branded families such as the Beckhams and think they can have a bit of that.

Haven’t posted on MN for ages but am on instagram so have followed these threads and the instamums one. I don’t think AH is aware how arrogant her tone of voice can be on her instastories, and I write that comment knowing that she’ll probably see it at some point.

Am also following the bullshitcallerouter account which is hilarious.

All this influencer marketing will only have a short shelf life, the bottom will fall out of it eventually as it’s populated so much by people who don’t actually know anything about marketing eg CLTS, now I quite like her but she’s obviously been sent Hello Fresh as a freebie, as many of the fashion bloggers have too, but she publicly posted one of the recipes, I’m not sure she’s quite got the point behind marketing in that she’s supposed to promote it, not take it upon herself to give it away for free.

Eventually influencer marketing will put people off rather than encourage sales, they’re all turning into such loose cannons rather than credible bloggers.

In fairness CLTS said on the blog that she’s a paid up subscriber to Hello Fresh. Though I think she may have got gifted a week’s supply previously ?? But I too thought it very strange to be posting their recipe. She’s a novice at blogging imo - no blog posts for days, then a quick succession of them. Her little boy may be cute but we’ve all cute kids and I’m getting bored with Charlie this and Charlie that. Seldom mentioning what’s gifted.

fair do's if she's paid for it, but i hope she checked the copyright info on the recipes before posting it.

I do like CLTS though, I don't think she's blogging to make a living, she just loves fashion. My only gripe would be about disclosure, the simple answer if you don't want to join the influencer marketing side of things is to just not accept/post about the freebies.

Reading tbis thread and the previous one has been a real eye opener! I still enjoy IG but the term "influencer" makes me cringe. Also have noticed and become aware of the pleas for "recommendations" ...i.e. "we are getting baby christened can anyone recommend a cake company/florist type posts"...cue a hashtag recommendation for said cake/flowers a few days later.

RoseHarper Oh gosh yes, the “can anyone recommend” posts do my nut in!! One asked for washing machine recs a few months ago &, as if by magic, a lovely new Miele machine appeared in her laundry room!! That kind of fishing makes me feel ill. It is really grabby.

WRT to CLTS...I do have a soft spot for her as she seems very sweet but she needs to focus her stories on fashion rather than the cat or Charlie. The mere fact I can remember her son’s name suggests he frequents her feed/stories way too often. I can’t, for example, name Kat Farmer’s children & I have followed her since the early days of DMBL40 leading up to her 40th.

Anna Hart is slagging off MN again...

Who is AH & MLC?

MLC = MidlifeChic. One of the good bloggers who has always been clear about her collaborations and affiliate links. Background in retail and marketing and not a full time blogger.

She must spend a lot of time googling her own name.

Have just caught up with this thread - actually I came on specifically to see if anyone had seen the AH nonsense. My oh my. The arrogance. Does she not realise how silly and ignorant and patronising she sounds. I thought she ran a SM agency?? As someone on that fabulous bulshitcallerouter said, the correct respones would have be to say 'I strive to be totally transparent and honest etc etc. My brand is important etc' or words to that effect. Just unfollow??? Wow. Hmm. Cigarette companies ads? Just don't watch. Somehow or other I don't think the 'just unfollow' holds water...
Hello ASA.

As for where do I get the time to post? I can't even start.
And affiliate links?? She has to be one of the worst. Everything on her instagram has an affiliate link.

Yeah I'm on a rant but I was so irritated by her arrogance....I 'just unfollowed'
And yet I'm loathe to post this, as no doubt it will bring her traffic. Maybe that's why she had her wee rant yesterday. Purely business.

AH is a walking contradiction

Complains about mnetters having time to post - while instastorying constantly herself

Claims to be professional and in the know - while swearing all the time and openly pinching cowshed products from ‘the farm’, obviously all the free products aren’t quite enough

ED story in the daily mail. I haven't watched the video here & won't because I'm "over 30 and don't understand how social media works."
The hotel in question have now banned all bloggers.
I should feel sorry for ED because she really has been cruelly exposed, but I really don't.

So I'm back after thread 1. I can't agree more with the posts on here.

The shameless shameless asking for stuff and fake glamorous lifestyles is awful.

If you look on the BBC website today there were hundreds of women stand outside Glasgow city council yesterday asking for equal pay.

Try using your social influence to help them not blag hotel rooms and free candles.

Such a vacuous existence and it all of it 'gifted'

I feel AH is taking a leaf out of Donald Trump's book. Stir shit, create controversy, and watch her name go up in google ranks, her impressions and engagements increase, after all any publicity is good publicity.

Should be ignored, IMO.

I’ve just read AH’s blog on influencing in which she does
address some of these issues. She says in the article that she was paid more money that most earn in a month, to stand in Times Square and eat an apple. I’m amazed by this, I realise that influencers (hate the term) get paid for things but seriously, why so much? She’s not that famous surely, it seems like these brands are desperate to give their money away

Totally agree with @AnaViaSalamanca, AH was desperate for someone on MN to notice her a few weeks ago and was repeatedly spamming her twitter followers with links to her blog about influencers saying "ooh, I'm going to get roasted on MN for this" and yet no-one on MN gave it anything other than a cursory glance. IMO she just wants the attention to give her an excuse to post a IG meme about how being nice is the best way to live your life (implying that all bloggers are Nice People and all people who have issues around the way bloggers are regulated are Not Nice People)

The affiliate link thing really pisses me off actually. I don't have any problem with a blogger featuring a dress on their blog, adding some description which encourages me to buy it through a link and they get some commission on the sale of that dress.

But if someone posts a short vague twitter message about a wedding dress at a particular shop that you often shop at anyway which you are mildly curious or bored enough to click on and go "oh that's a pretty dress" (but I got married 15 years ago so I don't need a wedding dress). Then, say, 2 weeks later you need a new winter coat and go and buy it through the same shop (that you regularly shop at anyway), I would be pretty annoyed to know that the blogger got £20 payment when I bought the coat that I tracked down, from a shop that I regularly shop at, instead of it coming off my bill. Affiliate links are very dishonest if not disclosed.

I am rather clueless about affiliate links. I understood that obviously if you buy said item in link then there would be a commission to the blogger but didn't realise that these things stayed inset so that any subsequent searches or purchases on that particular retailers site would result in a payment to the blogger. Is there a way to clear any trails/traces so that you can start afresh with retailers?

Where’s the AH rant?i can’t find it, I don’t follow her, I don’t like her. But would like a nosey.

I didn't know much about affiliate links before this thread. How they work is murky and lacking in transparency, and never explained - you are lucky if the existence of them is flagged up at all by the blogger. In safari you can go into preferences and privacy, I had a shedload of cookies in there, some of which I have deleted (including the Whistles one). I also had one for anthropology, which I have never shopped in to date, but lots of bloggers have been pushing their gear so I must have clicked on a link sometime ago - I can't remember when. I have set my browser into a privacy mode, I think that may stop some cookies being planted on my computer, but not sure. If you are using a different browser there would be other ways of doing this.

Edina I think you can do this by clearing your cookies on your computer (not sure how it works on a mobile device but there must be a way). This will also clear passwords of sites you frequent so be sure to jot them down first :)

Thanks for the clearing cookie info. I will give it a go later.

The AH rant is on her IG stories. It is literally a 15 second image of a comment about blogger vs MNer.

I'm interested to know what people like AH would accept as constructive criticism. I honestly believe that if you put yourself out there - for whatever purpose - you have to prepared to take the rough with the smooth. Naturally, abusive commentary and sheer nastiness is never acceptable but it strikes me that the slightest raised eyebrow in their direction leads to a hissy fit.

EdinaMonsoon she blocked me yesterday for saying- very nicely that slagging of MN on her stories was not great and behaving in that way ultimately could damage her brand. I was very polite, I complimented her etc etc and she blocked me.

If you are selling yourself as an influencer and have affiliate links, take payment etc etc then you are a business (not a personal blog) and should behave imvho in a business like way. Bitching about potential customers and behaving in this way is not business like and will not encourage brands to work with her - certainly I would never deal with anyone who cannot listen to a differing opinion. I only messaged her to be helpful/ friendly but apparently that’s not allowed.

She’s entitled to disagree with me of course and I would have happily discussed it further with her. Sadly I don’t think Anna can see that for a blogger to make a living they are essentially dependent upon the good will of both brands and, just as importantly, people who read their blog. Shame I quite liked reading her blog from time to time ...

Thanks Edina, I’ll have a look.

Please be aware of the sheer number of topshop pimping on insta, they get more in commission from them than most otherstores I believe. That’s why it’s on lots of bloggers feeds daily!

And AH can’t take criticism at all.

Also those feeling sorry for that Elle woman, she outed herself, the hotel didn’t. She has done it on purpose for more traffic.