Bloggers and brands 2.

[Merriboo]

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

They may be saving themselves squillions but I think a lot of them are totally devaluing their own brand but sending out their goods to far too many bloggers. I’d never buy a Hill & Friends bag for example as every other blogger was wearing a gifted one on IG. Same with Wyse Jumpers and Seven Boot Lane.

Their stuff isn’t cheap but if they think so little of it that they can send it out on mass to IG bloggers it puts me off paying full whack for it.

But they are charging. Anyone with any sort of following will charge for coverage as well as expecting the item to be free. If anyone says they are "working with" a brand, that means an ongoing contract. Some of them are doing entire photoshoots for posts of, for example, Topshop outfits. It's no different to Kendall Jenner waving a Daniel Wellington watch around on instagram.

I agree, I would never buy a Hill & Friends bag. They have completely lost any desirability factor they may have had. I can see how a brand like M&S may use non traditional marketing as a way to tap into a different market but I really think they are barking up the wrong tree with some of the stuff they are trying to sell off the back of some of the collaborations they do - there were fluoro pink/green/glittery sock boots wall to wall in my local M&S. No one buys that kind of stuff round here, maybe in East London they do, but not in the 'burbs. Anyway, come January, if you are looking for some glittery sock boots at a knock down price you know where to come

The whole ethos of IG is changing as a result of brands trying to exploit the bloggers as a channel to consumers. Anyone using and crediting a professional photographer for their instagram posts is also a massive turn off for me because its a huge flag that its a sponsored post (even if they haven't bothered saying so). I have also seen some bloggers on twitter whining that their likes go down when they tag a post as sponsored or ad. Can't think why that could be

No, I don't think they do get paid for just wearing a jumper or carrying a bag. I think the brands send it with a note saying something along the lines of 'if you enjoy this product please tag us in your social media posts'. Not talking about big campaigns where there are big bucks involved. That's what makes it such a grey area because there is no money changing hands.

I could be wrong though.

I think it could be a mixture of the two. For smaller bloggers they may be just chucked a freebie, but for ones with more followers I would imagine there must be a fee as well, or perhaps paid in vouchers for future purchases which means more chance of additional posts in the same gear in the future? (this must be attractive to the brands)

To be making a living from this now though, many of these bloggers must be being paid in cash because, as a PP said, you can't pay the mortgage with a Wyse jumper.

The one roof social blogs give an interesting insight. This suggests a pricing strategy for IG posts >
www.oneroofsocial.com/single-post/How-To-Price-An-Instagram-Campaign

I know of a fairly small blogger who wanted £500 to tag a product and keep the product as well.

I saw another on this week promoting cheese and she said people do unfollow when she does stuff like that! But she needs paid content to keep the blog going.

I may be wrong but my impression (partly from bloggers who've contributed to similar threads) was that for the ones lower down the food chain i.e. the vast majority, it was mostly payment in 'gifts'. But I've no doubt that once in you're in DMBL's league and have an agency representing you it's very different. But the fact that we're not sure how it works just confirms what a murky world it all is.

I unfollowed 2 this week when I saw them advertising tins of celebrations accompanied by a cheesy post and a pic of them sitting by a Christmas tree eating said chocolates. Has feck all to do with style or fashion and so far removed from how/what they normally post. It put me right off Celebrations too.

Oof, some of those celebrations posts are really cheesy. Can’t be great as a blogger to accept an ad like that and then find out there are 100 other instagrammers posting similar things. It just amplifies how cheesy it is.

But that's just it - they are all promoting the same things. This week it's a hairdo and make up. Not much uniqueness or integrity on display. The ones I am watching on Instagram have all been on the same presenting course....... it's all swishing hair, over-blown facial expressions and flailing hands. And they all talk in staccato sound bites for emphasis. Bah!

I've not seen celebrations or hair but have seen the cheese promotion twice!!

Look at the celebrationsUK hashtag if you want to see the cheesy chocolate ads. Feel like I need to see the cheesy cheese ones now as well.

#fmtchristmas #dalefarm for the cheese!

How much do you think they got for the celebrations work?

Ooh naughty, several of the cheesy ones not tagged as ads. To be fair, most of the celebrations ones are. Loving the comments too “your platter looks divine” . I have seen on twitter that bloggers call on other bloggers to like and comment on other blogger’s posts. It’s all a bit of a Ponzi scheme really.

Yeh it’s called being in a pod, the agreement is that you’ll like and comment on each other’s posts. So it just generates fake engagement. Super lame and also dodgy considering that PRs and brands take engagement into account when deciding which bloggers to work with.

Considering how large the pool of bloggers and wannabe bloggers are I do wonder how much of your average blogger's following is made up of actual followers. BBB did a blog post on pods a while back, I'll see if I can find it.

And, I may be a bit paranoid but is there a coincidence here or purposeful intent?

They absolutely are getting paid. This is from a relatively small blog post from 2 years ago addressing how she makes her money.

Brand Deals, Sponsorships, Collaborations & Campaigns
...Depending on your social media influence, your followers and content, you can earn between £350 – £50,000 (sometimes less, sometimes more) on a brand deal/sponsorship. A sponsored post/video is usually just that, where as a collab or campaign may be over a longer period of time, involving various social media activity. For example; being paid to attend LFW on behalf of a brand. I hope I’m making sense here.

Paid For Social Media Activity/Interaction
This would usually fall into the category above because usually in your contract for any paid work, it will ask for your support for the content on your other social media sites, however sometimes you will solely be paid to Tweet or Instagram something. I recently got involved with a body confidence talk on Twitter & that was paid for. Sometimes a company or brand would like some promo so they will pay you to mention their product. Its all in the name of advertising really.

Almost all the bloggers I have read in the last 10 years I've been reading them are now doing this full time and many of them live alone. Most of them are with a network who will take a cut of the cash, which has "books" in the same way a model agency does.

I appreciate there might still be some companies that just send a gift voucher or an item, which I've seen Mulberry do, but as others have said you'd need to spend a smaller proportion of time on photographing and writing about the item because you need to be paying the bills.

I have a friend with a startup business who tried working with some bloggers. They ask for exorbitant sums for blog posts and tweets, but I am not sure how much success they actually have in scoring these contracts. My friend decided against it.

It all depends on the followers and engagement rates how much they can charge. But given that the barriers to entry to the influencer world is so low (nonexistent, really. Any 20 year old with an iphone pretty much can do it) and zero loyalty, I expect the competition would get extremely fierce. Also note that people's budget is limited, but there is no upper limit on how many influencers they follow. So maybe not you are following 100 people, next year 1000 people, but it;s not like you are buying 10x more.

I think these people should enjoy the gravy train while it lasts :-)

I read blogs occasionally and have noticed this creeping in lately. For example, Esther Corey's blog which I usually like for her writing style seems to just be discounts for jewellery brands (eg Dinny Hall) and, today, showcasing some cashmere brand. I find it hard to believe she's getting nothing out of this sort of placement yet there's no mention of sponsorship or gifts.
I just don't get why bloggers would t be open about it and find it insulting to their readers' intelligence. It massively puts me off both the bloggers and the brands. Ironically, I wouldn't be bothered at all if they were transparent about it.

Coren

I have been reading blogs with a more critical eye since this thread and it seems to me that most content is an ad in some form, disclosed or not. I’ve also noticed that bloggers seem to be stepping outside of what they usually blog about more these days and suddenly promote completely different things. A model recommends is a an example. She’s flogging some drinks company at the moment which doesn’t really fit with her usual posts. I like her and don’t blame her for monetising her blog, but when it veers off so dramatically from her usual style and interests it is off putting.
I have unfollowed most of them as I’m also not comfortable with the constant ‘sell’ and focus on material things. I do wonder how sustainable these blogs are in the long run.

Ah yes, Uhohmummy - I read that Esther Coren blog today (although it really is not so much a blog as a mailshot) and thought exactly the same.

The drinks post on Amodelrecommends is hilarious. It's clearly marked as a paid post though, so that's great.