Instagrammers and Influencers

[scotx]

New thread to follow on from this one

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/3462129-Can-we-chat-about-fashion-Instagrammers-influencers?msgid=84590932

Which companies are giving out kitchens? Please tell so I can avoid. As we are planning a extension this spring.

I do think it's very likely large discounts have been given to influencers for a certain kitchen that has been featured all over Instagram.

Do you think we can say if they have been gifted a Loaf sofa, Hill & Friends bag & Desenio print it is likely that a business relationship has been formed to feature the kitchen also?

I mean it is all the same brands, to the same people all the time, it feels a bit cult like.

Oh desenio..... god forbid a influencer for paying for such cheap printed tat.

*from

Ah yes Desenio prints, everyone's first foray into to the world of influencing! Along with a Daniel Wellington watch. If you haven't had both, can you even call yourself an influencer?

The beauty blogging is confusing. I saw a make-up demonstration today from a new brand with the #gift but then #notanad

I certainly think the brands with HUGE margins (make/manufacture/buy cheap - sell as mid level premium product) can afford to gift widely more than most. Most of those brands mentioned above charge quite a lot for products that probably don’t cost that much to make.

We don’t know for certain if kitchen brands have gifted or heavily discounted as there has been such a lack of transparency about it. We’re just guessing as now influencers are a little more compliant after the CMA crackdown said kitchens have disappeared from their feeds despite being prominent before.

Lisa Dawson cleverly tries to get around it by showing a paid partnership on some chairs in her kitchen without tagging the rest. She in particular is irritating me with the flowery language and ambiguity of her posts.

Hahaha @scotx which mug on this planet would pay to wear one of those watches???

So do you only have to declare anything that is tagged? Could they all sit in their paid kitchens without tagging anything and not needing to declare. LD's kitchen is very visible but not credited..........

A lot of brands have just given out too many of their goods to too many ‘influencers’ so there is not a chance I would buy from them. If they had been more discerning as to who they gave freebies to then it wouldn’t bother me as it’s obviously a cheaper way for them to advertise/market. 2-3 bloggers with a large number of engaged followers wearing Lily & Lionel, Seven Boot Lane etc - fine. 30-40, if not more, bloggers all wearing it - the majority of whom have less than 20k followers - no thanks. Why should I give my money to a brand if they think so little of their own product that they willingly give stacks of it away.

But this is just advertising! A small brand that wants to grow needs a marketing strategy. Previously they probably sent stuff to Grazia or Glamour fashion editors in the hope it would be noticed and featured in a magazine. Or paid for an advert. Now they send it to influencers which presumably gives them a better shot at being featured. I don't see how this means they don't value their product? It's the same! Other than the fact that there should be stricter rules on transparency with influencers as it is less obvious than with a magazine that it's an ad.

See your point but brands have a responsibility to ensure whatever advertising platform they use does it properly and within the law. Any half decent brand would insist on their influencers being transparent and work in accordance with the laws set out in 2008

They might value their product but it devalues it in the minds of many.

If brands want to advertise to me then just make good content. The idea that using a third party will ‘influence’ me more won’t work and will make me try to avoid it

Some obviously go for that but many are put off

I also see the endless adverts on Instagram as cheapening some brands.

The things with the magazines as that people usually buy one, maybe two glossies, but they follow quite a few Instagram accounts so the saturation with products is much more noticeable.

Popcorn I get that it’s advertising and I have no issue with that. I’d just rather a brand advertise with a small handle of relevant influencers who market the item well rather than a brand casting their net far and wide and giving their product to anyone and everyone who grabs it. It’s that which cheapens a brand for me and puts me off.

I don’t think giving products or services to a higher number of influencers devalues it. Like MaryPoppinJay says, it’s like ‘buying’ advertising space in a number of magazines. What’s tricky is picking the right influencers as that would certainly devalue a product or service in my mind - if I perceive a blogger as tacky, I’ll think the same of any brand that ‘advertises’ with them... the same as I’d judge where a brand advertises in a newspaper or magazine.

Saw teacherfashionista asked about #ad and affiliate marketing Her reply was that by using the affiliate brand name as a hashtag it’s clear to followers it’s advertising

Totally avoid a kitchen co starting with H and you should be ok

I am, we’ll get a new one too soon

That was to Totally

Giving out so many Hill and Friends bags definitely devalued that brand in my eyes.

I presume that there are entire influencer marketing teams in a lot of the bigger brands. I guess smaller companies would be less picky as they just want to get their name out there. I'm surprised bigger brands don't have more info on how overlapping the followings are to avoid seeing the same jumper on 10 different bloggers in a week which would also put me off it immediately. Unless they are trying to create that must have sell out item. The clampdown on the rules might mean that tactic no longer works....

Sending out to lots of people at the same time in theory creates a ‘buzz’. In fact some brands insist on bloggers/influencers posting at an exact time or day altogether.

We all know how that went with the ‘Fyre Festival’ 🤦🏼‍♀️

It’s probably got to do with agency timings so a creative agency will contact them all at the same time. I suppose it hasn’t occurred to many to stagger it yet.

Also for a product launch it would make sense to blast it out there. Haven’t seen this Frye thing yet must watch.

@ Popcorninapot - for me it's about the stealth nature of it. When I see an ad in a magazine, I know it's an ad. When I see a dress on a model, I know it's a model. These influencers trade on being just like us. Without absolute transparency the implication is that people like us can afford and buy all these things. They can have, and so can we by implication, the holidays, the clothes, the kitchens, the jewellery....... I think it is underhand, and this is being reinforced now by the way they are all running for cover, being petulant and sulky and crying foul. With transparency, go for it. Advertise all you like.

@ThreeFourFive I agree completely with all of that.