kokonutz

Traffic is one thing. But beyond ads, we are talking about paid product placement.

My marketing guys say it's just not worth it. And when done INauthentically it can do more harm than good, both to the blogger's brand as well as the brand's brand.

lonelycrowd

They drive traffic as much as any other post if they're done well and you don't realize that there was promoted ingredient or product until you get to the end. Occasionally, a sponsorship opportunity can even be a prompt that challenges you to do something more creative than what you would do otherwise, like a cooking challenge on one of the Gordon Ramsey reality shows with some bizarre basket of ingredients.

Part of the problem is that the intermediaries are giving way too many talking points and directions to too many bloggers of varying skill at the same time. Sure, many of the second tier and lower bloggers really do need hand-holding. I get why many of the Social Fabric (sorry to pick on them twice in one thread, but they're low hanging fruit) "shopportunities" want people to shop at the country's largest retailer, but making us come up with a story about why Walmart is the best place for all your grilling needs? Our regular readers know that we spend most of our time in cities and countries not well served by Walmart so whatever we say will sound forced, and the campaign leaders don't accept "we rented a car for the day to drive around the suburbs so my husband could load $5k in Simon Mall Gift Cards onto Bluebird." We've tolerated restrictive conditions like these on some of our campaigns, but I really think we could do much better work for them if we got a little more slack.

Kagehitokiri

my point was missed.

i am referring to the link in original post of this thread. there is no way to know when these things are actually honest (in their motives/goals) and when it is simply a different form of guerilla PR.

bthotugigem05

My traffic is hardly enough for me to be considered an influencer, but both of the product reviews I've done with brands have resulted in at least enough sales to cover the cost of the product they sent me. I think it's aim small, miss small really.

But then again I believe you're talking about larger scale campaigns than a couple of companies sending me pants and/or messenger bags to review.

Raffles

If they sold a couple PLUS gained a profile with all the rest of your readers (after all, how many people are in the market for a bag at any particular time?) PLUS got the SEO benefits of your article then they did pretty well.

cur

just like mommy blogs

i skimmed a couple headings in this longread

got bored

then moved on to here to tell everyone this

not that anyone cares

RFDMinnesota

I care.

Deeply.

TBD

The BBC posted an article today on social media influencers and their requests to "collaborate" to give a business "exposure" in exchange for freebies. They highlight two recent events. (1) An ice cream store owner, sick of getting such requests, jokingly posted a new policy that influencers will pay 2x pricing. (2) A luxury resort in the Philippines declared on IG that they won't collaborate and recommends that influencers "try actual work".

There's no shortage of travel bloggers - many with web pages asking for hotels to "work with me!". When these reviews go from personal to institutional, I think they really lose credibility. I can't relate to someone who posts manicured photos of presidential suites every week on IG (sorry, Stefan). Or to a site that hires an army of staff to post articles without regard for quality (not sorry, TPG).

I'm glad to see businesses push back on unsolicited marketing. I don't think a luxury hotel or airline product should need to advertise like this. In fact, I think I'm more likely to shop at businesses that shun influencers.

What do you think? Do you support the business backlash? Does "collaborating" cheapen a hotel's (or airline's) image?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48873551

kokonutz

When I was in corporate we paid social media influencers. Because people fast forwarded through the awesome TV commercials we used to produce. It was a win-win.

The paradigm for sure is still evolving.

davie355

Does influencer marketing deliver positive returns?

That’s a question each business needs to answer on its own through research which may involve experimentation.

I sympathize with business owners faced with a deluge of influencer freebie requests, but to categorically deny them may be a poor business decision.

kokonutz

Now that I'm a digital nomad I spend a lot of time networking with bloggers, instangramers and YouTube personalities.

So I have heard first-hand how businesses, tourism bureaus and trade groups have become quite adept at identifying and targeting the social media influencers they want to work with.

Rule #1 of getting freebies: if you reach out to them as a social media influencer you go on a blacklist. They don't want to work with you if you are grubbing for perks. You wait for them to reach out to you.

That's what I'm told, anyway...