There’s been a lot of chat recently about advertising and influencer marketing and MY GOD there are some mixed opinions. I saw the other day Beth talking about it on her stories and it was really interesting to see what a lot of people had to say regards to how they feel, react and respond to sponsored content. I wont lie, the answers surprised me a great deal.
A TONNE of people said that they will deliberately not engage with a post if they can see that it is an ad because they feel like they are being lied to, or they don’t trust the legitimacy of the ad. As a blogger who turns down 90% of collaborations offered to me, I can say with all honesty that every and any advert that goes on any social media would not be there unless I 100% agreed with the brand, their ethos, the product or the concept.
Beth made such a great point in regards to ads and trust and what no. If you don’t trust that an ad is legit, why are you following that person in the first place? Every person who deserves you to follow them on instagram should be working towards gaining your trust, building a relationship and acquiring a solid foundation with you. And if that foundation aint there, then they don’t deserve your time (or feed space) babe.
I understand that there ARE people out there who will sell their soul for a quick buck and happily sign off to dog treat adverts without even owning a dog (something I legit saw on my feed recently), but the vast majority of the blogosphere has standards, morals and legitimacy.
We pride ourselves for working with brands that we genuinely love, genuinely use and genuinely want to promote. I’ll be honest, most of the brand collabs occurred because the brand found me because I was promoting their sh*t for free, so yeah.
When it comes to sponsored content on social media, we are SOOOO in control. You don’t get to control the ads you see on TV, or the billboards that get put up on your highstreet. But you DO control the ads you see on social media. If you don’t like it, fair enough; dont engage! Unfollow that person and take yourself away from it.
But if you do like the brand, or the ad, or the photography or the person promoting it, TELL THEM! Engage with the post. Like it, save it and above all, comment on it! When I see my friends promoting sponsored content all I think is ‘YES BABE YOU BRING IN THE DOLLAR’ because hey, if that brands sees something in them that they want to PAY them to promote a product, then they must be doing something right.
