#Sponsored Posts on Instagram Are Outdated: A Call To Create A New Paradigm
#Sponsored posts of Instagram-perfect girls holding products feel so 2018.
I’m Ksenia, and my primary income stream is creating social media content for brands and sharing it on my platforms.
Today, I’m taking the biggest business risk I’ve ever taken. I’m choosing to say “no” to #sponsored posts for the next 6 months – leaving a lot of money on the table.
I’ve shared the announcement on Breakfast Criminals, and here I will dive deeper into the business side of it.
I’ve been blogging for 17 years.
It’s been my career for 9 years.
I’ve been getting paid to do #sponsored posts for 5 years.
I’ve been privileged to work with global leaders that include Vitamix, Whole Foods, The North Face, Instagram (yup, the HQ!), Adidas and Google.
Today, I’m starting an experiment during which I’m committing to doing no sponsored posts on @breakfastcriminals – saying no to what would have been easy revenue.
Am I taking a risk? Absolutely.
Am I crazy? In a way.
Am I sure about it? You bet.
Continuing to do what I’ve been doing would mean playing small. Relying on brands to give me money in exchange for ads isn’t a sound long-term strategy for a content business.
Before we move forward, let me make it clear:
I’m not against shopping all together
I’m pro conscious consumerism – conscious towards ourselves, the brands, and the planet. I’m also pro conscious, win-win business that leaves every party empowered (the bold 22-year-old me co-founded an ethical shopping movement). In the influencer marketing space that would mean the brand, the influencer, and the consumer.
I’m not against people recommending products on the internet
Well, that would be ridiculous. As an influencer, I get hundreds of DMs every month asking me for brand recommendations. I’ll continue offering that to my community.
That said, the direction in which influencer marketing is headed is starting to resemble all the things that made my teenage years the most painful period of my life.
When I was in high school, magazines told me what lipstick to wear to attract the boy I liked (it was as effective as calling his landline and breathing hard into the phone. #fail). That left a tear in the blanket of self-confidence that I was trying so hard to access during those formative teenage years.
This paradigm caused limiting beliefs that ultimately kept me from sharing my gifts with the world for WAY TOO LONG. (Side note: we all have a gift, whether you’re aware of it in language or not.)
Now, influencers tell you what protein powder to drink, what face mask to use (how does she still look so cute with mud on their face?), what supplements to take, and what yoga pants to wear.
I’m a grown 31-year-old woman now, I own a house, I pay taxes and know how to adult most of the time – so this story is not about me. This is about the next generation that I want to stand for.
We don’t need more products to be happy. What we need is to come back into our bodies, listen to our intuition, and take action on things that we know we need to for the sake of our wellbeing.
THE CHALLENGE:
How do we, as influencers, continue sharing products that people are asking for recommendations on, and continue driving home the point that products are NOT the answer to everything?
In an imaginary world, it would be awesome if each sponsored post included an honest answer to the question: “Would you actually buy this product if you didn’t get it for free?” (a brand would never allow this risk).
In the real world, consumers/followers already take influencers product recommendations with a grain of salt. As a consumer, you have to remind yourself that behind every Instagram post there’s lots of work, and things don’t look as perfect IRL. Of course someone who gets paid to post photos on Instagram knows how to make their life look GORGEOUS – duh, that’s their JOB. By no means that should set a standard for you. That’s why I love the “InstagramVSReality” movement. Dutch influencer @rianne.meijer nailed the humorous take on it (while successfully working with some of the world’s top brands).
So where do we go from here?
True answer: I don’t know.
I can’t be responsible for everyone in wellness or everyone in influencer marketing, but I can take responsibility for my corner of the internet.
That’s exactly why I’m taking on this experiment.
I created this space as an open-ended inquiry and a conversation about how to move forward.
There have been many influencers before me who achieved massive levels of success (by all outer standards), and then vanished, realizing that controlling the monster that they’ve created is a tough task that involves daily moral compass checks. And trolls. And people’s opinions of how you “should be”.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
I believe it’s possible for influencers to partner with brands in an aligned, tasteful way that honors co-creation and creates abundance within all aspects of the business and personal existence of everyone involved.
What is it going to take? Here are some starting points. I’d love to hear more from you!
1. Influencers
Micro Influencers:
Stop doing free work for corporations. Value your time!
Influencers:
Diversify your revenue streams so that you don’t rely on #ads for a living.
When choosing brand partnerships, ask yourself if you’re in it for the quick money or for the long run.
Stand for meaningful ways to work with brands.
Be honest.
2. Brand representatives
Treat content creators as individuals and pay them fairly. Trust that they know their community and how to share about your product more than your influencer marketing manager.
3. Consumers/followers
Be conscious about who you follow, smart about who you trust, and request (I did not say demand) transparency.