Freebies, followers and fame.
Three things that together, summarise a new 21st century phenomenon.
The world of influencing is a controversial one. Less than ten years ago, the word ‘influencer’ would be defined and understood very simply, and broadly, as follows:
‘A person or thing that influences another.’ (Google definition)
But now it has taken on a whole new meaning. This new meaning stems from a marketing viewpoint, one in which an influencer is recognised as:
‘A person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media.’ (Google definition)
But here’s where I take a risk. This new term and even ‘career path’ just doesn’t sit comfortably with me. I’ll try and break it down into a few key issues that concern me.
- ‘Lifestyle’ Influencing
What does this even mean? I have seen numerous Instagram accounts where the person behind it purports to be a ‘lifestyle influencer’. To me, this simply implies that said person doesn’t actually have a main area of interest or passion to justify their ‘blogging’. It suggests to me less than ideal motives such as fame, and the addictive nature of follower counts and likes. ‘Lifestyle’ can encompass so many different things – from home to food, fashion to travel, and realistically no one has a specialist interest or knowledge in all of these vast areas.
2. Aspiring to be an ‘influencer’ as a full-time career
Some people are inadvertently able to influence others due to the following they have accrued through other roles involving talent, for example actors, singers, designers etc. They are able to influence others naturally, as they are well-respected and have made a name for themselves through something they are skilled at. However, aspiring to simply be an ‘influencer’ for me is really quite sad. It shouldn’t constitute a career in itself. Being sent free products or services and posting about them (often using pre-scripted captions – not even using your own words) should not be a job that merits payment. Of course I can see why marketing teams take advantage of this new form of promotion, because ultimately for them it is profitable, but for too many people they reap the rewards without actually putting in much work.
3. If you love something enough you will always be happy to pay for it
Recently I’ve seen many a post on Twitter from food traders telling cringeworthy stories of people asking for free food in return for a feature on their account. It’s quite scary how many responses these posts get from others saying they’ve received the same arrogant requests. Being sent something for free in return for promoting it to help the brand who have got in touch is one thing, but actively contacting businesses yourself to request freebies, for me, really shows no shame. If you are passionate about whatever you talk about on social media, you’ll always be happy to put money into businesses in order to gather content for your page, along with enjoying the product itself, whether that’s spending money on food, beauty products or clothing.
4. Do you even like what you’re promoting???
Of course not all of this applies to eeeeveryone, but there are ‘influencers’ who don’t even appreciate the products and services they receive. People promote for the sake of it when they’re asked to, rather than turning down freebies or payment if they’re not interested in the product. I have met people who have openly admitted that they get so many offers/invites, that it’s just not ‘special’ anymore. When it comes to food blogging, may I ask that if you’re on any kind of diet, be it low-carb, sugar-free etc (unless it’s for genuine health reasons, ie intolerance etc), don’t bother accepting an invite to an indulgent meal where photos are taken, but food is left untouched. Not only is this ridiculous but it’s also incredibly misleading to followers who trust you, when you’ve refused to eat the food. This happens and it is very frustrating.
So, where do I consider myself to be placed within all this? I’m not naïve. With just under 3000 followers on Instagram and a measly 14 on this blog, there would never be any suggestion of me being called an ‘influencer’. And I would never want to be. There are a few reasons I do what I do and I’d like to highlight what I think is the difference.
- I combine my love of food and writing. I’m no food expert, nor am I the most talented writer, but I am going to be kind enough to myself to recognise that I do have some sort of skill when it comes to my writing ability, and I enjoy pairing that with my foodie ‘research’ to provide interesting and insightful content.
- I started doing this for myself. And still do to a large extent. When I first started my Instagram page, I was scared to follow ‘normal people’ as opposed to business accounts because I was embarrassed, and I certainly didn’t want anyone I knew to ever come across my account as I would’ve found that utterly humiliating at the time. Fortunately now, I no longer play host to this self-conscious mentality, and in fact, when friends and acquaintances contact me to tell me they’re really enjoying my posts, I find it really uplifting. Having said this, it still all comes back to self-gratification. I am my number 1 fan! Literally my own number 1 stalker. The amount of time I spend looking over my own accounts at the foods I’ve eaten and the places I’ve visited is almost a joke. But ultimately, doing this kind of thing for yourself before anyone else means that you never lose sight of why you started.
- I spend most of my wage on food. This isn’t a competition. A ‘who can eat out the most’ or who can buy the most expensive meal?’, but the fact of the matter is I don’t need freebies to feed my posts. I love supporting businesses whose food I absolutely adore and would never see this as wasted money. I think in the past year I’ve had 3 free meals, and don’t get me wrong, I’ve been so grateful for each of those. The excitement of receiving an invite will never lose its magic for me, but not in a million years will you see me actively asking for complimentary food.
- Photos. I don’t want to stand around a table with 20 other people, bright lights and big cameras, positioning food delicately for half an hour, only to then consume a tiny bit of the food cold. Yes, of course I take photos to complement the written content I produce, but also as something for me to look back on. But I’ll snap a few shots on my phone over about a 30 second period, and then I’ll enjoy my meal. I don’t feel that I owe anything to the people who follow me, I am not producing content for them and so my priority is having a delicious meal with friends/family. This is also why I don’t often produce video content for Instagram stories for example. This is much more time consuming and is too much of a disruption to a relaxed sociable mealtime for me.
So to reiterate, for me, a ‘blogger’ is someone who produces original content, whether it be written, visual or both based on a specific area of interest using skills that they possess.
I’m not going to attempt to provide my own definition of ‘influencer’ to contrast my blogger definition, because I appreciate that some people would consider the two to overlap and would argue that influencing can be a really positive thing, but I think you can gather why I consider them to be very separate from the points above.
Despite my views, I’m not out to offend anyone. I just think it’s disappointing that this new craze-turned-profession is taking the beauty and excitement out of having a genuine passion for something.
Everyone’s entitled to his or her opinion, and I hope I’ve given fair justification for my thoughts. Ultimately, if you love what you do, and you do it for the right reasons, then no harm done.
But really, please don’t aspire to be an ‘influencer’. Who cares if people act based on your promotions or not? Eat because it tastes great. Wear something because it looks amazing on you. Use a skin product because it makes you glow like a goddess. By all means share your thoughts, but don’t base your entire career on convincing people to invest in a product or service just because you’ve been given an incentive to do so.
Less influencing others. More doing it for ourselves.
Ciao xo
and last but not least…
¡Comemos!
xo
¡Comemos! 