spinofflive
Woman with dyed pink hair posting a selfie to social media. Photo: Getty Images
Woman with dyed pink hair posting a selfie to social media. Photo: Getty Images

MediaNovember 16, 2017

Confessions of an ex-social media influencer

Woman with dyed pink hair posting a selfie to social media. Photo: Getty Images
Woman with dyed pink hair posting a selfie to social media. Photo: Getty Images

Rachel Klaver (nee Goodchild) was one of the pioneers of New Zealand lifestyle blogging, gaining a dedicated following for her witty and insightful writing on topics from internet dating to diets. That meant she got free stuff – a lot of it. But was it all really worth it?

These days it feels like everyone and their French bulldog is an influencer. It’s appears to be the ticket to a life of quality gifts, huge bank balances and exotic parties. The reality is often far from this truth. It’s bloody hard to create a platform with integrity and do it well. Before you get noticed, you’ve got to do hours of blogs that sometimes only a handful of people read. You find yourself drifting off in conversations with friends working out the next brilliant tweet, or you find yourself checking out backgrounds to showcase the latests products you got.

I am very much a failed influencer. I now like to think of myself as a person of NO influence outside my own home. I wrote a book on dating about 10 years ago – I’d had about another 20 or so published before – but this one caught the media’s eye. I got some screen time including a regular gig on Breakfast. I had always blogged, but now I was getting real traffic to my site.

People started inviting me to parties. And I started getting sent a lot of free stuff. All I had to do was mention it in a blog, a tweet or a Facebook post. Too easy.

The top six #sponsored posts on Instagram, 16 November 2017

On the front of it, it looked like fun but the reality was I was poverty stricken. I remember having to use shampoo to wash my clothes (It was really expensive shampoo – does that make it better?). It was ridiculous what got sent to me. I am still very thankful for the Skeechers (Long gone, but you saved me from a barefoot summer!) and the glasses chosen by Gok Wan himself. I loved the bucket of free yoghurt (as did my children). Oh and the tickets to all the free movies and children’s concerts.

I’m still not exactly sure what I did with the pile of free vibrators (you write about dating, you get sent vibrators) and I don’t think I’ll ever live down the day three hundred condoms spilled from my bag in a cafe, right across the tiled floor and the barista said “Oh don’t mind HER. It’s for her JOB,” after I was sent them to give away on my blog.

What I do know is that I gave very good Christmas gifts of limited edition lipsticks and perfumes for a good few years to family and friends, including the year I was so broke I could only afford to spend ten dollars on each of my three children. My children may not have had a mother earning money, but they did have a Playstation, new laptop and a month with a brand new phone. All gifted for a blog.

We looked like we were rolling in it. We were barely surviving.

When I was blogging, (back in the old days), no one got paid to promote anything. We were a new toy for PR companies to play with and experiment on. Social media was still not considered an effective part of marketing. I know this because I really needed the cash. I worked with several well-known agencies, teaching their teams about how they might use both social media and bloggers like me to promote for their clients. They said no one would ever pay for it. They told me that social media would be dead in a few years, and it was too risky.

How things have changed.

Now there are influencers everywhere. You can be a micro influencer (our budgets dictate we normally use these for our clients). You can be a personality – either one you’ve created yourself and then carefully nurtured by an agency, or a household name. You might be a sports star, but equally you could just be great at making amazing Instagram images (or Youtube videos).

And yes, for some it’s huge business. But for many others, I wager their experience is still close to mine: lots of free products for a whole heap of time and effort. Whoever they are, they’re noisy. It’s a constant stream of advertorial posts, filling our social media feeds.

I’m not sure if I’m shooting myself in the foot with this admission, being a marketing agency owner with clients who use us for digital marketing services, but I’ve got a terrible confession to make: I’m tired. I’m tired of my social media streams being filled with quasi-promotional posts from people of influence I’ve followed over the years, and bloggers I used to read for enjoyment but now seem wholly focused on getting me to whip out my credit card.

I’m fatigued by the clever ads-not-ads marketing ploys that lure me in, often with initial delight at their quirky ingenuity or big-shiny-new-thing attraction, and then crash me back down with a “this emotion rollercoaster was brought to you by Cushies” or something.

I’m exhausted by seeing a pretty display of the new must-have cider in my insta feed from someone I trust, then seeing the same thing on another 60 accounts. The deals negotiated behind the scenes play out time and time again, often with no obvious declaration of that product being given for free, or payment expected for sponsorship. It’s not magic synergy folks. It’s business.

I’m frustrated by TV segments or newspaper articles that read like news, but then you get to the end and realise it’s a PR spin. Yes, PR companies have always fed stories to journalists. I have worked on both sides and know it’s been this way forever, but it seems it’s becoming more overt, and filled with less honest discussion and investigation. Nothing is questioned. Everything is printable. Nothing is declared.

I’m sick of trying to decipher whether someone is actually just telling me they love something, or someone is telling me it’s the next best thing because they got it for free, or were paid to say that. It’s like my love of All Birds. I reckon I’ve helped sell heaps through my ongoing love affair with the brand. I’ve talked about them at conferences, at parties and on my Instagram. All Birds have never paid me and will never give me a cent, but it feels easy to say “go give them a try”.

And if they had paid me? I’d make sure people know. It’s that responsibility of having a voice that other people listen to, whether you’ve got a following of hundreds, or thousands, or hundreds of thousands. Many influencers use the argument of “I only promote what I like anyway” as their excuse for a lack of full disclosure. It’s definitely easier to positively refer to something that you like, so that’s great! But if you are getting payment, the brand automatically becomes your client (be it directly or indirectly) and that should be disclosed.

Getting people who have a platform to talk about your product makes sense. But it’s still riddled with issues around transparency, honesty and how much exposure is too much in New Zealand’s small consumer landscape. Sure, everyone’s selling something, so let’s make it crystal clear. Let’s not move into the shady side of deal-making, where people are paid to promote (either in goods or money) without disclosing it.

There is no doubt using influencers is now part and parcel of many brands’ digital marketing strategy. It’s understandable that as Facebook’s algorithms change it has become harder and harder to get organic reach for even the most popular of pages. But I believe all agencies should refuse to work with either a brand or an influencer who would hide an agreed relationship. There should be zero tolerance for any brand slipping into the shade of nondisclosure and hidden payments.

If your product is an honest product, let the influencers you engage with also be honest representatives of it. And let me as a consumer, and others like me, decide for ourselves whether we’ll listen, look or read once we know it’s a paid ad or not. All we’re asking for is a little respect.

Screen Shot 2017-11-15 at 2.08.02 pm

MediaNovember 15, 2017

‘Mum’s the word’: The online influencers secretly paid to go on 1News

Screen Shot 2017-11-15 at 2.08.02 pm

TVNZ has pulled a story about Kmart from its site after The Spinoff obtained emails showing two online ‘influencers’ received undisclosed payments to appear. The revelations raise fresh questions about the murky and unregulated world of the influencer economy. Alex Casey investigates.

Two prominent online “influencers” appeared in a 1News story about Kmart without having disclosed payments from a PR company acting for the retailer, The Spinoff has learned. News of the secret payment, which came to light in emails leaked to The Spinoff, has prompted TVNZ to remove the story from its online archive and pledge a review of its processes, saying it had on this occasion been “duped”.

In the item, which aired in April 2016, parenting and lifestyle bloggers Melissa Jack (The Best Nest) and Maria Foy (Happy Mum, Happy Child) appeared at Kmart in St Lukes shopping centre, Auckland. Jack extols the “reawakening and rediscovery of Kmart” in an interview with journalist Rebecca Wright. Nobody at TVNZ was made aware that the influencers, put forward by the PR company Undertow Media for interview, had accepted remuneration to the value of $500 each to take part.

Both Jack and Foy have made strong statements about the importance of disclosing commercial relationships with brands they write about. Foy specifically stated this year that she has never been paid by Kmart.

In an email obtained by The Spinoff, an account manager from Undertow Media set out the terms for the appearance. “Kmart is keen to move forward with both Maria and Melissa for tomorrow from 3.45pm to 4.45pm for the One News x Kmart interview opp,” she wrote. “As discussed, each blogger will receive $250 cash payment (as invoiced via The Bloggers Club) and $250 Kmart store credit (provided via gift cards tomorrow onsite) for their involvement in the opportunity and also to repost the One News video link across their socials.”

Foy replied the following morning: “Thanks for sending all the details through. Mum’s the word on the remuneration.”

As the story went to air, the bloggers can be seen strolling through Kmart, picking up products and chatting. Although Foy’s interview didn’t make the final cut, “consumer blogger” Jack featured heavily. “The last 18 months have just seen this sort of reawakening and rediscovery of Kmart,” she said, before explaining how a coveted hexagonal copper candle holder became something of a “treasure hunt” that spread through social media. “People have created Kmart fan pages, normally these domains were reserved for celebrities or sports stars.”

Given the cultural context of the story, Foy and Jack made for logical interview subjects at the time. Kmart – specifically Kmart homeware products – have taken on a cult-like status in recent years thanks to low prices and high social media frenzy aided by “instagram mums”. If it’s not a hexagonal copper candle holder, it’s a Dyson-rivalling vacuum cleaner or an affordable Scandi-inspired shoe rack.

Kmart did not respond to The Spinoff’s request for comment.

Editor of newsgathering at TVNZ Phil O’Sullivan told The Spinoff that although the story had merit at the time and that there was “genuine interest” in the popularity of Kmart, the revelation cast doubt over the subjects’ views. “We can’t have a story up if money has changed hands between the person who is commenting on this brand and the brand itself,” he said.

Had the financial arrangement been disclosed to One News, Jack and Foy would not have been considered. “Why would we do that? It demeans the story, it brings the whole thing into question.”

As mentioned in the emails, both influencers are a part of The Bloggers Club, a digital talent management agency with the likes of Anika Moa and How to Dad on their books, whose purpose is “to connect brands and people by building meaningful relationships.” The influencer industry is now estimated to be a billion dollar one which has as much of a stronghold in New Zealand as anywhere else. Take Shaanxo, who has 8.3 million followers across her various channels and was listed by Forbes as one of the most powerful beauty influencers in the world. She lives in Palmerston North.

Palmerston North’s Shaaanxo

One of the many PR agencies that has enlisted the services of local influencers is Auckland’s Undertow Media, which currently boasts clients including Cotton On, Roadshow Films and Cadbury. “We know how to create waves, resulting in exceptional earned media, events and marketing strategies for the products and clients we represent,” the website announces. In March of 2016, Undertow were working with Kmart on the launch of their new Kmart Living range, and facilitated the financial arrangement between The Bloggers Club, Foy and Jack prior to the the appearance on 1News.

Undertow Media confirmed the transaction took place, stating that they were contacted by 1News to cover “the mass hysteria over Kmart products” and approached Foy and Jack for what began as an unpaid interview opportunity. An Undertow spokesperson told The Spinoff in an email that after the shoot was set up, the influencers’ management at The Bloggers Club requested a fee. With a tight deadline, Undertow agreed to reimburse them with $250 cash and $250 in Kmart vouchers.

Screengrab from Melissa Jack’s instagram

Having been alerted to the arrangement by The Spinoff yesterday, 1News made their own contact with Melissa Jack to verify the claims. She denied payment for the appearance, but 1News were informed within an hour by Undertow that the transaction had indeed occurred. Neither The Bloggers Club, nor Foy or Jack when contacted individually, responded to The Spinoff’s requests for comment. When the claims were put to Jack over the phone, she hung up.

Asked if this sort of payment arrangement happened regularly, Undertow said it is “not very common” for their company, but noted that “we are seeing more and more requests for payment” from influencers, for social coverage in particular. TVNZ’s O’Sullivan said this was the first time this situation had occurred in his three years at TVNZ. “The issue is that we take a lot of people on trust. If it is that we have to ask every person in our news stories if they’ve been paid … well, that might be something that we have to start doing.”

In March this year, Australia introduced new transparency rules around paid influencer content. New Zealand currently does not have any specific regulations in place around influencers disclosing when they have received money to endorse a product. In The Spinoff’s short documentary The Influencers, editor of StopPress Damien Venuto noted that “There is no disclosure happening consistently enough” and that “there is certainly a level of risk in deceiving people into thinking they are just promoting this on their own accord.”

The Kmart story is all the more pertinent as both the bloggers involved, like many other influencers seeking a transparent relationship with their audience, have openly addressed issues around the importance of disclosure in their writing. “I started the week off stressing about disclosure, wondering what my readers think about sponsored posts,” Melissa Jack said in a blog post published in August of last year. “But you know what? I got paid for that picture, and I told you that too (ie disclosure).”

Maria Foy voiced a similar stance in a blog post published last month titled “Full Disclosure“. “I dislike it incredibly when people don’t know if something is sponsored or not,” she wrote, outlining the lengths she goes to make it “painfully obvious” when she has been paid to promote something. The post concluded: “There is nothing worse than seeing people lie to their audience and their audience has no idea.”

Foy made specific mention of her relationship with Kmart in a Stuff feature published last month exploring how influencers are driving retail trends. “The overall products the brand sells has to fit in with my audience,” Foy was quoted as saying. “Kmart is definitely one of these brands, but I have never been paid to do any work for them.” In the same article, Bodo Lang, a marketing lecturer from the University of Auckland, warns that “you don’t know who is being rewarded or incentivised to say what” when it comes to influencer marketing.  

Undertow told The Spinoff that, despite paying the influencers for their time, they did not have any editorial control over their messaging and therefore did not deem it necessary to disclose the fee at any stage. “As genuine Kmart fans [they] were happy to give their own opinion on what was happening in the market.” On their own blog wrapping up their work with Kmart at the time, Undertow refer to the 1News interview as “the icing on the cake.”

With the story now removed from the TVNZ site, O’Sullivan says that 1News will be examining its processes, and installing more checks to ensure that people are who they say they are. “The lesson for us in this is that we just have to be a lot more wary of these so-called experts or bloggers that are talking in that consumer affairs space,” he said. “There’s lots of people with really genuine stories out there and we need to keep relying on that. When we get duped by people like this, it just mucks the system up.”