For Liesl Laurie, this limit is about “three or four out of every ten posts” as well.
I do plan around the fact that I don’t want everything to be one paid or sponsored post after another. When I’m getting booked for things, I usually work out how often I generally post and how many sponsored posts the clients require, and then I space it out. Generally, I work with about four brands consistently and I keep them a few days apart, so it doesn’t become spam. You don’t want to post about the same thing over and over. I work about a month and a half in advance and I put it in my diary. I’ll tell clients that this week will be reserved for so-and-so and I don’t know if you want your content to stand side-by-side with them ... Often, I have to plan a shoot with a photographer, a make-up artist; I often also create videos for clients and in all of this, we take on board the client’s time constraints.
Nadia says that she tries to maintain a balance between sponsored content and the stuff she relies on for what she calls organic growth, because:
I want to build an organic audience. You only do that by posting things where you’re not selling a product. I do a lot of personal content and then sponsored content in between. I think you’re building that organic audience when you share content that doesn’t require something of your follower. People just want to sit down and not think or do anything. That’s what I try and do for people.
One person who also instinctively came up with that 30% load as a guideline is Bouwer Bosch, but he cautions against the temptation to do more.
I think if you’re strapped for cash you might say yes to anything, but there’s some benefit in guarding your brand and making it a bit more exclusive – both for you and the brands you partner with.
Mike Sharman says:
I believe in an 80/20 model, which applies to a lot of things in life: 80% of the content is generated by 20% of the users. Everything in life tends to have an 80/20 model of sorts. That’s a pretty fair description. I’d say two out of every ten posts is a good metric in your head. You also need to realise that you’re an influencer because of your audience. You can’t force-feed messages down their throats, because you’ll lose them.
Ask any influencer and they’ll be able to share a long list of products or service campaigns they have declined: weird beauty tools, weight-loss fads, accessories, clothing and even getaways all count among my own list of no-thank-yous. I have declined stuff or experiences I wouldn’t normally spend my own money on, businesses I didn’t think my followers would find useful, content I didn’t think I’d be able to create with some semblance of integrity, and stories I didn’t believe I’d be able to tell well. Often the deals simply don’t offer enough reward to justify the effort. Every free gift or offer of a paid campaign you receive as an influencer has a quid pro quo attached to it and, as the English writer and influencer Bella Mackie (@mackie_bella) says, “the quid is often literally just not worth the quo”.
I received a pair of vellies (veldskoene) recently – a pair I knew I’d never wear. I contacted the sender immediately and explained my position: that I was really flattered by their generosity; however, I didn’t want their stock to go to waste since I knew the shoes were expensive, and out of respect for our relationship, they would be more than welcome to collect them if they felt they could extend the offer to a more receptive influencer. The pair was unopened and unworn, after all. They replied to thank me for the forthright feedback and insisted that they were happy for me to do whatever I wished with the shoes. Now it’s not that I hate vellies or that these were not trendy enough (they were actually pretty cool), but I knew that I probably wouldn’t wear them – a simple case of personal taste.
Follow a professional approach when it comes to your internal policy about the load you approve for your own feed. When you receive content offers, sponsorships or just a barter deal that you feel you cannot do justice to or if it is something your followers will not engage with, be mature enough to reach out and have that conversation with the marketer involved. You can offer an alternative solution or suggest another influencer you could pass it on to. Perhaps there is a product in their range with which you could interact more naturally or another story you’d be better placed to tell.
Cluttering your feed with sponsored content that your followers will resent you for is no way to build an authentic, relatable feed – or a business, for that matter. It is about your followers. Just because you need a new toothbrush and don’t want to pay R150 for it doesn’t mean that the followers on your “latest cars and bikes” themed feed care to see six posts on which model of electric toothbrush is currently parked next to your bathroom basin. Perhaps shelling out the R150 would be worth more to your influencer business in the long run?
Regulations: These are the rules
Before that whole Fyre Festival incident I was a bit more ignorant than I am now [admits Liesl Laurie]. I would do what was asked of me, within
