“Bayad yan kaya positive review.”
“Sus! Libre kasi kaya maganda sinasabi!”
In one of the closed groups on Facebook I joined in, somebody posted a ‘complaint’ against an ‘influencer’ who asked her for goods in exchange for review.
The said post gathered a few comments from netizens sharing the same sentiments towards the so-called influencers.
This wasn’t the first time that I came across hate posts against social media influencers. Well, I can’t blame them for having such an impression about people hiding behind the guise of social media influencers, because some of them are in fact freeloaders.
WHO ARE INFLUENCERS, CONTENT CREATORS AND FREELOADERS ?
An influencer is an individual who has the power to affect another person’s purchasing decision. For me, anybody can be an influencer. If your friend uploads a photo of her new bag and you are impulsed to buy for yourself, your friend then is an influencer for that matter. In social media marketing, I only consider a person a LEGIT influencer if he or she has a high number of ORGANIC followers, with ACTIVE engagement and SOUGHT-AFTER by (not running after) brands. Other than that, such a person may either be a content creator, a freeloader, or simply, an instagrammer.
I consider myself a content creator or somebody who strategizes and designs methods to improve his or her website’s search visibility through valuable content. Whether a blog or video content, a content creator’s goals are to make a meaningful impact and become a subject matter expert in his or her niche, among others. He/She may or may not have the status of a celebrity.
Do not mistake a freeloader to an influencer, or someone who takes advantage of someone’s generosity without giving anything in return. An instagrammer is anybody who has an instagram account, doesn’t have a substantial number of followers, inactive engagement and posts about anything under the sun.
‘CONTENT CREATORS GIVE POSITIVE FEEDBACK BECAUSE THEY ARE PAID’
I don’t know about influencers ’cause I’m not one of them. I’m writing as a content creator here.
Apparently, the popular opinion is that most content creators, if not all, do not give honest feedback because they received something in exchange for their reviews on social media and other platforms.
I beg to disagree.
WE DO NOT ACCEPT PRODUCTS OR FOOD, AMONG OTHERS, JUST BECAUSE IT’S FREE. Who in his right mind would spend 500 pesos for transportation expense to eat a plate of food worth 200 pesos in a restaurant he was invited to feature?
It’s not about getting freebies, token or receiving something in exchange for a positive but ingenuine feedback and recommendation. As content creators, our job is to help the business to market the product or service and not to slander.
My practice, for example, is to list down in my post the ‘MUST TRY’ dishes in a restaurant, cafe or whatnot. I won’t mention my negative feedback or things the restaurant needs to improve on. Instead, I talk directly to the owner, manager or PR to raise my concerns. And it’s fulfilling when they take my suggestions and thank me for that.
To illustrate:
So the next time you see a branded content, do not judge content creators outright.
What you see in our posts may seem biased, but remember, there is more than meets the eye.
#ShiSays
