Before i begin i must point out that this my take on things and any negative opinion expressed by myself is directed at a small minority of bloggers and i believe that the blogging community is one of the most amazing communities to be involved with!
While i can fully understand why the bigger companies/brands like to work with reputable bloggers with a big following,it would be nice however if some of us smaller bloggers were givin the opportunity and this being a fair opportunity without being exploited!
I have read lots and lots of sponsored posts by the bigger bloggers and all i can see is high recommendations to buy this product/outfit! The companies/brands seem to be very selective as to who they want to work with but if they were that confident in their product/item,then maybe they should not be as selective!
When i see sponsored posts by certain bloggers being always positive regardless of the product,it leads me to doubt the recommendation by the blogger and i do wonder if they are actually telling the truth or are they just saying nice things because they recieved it for free! This does not apply to all bloggers out there as i have read some posts where the blogger has givin an honest review and pointed out some flaws and indeed sometimes has not even recommended it to buy!
For many of the big established bloggers who blog about their particular niche,it is their job and this is what pays them and i read recently that a professional blogger can make anything between $1000-$10000 a month and i say well done,you deserve it! This does not apply to them all as the figure is estimated at around 14% of them! They have many ways of monetizing their blog but i wont go into this now!
What i have noticed is that the bigger bloggers in general and i will talk about fashion posts first practically always write positive posts about the new dress or skirt or shoes that were sent to them and do nice posts with links where to purchase the lovely items! The posts are always complimentary when written by the bigger fashion bloggers and as it is their job,what they are actually doing is advertising! Alot of them rely on these companies for their lovely new clothes,well maybe not rely on,and also that precious invitation to fashion events! Also the company/brand will be happy knowing that an influential blogger is wearing and promoting their item! So the post will be full of positives and recommendations yes! Now i am not getting at the bigger fashion bloggers for doing this as they have worked hard for it and probably deserve it and the power and influence of bloggers has become massive nowadays and the companies/brands know this! But i have doubts sometimes!
One in particular always feels the need to say that she has worked hard for where she is today! She recieves the nicest outfits and beauty products and i assume they were free as she states "i was sent this by" and every post is to highly recommend the product/item! She recieves the best invitations to the best fashion shows worldwide but now and again,it would be nice to see some negative comment in a post! I mean everything cannot possibly be the best product out there on the market right? Yes she can be influential but surely sooner rather than later,people will cop on and realise that not all she says is true! After a while, quite alot of the items find their way to her Depot page for sale by the way! But still the brands will still want to work with her as they are guaranteed a good review should she accept their offer! I must also point out that maybe a negative review was decided against and she may infact have just returned the product or contacted the company with her views! But by only doing positive posts,it does lead to doubts from the reader i believe! But i do realise this is her job!This comment is only aimed at one or two people in particular!
However, i personally and many other smaller bloggers would love a chance to review a new skirt or dress or that new bikini range (well maybe not this as much as i am not beach ready yet lol) and to be givin the opportunity to write our review!
Is the skirt a good fit? Would you need to buy a size up or a size down? Is the material in the dress of good quality? Is it too thin and see through? Do we need to resort to a form of layering? I very rarely see these sort of issues being mentioned!
I have also noticed that some fashion/beauty bloggers posts are becoming shorter posts with less pictures and the post is practically thrown together! Very little effort goes into some of these posts! And as for interaction with their readers on their blog,well most of the time there is little or no chance of your comment being replied to! But i do understand this as they are busy! I would guess that sometimes they are not even read at all! But they still have the followers and they can be highly influential but are they being fair on their readers! Is their integrity with their readers being maintained? Are a few ruining it for everyone else? Yes they look gorgeous in their new outfit and the dress looks like a must have but i would like to see their honest opinion rather than just looking pretty!
**I must stress that this does not apply to everyone and it is only a few that i am talking about here**
As for beauty product reviews,the best reviews that i have read are the ones that the blogger has gone out and spent their hard earned money on rather than the freebies that may have been sent! I would love to do a review on that new tan product from Cocoa Brown for example or a new lippy that may just hit the market! I have noticed that many beauty bloggers do such a fantastic and honest review of the product and always mention recommendations as to what to do with the product! But again,some resort to glorifying the freebie that was sent out! I will do my reviews when i purchase the products!
What i find interesting is how some brands try and intice the so called smaller bloggers into collaborations with them! The way it does sometimes be put to you can look appealing but the next thing you know,you have just spent over the odds for an outfit and this will have included your 20-30% discount! Plus you are committed to writing a review on your blog! I recently had this with a company and as soon as i said i may be interested, i was hounded for a month as to when i was going to buy from them! I was offered a 30% discount off a rather expensive average looking clothing range! I never bought from them and they then unfollowed me!
Another company is offering us bloggers the opportunity to become part of their blogging team, i guarantee this has cost you money in purchases to avail of this title! And add to this the amount of work that goes into a review post when you filter in photos,editing,writing,promoting and more! If done properly,it could take anything up to 6 hours of work for something that would cost very little if you were to purchase it!
Some of these companies/brands are only targeting the smaller bloggers who like the idea of the opportunity to work with them! Ok fair enough,it works for some and best of luck with it but i do sometimes think that we are being exploited from time to time! I would concider helping out a new company if they were to ask if i could do a review on my blog for free but when a more established company who have the money to spend on advertising asks,now that's just being plain rude and shows the little regard that they may have to the smaller blogger! Alot of brands out there just are silly enough to expect to get something in return for giving nothing! It's all screaming out "exploit the little blogger" to me!
To go back to my original point, i would love the opportunity to work with a company/brand that i would be interested in working with and writing an honest review! However,i believe that most of these companies/brands are unwilling and afraid to work with the smaller blogger as they are worried that maybe they might get a review that they were not expecting! And the ones who do,only want to exploit us in any way they can! Also they dont want to have to "give us" something in return for a review! And i have also noticed that the smaller blogger will put so much more time and effort into a review when givin the chance! I was givin the opportunity once to review a product and i have put a link to it further down for a reason!
An honest review of a product by a smaller blogger could be more beneficial to a company/brand as it would be written by somebody who has not had too many opportunites to do this sort of thing so if the company was happy with the review,all they have to do is mention the review and the link to it to their followers and i guarantee anyone who reads it would probably respect the views and opinions expressed even more as it was not done by the usual suspects!
The smaller companies/brands wont be of interest to the bigger blogger,generally speaking that is,so they try and target whats in the middle of the smaller and bigger blogger so what happens here is that yet again,the smaller blogger usually misses out unless it's something that again could be viewed as exploitation!
So if you are a company/brand, and you have the confidence in your product/item,why not take the chance on the likes of myself and other smaller bloggers and see what we have to say! Who knows,you may even learn something from us! It is the good and the bad sides to a product that are most helpful to any readers! But dont forget the amount of time and effort that us bloggers will put into it!
So who out there is brave enough? And if you are,please be fair to us smaller bloggers!
For the record, i have done a product review before and actually working with the brand was instigated by myself! Here is my honest review http://holliegarner44.blogspot.ie/2014/12/a-review-of-legsloveie.html
and the reason i linked this review is that i am very proud of it and i have no problem saying this,and also the company themselves were over the moon and so happy with it! It's a post full of compliments but this was my honest opinion!
Also i personally just blog for fun and have no intention of ever trying to make any money out of blogging but i and many other smaller bloggers would love to be able to say in a blog post "i recieved this from"!
So come on all you lovely Companies/Brands, give us smaller bloggers more of a chance but please be fair as after all,we are not being "paid" and surely it has to be a two way street,
Thanks for reading,
Hollie xxx
ps-just to clarify that the negative comments are only aimed at a few out of the many wonderful and amazing bloggers out there!
