A Word On Sponsorship..
I've spoken about this at length in the past (bored a lot of you to tears, I'm sure) and for the most part it's a non issue but from time to time I think a little update is required to (attempt to) assure you I'm still on the right path. The majority of my paid content is here on my blog (which is currently under some kind of attack.. if you've been struggling to access lately please let me know!) and most of you who read are cool with this. The sparks only seem to fly when I cross over in to sponsored video content, for those who don't watch my videos this may seem irrelevant but the message is still for you. I will never be paid to say something is good if it isn't, if I receive a product for a video and I hate it, I am totally free to pull out of any agreement I might have with the sender of said product. Obviously someone paying for content wont want you trashing their brand but that doesn't mean that I have to trash my own by misrepresenting them. I value my audience and the value you place on my opinion so I would never disrespect that by telling you to run out and buy something I knew was no good.
I have a few paid opportunities at the moment which is why I wanted to put this out there, you will see more over the next month. Some sponsored content is very ad-like and polished because a brand wants certain 'buzz words' or phrases to fall in line with their commercial campaign, other content is very fluid. I have something coming up for example where the brand wanted promotion of one product which I already use and have spoken about lots of times but that one product wasn't enough for a video. I tweaked the idea and will now produce a video I would have made for free (don't tell THEM that) and that I think my audience will enjoy and hopefully find useful. I am very selective with the sponsored video content I accept (I think prior to this month I'd only had 1 go up this year) because I know it's not always well received but the new disclosure laws are in place to make it totally clear that you are watching paid content prior to clicking on the video so you can easily filter your viewing. That being said not ALL sponsored content screens like an advert, yes there's something that's been paid for but sometimes someone contacts you about promoting something you already use and love and you can't believe your luck.
Last thing.. as some of you will know I'm also working with a new brand, Freedom. They contacted me because they wanted video content for their own brand channel and so I set that up and I do swatches to jazzy music - see here. That's the extent of our agreement. I'm not sponsored by them and can say whatever I like about their products. The reason I wanted to work with them was because they are happy for me to be honest. They're a sister company to Makeup revolution and I have certainly not loved everything they've released but they appreciate genuine feedback and they understand that the value of a blogger is THEIR opinion.. NOT an opinion pushed upon them by a brand. Do I love everything from Freedom? No, but if I tell you I do like something then I absolutely do. I know there's a lot of cynicism in blogging these days but ultimately nobody would pay me to talk about anything if I didn't have an audience and if I start lying to you for money I will loose that audience fast. It's a short term game and I intend to be around here rambling on for years to come so I hope that you can trust that I will never knowingly mislead you.
I'd realy love to know how you feel about sponsorship, do you just hate it all, end of story? Do you think there's a good/bad way to do it? Let's discuss..
Miss BB