This morning while having my coffee at AllBright ☕, I had a mix of laughter and tears upon receiving a proposal from an influencer agency offering to mediate between my brand and various social media profiles. Having had a disappointing experience in the past with this type of collaboration, I hesitated but couldn’t ignore the many brands still investing in this strategy.
👉 My journey with influencers began back in 2020, and let me tell you, it was one of the biggest mistakes I made when starting out‼️. Everyone kept saying that working with influencers was the secret sauce to growing your audience, and with just 20 followers on Instagram, I dove in 🥽 I picked around 10 social profiles (including one with over 200k followers who charged me £2000 for a single post and story 😢). Alongside her, I collaborated with several home accounts, all just seeking freebies (I admit I was a bit dazzled by their follower counts)😩
👉 The outcome? NOTHING 👎 The most disheartening part was realising that these home accounts were just commenting on each other’s posts🤯, adding hashtags in the comments to inflate their engagement. It was all a facade. I generated zero sales, almost no new followers gained, and the content quality was abysmal... so much so that I felt embarrassed to repost it.
🏃♀️ Fast forward to my recent interaction with an influencer agency, hoping to give this another shot. They wanted to charge a £3000 joining fee (before doing anything!) and recommended I start with at least 15 content creators a month, each costing between £800 to £1000 💷. I’m no mathematician, but can you imagine a small to medium business investing around £18,000/month in UGC? 🔥
‼️ And sure, you might say, “It’s an investment in brand awareness,” but that’s a luxury for BIG companies! I can think of a million better ways to allocate £18,000! 🥵🫠
So, is it worth it to work with content creators❓From my experience, a single collaboration isn’t enough to make an impact. Success lies in REPETITION; getting many people to talk about your brand. But diversifying with 15 to 30 profiles monthly is not feasible for everyone.🤡
I still believe that focusing on organic growth is KEY when you start on a tight budget. And building a brand takes time! 🕥⏳
💡As an alternative I started investing in PR and showcasing my decor products and design services at various events, such as dinners and meetings, to boost my brand’s visibility.
🤝 Partnering with other brands, bloggers and magazines that genuinely appreciate my products has been rewarding 🥇
Fast forward to today, and reality speaks! We’ve grown to over 200k followers 🥳
In summary, there are alternatives to avoid spending a fortune on content creators for now. Let’s keep exploring smarter strategies! 💪
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