Why I stopped trusting influencer gifting campaigns

I spent about $800 last quarter sending free products to micro-influencers in the outdoor gear space, thinking it would drive real conversions for my brand's new tent line. After tracking the links, I saw maybe 3 sales total and most of them never even posted the unboxing content they promised. Has anyone else found that paying for affiliate partnerships works better than free product trades for smaller brands?

2 comments

2 Comments

reesemoore28d ago

I'm gonna push back on this hard because you're basically saying "I tried one thing wrong and now I'm blaming the whole strategy." You said "most of them never even posted the unboxing content" which tells me you probably didn't vet these micro-influencers properly or set clear expectations upfront. When I do trades with outdoor folks I always have a signed agreement that spells out exactly what content they owe me and by when, and I check their engagement rates before sending anything. $800 across micro-influencers is honestly pretty cheap and if you only got 3 tracked sales out of it that stinks, but you might have picked people with fake followers or ones who just accept free stuff without caring. Affiliate programs can work too but they're not magic either, you still have to find the right people and manage them properly. The biggest mistake I see with gifting is people treating it like a spray and pray thing instead of building actual relationships with the creators first.

oliver228d ago

You said "spray and pray" but sometimes that's all smaller brands can afford to do.