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I initially had the idea to write this post because lately I’ve seen some influencers posting a lot of sponsored posts. And sure, that doesn’t directly affect me in the moment but if that is the direction that some influencers are taking, it taints the space for the rest of us. When every other post is an ad how I can trust it’s something you actually use or believe in? It kind of ruins the space for everyone else who is being particular and selective about what they are promoting,

That being said, I wanted to write this post to help shed some light on why it’s important to be particular with what sponsored content you agree to (and part II coming soon on what types of collaborations you should say yes to).

One of the reasons you want to be particular is because you want to build trust with your audience. If you were following someone and 60% or more of their content was sponsored, would you trust every product they share? I mean do they really love that many products?! It’s kind of hard to believe. Your audience is the reason you get to do what you love, so don’t take advantage of that. Your purpose with your blog and IG is to share products that you think your audience will love, find useful, etc.

Aside from building trust with your audience, from all the podcasts I’ve listed to, brands don’t like to work with influencers that have a lot of sponsored posts. I actually heard on the Drink With James Podcast that the brands they work with prefer for influencers to have 25% or less of their content be sponsored. To put that into perspective, out of 3o days in a month you shouldn’t have any more than 8-10 sponsored posts. Of course this can fluctuate from month to month, but this is a number I definitely like to keep in mind. That being said, if you have minimal sponsored content this is something you can use to leverage your own brand when talking with brands about potentially collaborating. If brands know that you reserve a limited number of posts on your feed for sponsored content, those spots become more valuable. The brands you feature will stand out more, and again, with limited sponsored content your audience will fully trust what you’re choosing to share.

I know it can be tempting to accept a lot of sponsored content especially when you’re first starting out. I mean, it’s exciting to get paid to do what you love! But if you abuse it then it starts to defeat the purpose behind why you started your blog or IG in the first place. You didn’t start to share about other brands, you started because you wanted to share your vision, message, etc. And while sponsored content is a wonderful thing because it allows you to try and share cool products and brands, while making a living, you don’t want to abuse it!

I feel like this sums up the reasons why it’s important to be conscious of the brands you’re choosing to partner with. But now if you’re wondering, okay but how do I know what  brands I should partner with? Stay tuned for part II of this blog later this week. In the meantime, any comments or thoughts on this topic? xxC