Hello loves!
I hope you all are well, I have been settling back in to my groove since being back in Savannah about two weeks ago, I am happy to be here! This post isn't necessarily the "welcome back" post that I had in mind since starting back in school, and yet here we are! I feel as though this is something that is important and needs to be addressed from me.
As you all know, I have been blogging for some time now. If you've followed me for some time or follow other bloggers and influencers, you know that collaborations, sponsorships, and brand deals are quite common in our world as bloggers.
But here's the thing, I have noticed that bloggers are getting a lot of backlash for these things. People believe it is all lies, people are losing trust in fashion bloggers, saying that they are lying because they are being payed to say all good things all the time. How can you trust something someone says about a product if you don't know if what they are saying is the truth?! I totally get that.
Here's what I need you to know: you can trust me. And that's that.
I want to be honest, real, and genuine with you all here. Social media can be tricky in many ways, and one of the main ways is how people post. I'm not perfect, my life is not perfect, my Instagram is just the Photoshopped, well lit, highly saturated highlight reel. I will be honest, there are times where I am NOT doing well, because you know, I'm human, I have feelings, I have a life and I go through things, BUT I have deadlines and I have post times and things like that where I, even though not feeling great, will post something along the lines of, "Hey guys! Happy Friday!! Hope you all have a spectacular weekend! sparkle emoji, rainbow emoji, sunshine emoji..." etc. and so forth.
Which brings me to the main thing people are soooo skeptical about bloggers for. Those darn "opinions" on brands. Here's the scoop, I have never been payed to work with a brand. Never. I work as if I do and it's frustrating, that's a whole different post, been there, heard that... read it.
However, I am working really hard to grow, therefor yes, I will admit, some of my collaborations may be more enthusiastic than how I feel about them in reality. Right now I am working to expand my portfolio so I can hopefully work with more reputable, larger brands and get to a place where I am monetized. Most of my collabs I initiate, I apply to, and I reach out to, I don't agree to work with companies I don't support, like, or anything like that. I would never lead you in the direction to buy something I genuinely dislike, I wouldn't promote something that really doesn't work! I have your back! We are on the same team here! I'm not doing anything that is straight up a lie, but yes, I do stretch the truth. And I think all bloggers do that.
What sounds better:
"Just got this top from Target, it was free so I don't really care about the price, but yeah go get one if you want. I like florals, who doesn't."
or
"This season fall florals are SO in! And of COURSE Target's got you set for all your floral needs! I seriously love this new top, how cute?! Comment down below you're favorite upcoming fall trend!"
Sure it's more enthusiastic, may seem fake, but it's just the way we write, how we talk, we are trying to sell these things. I am trying to sell these things.
I just want to put it out there that sure, I do a lot of collaborations but you can trust me. Please, know that I am human, know that I have bad days. Put on your social media truth glasses and see that what I post is literally just the good things. What I post is not a lie, of course I act overly excited when I'm doing a sponsored post. When it's payed I'll let you know, when it's sponsored I'll always let you know.
What are your thoughts on influencers sharing their opinions? Do you feel like you can trust them?
Please just hear me out as I reiterate, as bloggers, we share our opinions, personal style, lookbooks, etc. For me at least, I'm not sharing the latest fashion data, or news, it's just a fun space for me to show you guys my style and what's going on lately in my world.
Please bare all of this in mind the next time you rag on bloggers, we are humans too. Putting off seemingly perfect personas all the time can be hard. Comment what you think! xo, O