What I Hate About ‘Influencer Marketing’ | Sewing YouTuber Sounds Off
This is a video I've debated making, but a series of recent 'business inquiries' have motivated me to share what frustrates me about being part of the 'influencer marketing' ecosystem on the internet. By speaking about these aspects of working as a full-time YouTuber, I hope to help you watching know more about the business parts of social media, businesses to get the perspectives of influencers, and fellow content creators navigate the tricky waters of accepting free products, sponsored posts / videos, and collaborations.
Warning: this is a super long video, totally understand if you skip this one.
Also note that this is only my experience and I don't speak for others in the sewing / crafting content creator space. Every creator is different and what works for some may not work for others.
Free products ≠ guaranteed coverage, companies/brands don't get editorial input on content. I don't do paid product/service reviews.
(Please read my business policies before reaching out)
Sponsored Videos, Brand Deals, Free Stuff + YouTube Money
Cricut Is Everything Wrong with the Influencer Ecosystem | Let's Talk Sponsorships
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links for several different programs. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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I’m not a YouTuber or Instagram influencer, I am just a person who likes to sew when I get free time, and I love to watch your videos. I find it incredibly refreshing to listen to you talk and see how you KNOW YOUR WORTH, you don’t take crap from “sponsors”, and that you have high standards for taking sponsorships. I wish this were the case across the board. In the early days I was “influenced” to buy things people I followed promoted and I have always had buyers remorse.
Thanks for sharing!!
I am a senior woman who found your channel by accident when I was researching pro’s and cons of a circuit purchase. I have found your channel to be extremely relatable, professional and honest which is very unusual for this day and age. You are an amazing young woman. Continue what you are doing and stick to your beliefs. I will keep watching.
How about none at all? What interests me the most is YouTubers’ honest opinions and knowledge based on their own experiences with products purchased with their own money. I do my own research. I purchase my own products. I come up with my own conclusions and favorites. AND I stick with long-standing brands that have been in their industries long enough to know what works. I’ve learned a lot from YouTubers, and I’m interested in the tools they purchase and use themselves to create as part of my own research. Podcast/radio/tv type ads are fine. Affiliate links to products clearly loved, used, and recommended over time are fine. “Sponsored/Marketing” means “biased” to me (unless it’s a product clearly loved, used, and recommended over time). Too many “sponsored/marketing” videos means it’s time to unsubscribe and move on to someone else who wants to teach, not sell. Just my 2 cents. BTW, I’ve learned a lot from your how-to and product comparison videos. And appreciate your honesty. More of those please! ??
I don’t like when a YouTuber first teach videos and then as time goes along they concentrate more on featuring products. Yes, they may be passing along deals on products, but when the products start getting to be the focus instead of teaching using what people already have it can become a turn off for subscribers.
Jenn, you are spot on : “they don’t care about me, this channel or you, the viewers”. I was talking with my daughter recently about the Kardashians and their brand, starting social media branding, etc. (my dtr has a marketing degree). She thinks they are great, but I don’t like these glamped up infomercialists/ influencers. Maybe it’s my age. ??♀️
I don’t really Keep Up With the Kardashians, but respect what they’ve built. People say they’re talentless hacks, but tend to underestimate the family – particularly Kris Jenner, who we all know is in charge.
Honestly, this one of the best informative videos you have produced Jen. It’s disheartening to hear about these experiences. I appreciate you taking the time to turn these experiences into an educational video for others. I can see how these points are transferable to other industries too. Particularly in regards to just networking. I’m currently in the process of a career change and this video gave me lots of things to think about. I might even test these things with my Instagram page too.
The comment on how the Beauty community organise their PR product launches etc is very spot on. I’d love to see this happen in the sewing/craft industry.
I could respond to this video for hours, literally! You are spot on in every aspect of this topic. Your video environment takes time and money to create without even turning on the camera. Presentation is very important. My daughter took her Masters in Graphic Design about 10 years ago and since Covid has built a huge online music festival thing that has brought many great successes, but also a torrent of parasites. Every single issue you speak to here is something I hope people on all sides will hear and understand. People need to recognize their own worth and adhere to a standard they feel they are worth while also recognizing other people have standards also. Thank you for bringing up these topics.
Thank you so much for this. I haven’t found much access to what types of marketing options there are for those of us in the sewing/crafting world that have smaller channels. It’s really great to hear your experience and your reasons for approaching things in certain ways. I haven’t been approached by anyone yet and I have only worked with a few people I know personally, so it hasn’t been in a way to make money. More of a way to save money for myself, by having access to fabrics. But mostly I wanted to say thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience.
If you have people you enjoy and don’t mind working with – go for it! I’ve just found that the hassle factor is generally too much for me just to get a $20 item from a company between the time you email back and forth, how aggressive your contact is, the disclaimers you have to put in because you got the item for free, etc. Definitely weigh in all these factors with your content creation.
Thank you for being honest. Yeah!, for having your own control; this is YOUR channel. I like it when people will only promote those products that they have used themselves and know they do what they say and are quality. Thanks for your presence on YouTube.
Hey Jen. I love watching your videos. I saw how long it was, got a drink and pushed play! ??. I’ve recently had this happen to me, and I’m a tiny channel. I’m a Tailor by trade, and a YouTuber on my free time, which isn’t much. I Thank you for making this video, it definitely helped me to get some ideas on how I can approach the matter and yet still be kind.
Preach! I have had similar conversations with quilt pattern designers and the consensus is always “people die from exposure”, so that is NOT an incentive. It’s a tough world for small business owners. Clear policies are key and we can find ways to collaborate that are mutually beneficial. Wishing you continued success.
This entire video reminds me of how creators’ work is always undervalued – sewists, quilters, painters, etc. This is typically women’s work, too.
I’m in a Facebook group for video production “professionals” and the tone in there is SOOOOOO incredibly snotty. Anyone who doesn’t have a $50K setup is ostracized, but I’d bet a million bucks none of them have a YouTube channel with over 10K subs and wouldn’t have any idea on how to grow that type of audience. If they did, they wouldn’t be in that group looking for freelance work and clients. It’s not about the gear, it’s about making videos people actually want to watch and get value from. I don’t know if it’s because I look younger than most people would guess, but industry peers tend to be rather condescending.
Hi Jen, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I’m not a Youtuber but I was very interested to hear what you had to say. Hope you’re able to take an actual vacation sometime in the near future:)
Appreciate it! I didn’t grow up going on family vacations other than camping, so as an adult I don’t really feel like I’m missing out by not going it. I’m just willing to bet that the businesses reaching out to ask for free consulting are not going to the same lifestyle lengths to sustain what they’re doing.
Jen, being a watcher of YouTube only and not interested in doing any videos whatsoever I found this info very interesting. My daughter has a channel and so I like to learn about behind the scenes. I think what you said about the givers and takers was so appropriate and good for all people to know. I also enjoyed the video awhile ago on what Etsy shops are all about. Keep it up and thanks for your integrity it is so rare these days.
You don’t need to apologize for protecting yourself and your business! I found you last year and really respect how you run your channel. Thank you!
Now that I’ve watched the whole thing I really appreciate the time and detail that you put into this. I’m but a baby blogger (uh, as in I’m just getting started, not that I am nor do I blog about babies 😉 ) but even I get the shady marketing DMs that try to take more than they give. My favorite is how I can’t post a picture of my pets without getting a DM or comment all “We’d love to feature your pet as a brand ambassador, msg us for more!” and then if I talk to them it’s something like “We’ll give you a discount to buy our product if you then feature it in a post.” Uhhh, NO. (Also I am not a photographer so how desperate are these people that they’re contacting me for brand support based on my awful pet photos? My pets are adorable, my photography skills are not.)
To your point at the end about what I would change, my big thing is the abuse of audience trust that influencers can have even if they are staying in the letter of the law. To give an example, there was a popular youtuber who I used to follow – millions of followers, regularly featured on trending, etc. I don’t want to name names or anything but part of their channel’s mission is talking about how to spot lies and manipulation in online videos.
Great stuff, right? Well one day they did an entire video about a product. They did disclose that they were given the product for free in the video but that was it. The rest of the video was then a supposedly scientific evaluation of the product and its usefulness. As I was watching I picked up on how the youtuber was using words that sounded a lot like ad copy. Like “This pays for itself in X months!” type comments. That struck me as weird so I looked and sure enough, buried in the wall of text in the video’s description was the reveal that the entire video was sponsored content by the company that made the product. One quick sentence that was easily missed in all the other text and links and what have you.
And that to me is straight up manipulation and abuse of audience trust. Like there’s no way this youtuber, who again does multiple videos dunking on *other* channels and how *they* abuse audience trust, wasn’t fully aware that they were hiding that disclaimer in a manner that made it difficult to see.
But the thing is I’m sure by the letter of the law they were fine: they said the product was given to them, there was *a* written disclaimer. But it was shady AF how they handled it. So I wish there was something in place which made it so there is no way those disclaimers can be hidden. I don’t mind the need to make money, I just want them to be honest about it.
To that end I appreciate how clear and honest you’ve always been about your values when it comes to sponsorship deals, getting free product, and how you handle it. It’s among the things I appreciate about your channel in addition to the sewing lessons.
(And now I end my own wall of text, which I promise has no hidden sponsorship disclaimer 😉 )
@Sewing Report Oh wow, yeah she did NOT do that at all. Which frankly lowers my opinion of her even more but on the other hand it’s comforting to know this was a straight up violation of the rules and not someone finding loopholes to get around it. Thank you for linking the pdf by the way, I’ve saved it for my own reference.
FTC guidelines state that influencers on YouTube should disclose the sponsorship in the description box as well as verbally AND with a graphic in the video itself. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/plain-language/1001a-influencer-guide-508_1.pdf
well said. I agree with you. Just one caveat though, re free patterns and/or fabric, it must be a way for vloggers to re-coup some costs, I am ok with that as long as these vloggers are upfront right at the beginning. Anyone who is obviously marketing eg matching jewellery, I switch away from them immediately.
I am writing this comment before I watch. I saw how long it was, and I’m going to take my phone into my sewing room, turn it on, put on my headphones and listen. I love your ethics about all this advertising in the quilting world and everyone pushing overpriced items to gullible quilters. Now, off to watch!
What frustrates you about the world of influencer marketing – is there anything that could be improved?
Free products ≠ guaranteed coverage, companies/brands don’t get editorial input on content. I don’t do paid product/service reviews.
https://wp.me/P7ePxp-F (Please read my business policies before reaching out)