As we write this, it’s mid-April 2020, and pretty much every one of you reading this is in a country where there are restrictions in place about moving around. Many of us are working from home, working in service industries (and for that, you are amazing) or have been furloughed (temporarily laid off)
Whether you’re a full time blogger or part-time one, you’ve probably been thinking about whether now is the right time to be talking about sponsored products or promoting affiliate links.
First – consider the type of sponsored post or affiliate link that you would potentially promote. Is it something that’s totally against stay at home guidelines? (Are you saying “head out to your local store and buy this product” or “get together with your gal pals to celebrate with this product!”?) Can that message be spun a different way (which you should speak to the brand about, of course) – instead of saying “go to the shop to buy X”, promote the ways you can buy X online, instead of saying product X should be used when you meet up with your friends, consider showing it in a care package to send to your bestie and have a virtual happy hour.
It’s important that you are sympathetic to how your followers may feel – the best way to do this is to talk to them. Ask them what they think, and what they would prefer to see. Explain why you’re doing something – you don’t need to share everything, but explaining that a sponsored post is from a few weeks ago and is now due, or that affiliate links will earn you a few pennies if someone happens to use your link to buy something but it shouldn’t affect the price they pay would hopefully help your audience understand.
Of course, you won’t get everyone agreeing, but at least they should be able to understand where you’re coming from!
Finally, and this should be true no matter what the current situation is, make sure that it is relevant to you and your audience. We are all spending much more time online at the moment, so the smallest indiscretion can cause a huge blow up on social media.
We hope you are staying safe and well, and if you are choosing to use this time productively, we are here to help . What do you think – should bloggers and influencers hold off on the sponsored content or should they carry on as normal?
