The world has gone digital these days. So many people have dived in this sea of infinite opportunities to try their luck. Not that, there’s no return. Of course, there is a return certainly. But, I can predict of a recession that might approach in this creative industry in the coming years.
Before you must read further, I would like to confirm, if you’ve read my article about ban on TIKTIOK? If no, you must read it now. Though, the ban was lifted within a week, it would help you to know, how ephemeral and transient influencer marketing industry can be.
Nowadays, I see a lot of people these days calling them bloggers or influencers.
Before moving forward, it’s extremely necessary to know the definitions of a blogger and an influencer and their analogy.
A Blogger is a person who has a blog and writes on it.
An Influencer is a person who ‘influences‘ . An influencer extensively uses social media handles to influence people to do something. It might be a commercial cause or social cause.
Every blogger is an influencer, but not every influencer is a blogger.
I see many influencer using the title of blogger with them. Brands send the products to both the bloggers and influencers under the title ‘blogger’s mail’ which leads to further ambiguity.
To qualify as a blogger, an influencer needs to have a blog.
If you must listen to me, if you aspire to be a part of this digital creative industry, have a blog along with your social media handles.
Let me tell you 5 points which provide bloggers an edge over influencers.
5 Points Which Provide Bloggers An Edge Over Influencers
With the ever increasing number of influencers, it seems, that recession is not far. Brands are already exploiting the influencers. The biggest specimen of exploitation is working on barter basis.
Some brands just provide you free products and expect you to provide free reviews on your social must media handles in exchange.
Is that all? But you must think of the value of content and services that you’re providing. Don’t you want to cover your costs. You should. You aren’t a slave.
If I must tell you the costs associated with me. My equipments (camera, tripod), I pursued a course for web designing four years back (HTML, MySQL and PHP), I’ve spent my five years in blogging industry which also holds a value. I’ve spent my valuable time in researching about content. I’ve also taken many online courses to polish my knowledge. My blog’s custom domain also has a value. I spent a considerable amount on publishing my ebook as well.
I’ve now considered so many costs which convince me very well that I shouldn’t work on barter basis from now on. I’ve worked with some, some time ago.
If someone asks you that you’re just starting, so you should work for free, then, just ask them, if their brand ever gave away all their stock for free, just because they were starting out.
If you’ve a blog, you’ll sound bolder and can secure yourself away from this recession. Make a list of all the costs you’ve to cover up. You’re supposed to convince yourself before convincing others.
If I must again come to the reference of that point, at which tiktok was banned, you must note that how many influencers stake of livelihood was hurt. Brands too lost their interest, as the content they paid for was going to be lost. So, if you’re just an influencer, you’re in an unreliable industry.
If you have a blog, buy a domain and host it properly. It will act as a backup of the content you post. It’s your home on the internet (with a resale value).
On one instagram post, I don’t think that you’ll be able to speak your mind with that proficiency as you’ll be able to with an article on your blog. Most people follow one picture at a time policy on instagram. Hardly anyone looks at second image of the multiple posts if the first one is not appealing. Your entire caption except the first line hides in the see more button which noone would bother to look if the first line isn’t impressive.
If you’re a good writer, you can overcome your flaws as a good photographer. If you’re a good photographer, but an average writer; you can just make a photo blog with minimum written work (as a photo blog just requires a few captions of images). If you’re an average of both the talents, it’ll still work out as a great combination.
I’ve already discussed about how unprofessional, working on barter basis is. Many people still choose to work with it as there’s no associated long term professional goal. They’re only driven with the temptation of getting free products.
If you start blogging, then you’re escaping a big crowd. You’re definitely going to offer something new. Making a blog can certainly require some investment. I know coding, so I adjusted the template according to myself. If you wish, then you can outsource the task as well.
Because I didn’t take any third party service except the domain and did all the work myself doesn’t mean that I’m a good computer programmer. Indeed, I know, I’m not.
It’s not everyone’s cup of tea to be a blogger. A person can pose well for an instagram post but can necessarily not write 1000 word blogpost.
I recently worked with a brand (whom I don’t find it appropriate to mention the name) to find the right bloggers for promotion. Our main criterion was to find a person with a well maintained presence on both a blog and Instagram.
So, you see, If a person has a blog, he is considered to be way more professional than an influencer. The condition is that the blog should be well designed and maintained.
After we found a blogger to work with and she delivered the expected deliverables, more than the inquiries for purchase, we got the enquiries for collaborations, many of which were just influencers, not bloggers.
You might understand the difference. I’m not saying that being an influencer is bad, Some might be professional and work hard as well; but because of a nagging presence of many new ‘so called’ influencers, credibility is certainly at risk.
Even, I’ve seen many cheap influencers who post weird pictures and cheap stories using abusive language and sharing vulgar memes. Is this what they’re influencing people for? Some lifestyle influencers post stories of waking up at 10 am. Is this the lifestyle inspiration, they seek to provide?
Being a blogger is safer than being an influencer, because in this way you can escape the recession of crowd striving to try their luck in this tempting digital creative industry. Social media handles are temporary and can shut down any time. At that moment, many influencers might lose their livelihood. You get an opportunity to showcase your talent on your blog in detail which is hardly possible on instagram. A blogger sounds more professional and is more appealing to brands.
