Am I Obligated To Post About Gifted Products?
Are you new to content creation and influencer marketing? Whether you’re an aspiring Creator or a budding Brand owner, this blog post will guide you on PR, influencer gifting and the difference between a ‘paid partnership’ and a’gift’
First of all, WHAT IS PR?
PR, otherwise known as public relations, refers to the team or person who works closely with content creators, famous people and magazines to generate awareness and positive exposure for a Brand. This can be done directly by the brand or by a PR agency acting on their behalf - and I’ve personally been approached by quite a few as a small creator!
GOALS OF PR:
What the Brand is hoping to achieve by sending you (as an influencer or creator) their products:
Generate brand awareness (because they gain access to your audience - if you choose to post about them)
Form a relationship with you. Which may lead to;
Some UGC creation down the track
They may convert you into a genuine/loyal customer
TO POST OR NOT TO POST?
Ultimately, the Brand who is sending you the product/PR package would LOVE you to post about them on your socials. The question is, are you obligated to? The answer is, no. When there is no budget attached to an agreement like this (or a brief for that matter) you’re not obligated to do anything in return. A lot of Creators will, as a gesture of good will but that’s dependent on the Creator. It’s good for both sides to agree on deliverables before ‘working’ together.
As the Brand, you’ll need to ask yourself 2 questions before choosing to work with an influencer or creator:
Do you care how much experience the creator has?
Do you want that creator to follow your brand guidelines and a brief or any other deliverables? Or, are you happy to give them free reign to create content however they like?
Do you want content in exchange for giving them the product(s) or are you more interested in reaching the audience that creator has?
If your answer is ‘No’ to the first two questions, then gifted PR might work well for you. Obviously, sending a few products to an influencer or content creator is relatively cheap in comparison to forking out hundreds/thousands for sponsored content. But, while it’s more cost effective for the Brand, there are some obvious drawbacks in that there's no guarantee they'll use the product or that they'll like it or that they’ll create content that is ‘on brand’ for you.
It’s probably important at this point to differentiate between the different goals of PR vs UGC (or paid content creation).Coming back to that last dot point, above; “Do you want content in exchange for gifting the product(s) or are you more interested in reaching the audience that creator has?”
WHAT IS YOUR GOAL AS THE BRAND OWNER?
When a Brand reaches out to a creator specifically for some UGC (User generated content), what they are seeking is some fresh content (a review, a photo, a video of the product) that they can then use on their social channels. This is when the Brand will likely pay you and will therefore send you a brief or guideline to follow which tells you how to structure your content, what to wear, even what to say (sometimes). I’ve made a Tiktok over here that discusses what’s important to include in a creative brief if youre a Brand owner & over 600 people have liked and saved it already!
This differs to when a Brand chooses to work with an influencer instead. In this case, they are usually seeking to generate positive brand awareness or access to that influencers audience. Remember, an influencer is seen as someone who has amassed a huge following and has ‘influence’ over their purchasing decisions.
PR and gifted collabs are (in my opinion) quite different to actual content creation which is far more strategic. Now, let’s discuss what to say when navigating influencer communication. Specifically, how to reach out to an influencer or creator as a brand owner.
WHAT TO SAY (BRAND)
“Hey [name], We just discovered you /have been following you for some time and love your style and the content you produce. We would LOVE to send you some of our xyz products to see what you think! At this time we don't have the budget for paid content given that we are a new/startup so there is absolutely no obligation to post about us but we would, of course, love you to! Is this something you’d be open to?”
WHAT TO SAY (CREATOR)
“I was just reaching out to say I love your products [be specific where possible as it's more genuine] and I have the perfect outfit/reel/photo/spot in mind to create some fresh content for you, if you’re interested! I’d be willing to create some content for you at no charge, in exchange for xyz products. Feel free to check out my style and reach out if you feel we are a good match. You can find me over here @xyzhandle”
HOW TO SAY ‘NO’ AS A CREATOR
Not every Brand or product is going to be a good match for you. And visa versa for you, Brand owners; you want to make sure the Creator you choose fits within your niche and has an audience relevant to you. I’ve been asked to post about cleaning products on my page before and that is an easy example of how you can politely say ‘no’ if the product doesn't fit with your niche. When I want to say no, I say something like this:
CREATOR - Not the right fit:
“Thanks so much for thinking of me! I don't normally post about cleaning products. My niche is more fashion/beauty/skincare so I don’t think my audience will be the right match for you. Thanks for reaching out nonetheless”
CREATOR - Not interested in unpaid work:
“Hi xxx, thanks so much for your message. I’m not currently taking on any more PR / contra collabs for the moment but do let me know if this is something you find the budget for down the track and I can send you my rates.”
NOTE: If something is not ‘on-brand’ for you but you’re not obligated to post it on your page, then of course you can say yes, if the pay is good or you admire the brand!
LEGAL OBLIGATIONS AS A CONTENT CREATOR
Lastly, we should touch on your legal obligations as a Creator, to disclose to your audience when something is gifted PR or paid. I found Fox + Fleur a melbourne-based PR agency super helpful when reading up about this. Their definitions are below:
PR Gift or #Gifted (no obligation to post). This is when a gift (for example, clothing or skin care etc) is given to the influencer with no obligation to post. Many influencers will post about the product out of goodwill, but there should be no obligation that the influencer has to post about your product just because you’ve sent it to them. If they do post, they will need to use either #gifted or #prgift.
PR Gift or #Gifted (obligation to post). Some influencers will post about your content on agreed term guidelines – this should be tagged as #Gifted or #PrGift.
What is the difference between a paid partnership and a gift?
A paid partnership or #Ad. This is a paid partnership (ad) for both parties. In clear terms – the brand will pay for the ad to be developed. Usually the influencer or creator will shoot and develop the content and caption, this will then be approved by the brand, and then the influencer or creator will post. This requires the influencer to follow the brand’s direction. It must be tagged as a paid partnership and have #PaidPartnership or #Ad as the first line in the caption.
If you’d like to read more about the ethics around posting, brand content guides and payments there’s the Influencer Marketing Practice which was developed by AimCO (Australian Influencer Marketing Council) and you should go check it out.
That’s all for now, I hope you found this article helpful!
WHO AM I?
I’m a freelance model, writer & Australian Content creator, Hii! I started securing paid work with Brands with as little as 2k followers on instagram and now I work full time as a content creator. I love to talk all things Social Media, Content Creation and marketing! More about me over here.
Rebecca Achelles
Tiktok and Instagram: @ThatAchellesGirl