Why I won’t be posting #ad ever again

Here we are again…

Twelve years of writing on here, and posting on various social networks. Since pretty much day dot, the thorny issue of #sponsored and #advertising content has come up time and time again.

I went through the usual stages:

• Accept absolutely anything and think it’s ‘amazing’ — even when it contradicts your values and devalues your opinion
• Start to scale back and think it’s possible to only accept great opportunities while retaining some integrity (for reference: featured image is the first ‘opportunity’ I got which was so bad I couldn’t bring myself to post about it, a new Quayside hotel’s ‘new menu’)
• Offer no sponsored content whatsoever, and then feel like I’ve missed out on that £300 guest post from some bingo site
• Revert back and try to be a little more choosy about ads (currently where I am)

Which brings me to where I am today.

That includes #gifted, #invite (whatever the fuck that means), #spon, or any of the other permutations people use to avoid labeling something as a free meal. Why?

I know fine well that my audience doesn’t want to see sponsored content — even on social — where it carries no integrity, promotes things I wouldn’t normally eat, attend, or pay for, and in general, gives me a massive ick.

Sure, I’ve done my fair share. I’d like to think I’ve never posted bollocks, but that simply isn’t the case. Free beer? Go for it. Rare & limited number invite to Fenwick’s #GEN2018 event? I’m there. It’s opened some doors, and in some cases has been great. But the relentless wave of thinly veiled shitposts on social media has got to stop. If everyone’s an influencer, everything becomes an #ad. That’s where we’re getting too, and it’s exhausting. And that’s just five minutes of swiping through Instagram over lunch.

Aren’t we meant to be in the age of authenticity? There are hundreds of other people out there posting #ad after #ad after #ad for people who don’t mind that they’re getting sold to on social through organic as well as paid posts. I’ve just literally searched #newcastleeats on Instagram and picked the third result, which looks like this:

Really, is this what social media has become? I know, ten years too late, but I just don’t wanna be part of that game anymore. To be fair, I despise the part of the game where you show up for a free coffee, or fish and chips, or a doughnut because you’ve got 1,000 followers. If you’re that ‘passionate about small local business,’ JUST PAY FOR THE FUCKING THING AND SUPPORT THE COMPANY.

I’ll follow up with some advice for small businesses over on my personal blog at some point, with genuinely useful ideas, insight, and tips for SMEs. But for now, that’s the end of my #ads. You can be safe that anything has been paid for out of my own pocket, and my opinion is never clouded by the exchange of power that occurs when someone feeds you for free.

Sure, I’ll lose some revenue from some low-effort posting such as this one which an SEO company paid me a lot of money to add a link to. And yeah, it will be hard to turn down something like those one-off events which are exclusive. But I’ll sleep better at night knowing my integrity is safe, and I’m not posting shit just because I’m hungry for those dopamine-feeding-likes and a free burger.

Thanks for sticking around x