3 ms·

I think y'all are missing the further implications. A lot of these influencers talk up the gear they're sent for free and then sell it.

• giantrobot 3y ago
  A lot of gear sent to influencers is on a trial basis unless it's a "we want you to be seen using it". They usually have to return stuff after they make their ad. There's a subset that are directly selling stuff either as drop shippers or affiliate marketing. They're video versions of SEO blogs. I'd put those in a different class than the ones just running ads on their existing content channels. While they might be called "influencers" they're just running ads for their sales hustle.
• whstl 3y ago
  This is not big enough to put a dent in sales. If the product is sold by an influencer, it will be sold as "Used", long after the "hype period" is over. This initial period of booming sales is very important for products announced trough influencers. Paying for the influences to do the work is more expensive than the products themselves, in pretty much every case I know of. And even for expensive products: if you send something to an influencer with the expectation to get back, it will come back used and has to be sold as B-Stock for a loss anyway. For stuff up to $200, $300 it ends up being much cheaper to just give away.