Today I wanted to talk about the topic of stuff. This is a huge topic, and we’re actually going to get more into the discussion on affiliate programs like Open Sky in the next couple days, but today, let’s start with reviews and freebies!
I realized yesterday that I love doing reviews on my blog. Why? Because I love stuff. I can’t watch infomercials. I can’t watch Oprah. I love tech stuff, kitchen gadgets, and beauty products. My credit score reflects this. Part of the reason I started blogging is because I was giving informal reviews to my friends all the time. I just wanted to be able to have a place where I could put it all. “Want to know how I whiten my teeth? HERE. A LINK!”
I didn’t really expect to start getting free stuff out of the whole thing.
The first time a PR company contacts you, you get so excited. “OMG me!?!? They want to give me stuff?!?! I’M FAMOUS!!!! I get to have a GIVEAWAY!!!” I loved this moment. So what if I wasn’t making money blogging? This was better than money, because I spend my money on food and fitness stuff anyway.
But then I started to run into the problem of what to do with stuff I actually didn’t want. Stuff that I now felt obliged to blog about even though I’d never have bought it in a store. Part of the reason I feature less reviews that start out, “This company was nice enough to send me this…” is because I realized how awkward I felt about it.
If you’ve begun finding yourself in the same situation, here’s my advice for handling free stuff and reviews.
- First ask yourself, Would I buy this in a store? Is this something I actually want to try? If not, resist the urge to accept the offer. Just say, “Hey, while I’m sure those snack bars are great, it’s just not something I think my readers are interested in! Thank you so much for thinking of me!” Otherwise it’ll arrive and you’re going to be like, “Well, crap, I don’t want to eat this…” Then the PR company will start stalking you and ask what you think of the product..so uncomfortable!
- If you did accept the offer but don’t feel like you can review it honestly and positively, tell them that. “I did try it, and to be honest, I’m not crazy about it. I’d prefer not to write about it at all. Thanks so much for thinking of me!” I mean, I don’t feel a need to write a negative review of something that just showed up in my mailbox. (If I bought it, that’s another story.) Writing a negative review of something you received for free isn’t bad…but if you are more comfortable playing nice, this is a pretty safe way out.
- Don’t feel guilty if you aren’t on the “free sample” list. Seriously!!!!! It’s fun and flattering but it’s a little overrated. I think like many other blog trends, this is one that’s on its way out as a successful “get more readers” technique, because too many people realized that free stuff and giveaways was a way to promote themselves. No one wants to read the same post GUSHING about something we all LOVE on a bunch of blogs.
- When you see those gushy posts on a lot of blogs, it’s tempting to want to be in on the fun and get a sample so you can review it too. I did this a lot at first and ended up with cool stuff that wasn’t even really my style. My taste in things I want to review is different than other bloggers’ and I’m guessing yours is too. So if you are going to seek out relationships with companies, seek out the stuff you’re interested in. Be the first to review something! That does a huge service to your readers.
The reason giving free swag to bloggers is so popular is that companies and bloggers have realized it’s great for everyone — oh, wait, except the readers. And that is who we’re writing reviews for, isn’t it? Recognize that the whole idea that we get free stuff in the first place is starting to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths. There’s no hiding it anymore (thanks FCC!) and it can be alienating to readers to constantly talk up stuff we got for free but we’re now suggesting they buy.
If you still love stuff and want to do your readers the service of sharing your favorite products, then review stuff you actually buy. I feel like I have a lot more credibility when I say, “Yes I can’t live without my Magic Bullet…so much so that I plunked down $50 for it, and I’m about to again because I’ve nearly killed it from obsessive overuse.” (True story.) I mean, the way I see it, I’m going to spend all my money on this stuff anyway, so I might as well share my thoughts on it with the world and do some good — and again, that was part of my original reason for starting a blog.
I’ve recently become more conscious and have stopped reviewing so many things (which is so hard for me) but I’m really discerning and avoid reviewing things that I had to go out of my way to buy. Like, if I had to special-order my chia seeds from some obscure corner of the internet and pay $20 in shipping, I’ve just accepted that I don’t need to tell everyone they MUST buy them. I can still mention in a post, “So I made my smoothie with banana, chia seeds, and almond butter…” If someone e-mails me and says, “Hey Rachel, what chia seeds do you use?” then I can tell them that I went to the seventh level of Hell to get them. But till then, I’ll keep it to myself.
Can’t afford to buy lots of stuff? Then review books…that you get for free…from the library! I actually do a lot of book reviews because I love reading and I know that most people aren’t interested in sorting through the hundreds of cookbooks/diet books on shelves. I, on the other hand, can do this for hours, so I’m happy to disseminate the info for them, and it doesn’t cost me anything.
You can also do this with free On Demand DVDs. Actually I wish you would because I usually only will try a DVD if I’ve heard good things about it! So this is a review that I seek out and will always click through.
Get creative by discovering what you love and want to share! What products do your friends always ask you for advice or recommendations regarding? If you’ve tried out ten pairs of workout sneakers in the past two years, tell us your five favorites. If you always shop at Trader Joe’s, tell us the three products you can’t live without. Love good beer? Tell us some great ones to try! Try to think of it less as a “review” and more what you’d tell your BFF or your mom if she called asking you for advice.
And if you want to connect with companies, email them after you do reviews. Tell them you love their product and just wrote about it because you loved it that much. I think of this as the same way I think of sending an e-mail to a blogger whose blog I love that much. Think of it as a “Keep up the good work!” e-mail. Cool companies — like a lot of smaller food and health-related companies — love interacting with their fans. They might even Tweet your post and get you some hits and sometimes they do offer you something for a giveaway. If not, who cares? You loved the product and you essentially just said thank you.
Nothing to review? Cool, then don’t! Don’t think you have to buy a lot of stuff just to be a good blogger. Yesterday ZenLizzie (a non-Hollaback Girl who has repeatedly impressed us all with her thoughtful comments, criticisms, and commentary) posted about this very topic.
“It is important to question the messages we get from the media, but sometimes I forget that when the messages are coming from people who look like me.”
Read her whole post — it’s definitely calling for change but it certainly inspired me to re-evaluate the message I’m sending with reviews.
Getting our readers to trust us is so important. And what kind of message does it send if we LOVE everything we get for free and don’t appear to purchase anything? Check your blog — does it sound like an ad? Do you like like you’re on a company’s payroll?? When blogging, it’s important to keep our integrity in tact and remember that we’re doing this for the readers, not to get free stuff. A few free protein bars isn’t worth losing credibility. Don’t be a swag hag!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
So true. I’m honestly embarassed about some of the things I reviewed as a more inexperienced blogger. . . not enough to take the reviews down, but you know what I mean. This is something that it typically takes time to learn (for people that actually will learn. some never will) but this post should really light a bulb for some people and help them be more discerning.
I used to be on the “i’m cool because I get free stuff bandwagon” but lately have really taken a look at my readers and I no longer accept and review things that I would not otherwise buy. I also do reviews of items that I have purchased with my own money because I think that is what the readers really want to know, would you actually buy this product. I recently reviewed a particular brand of stevia on my blog and stated in the review that it was really no different than the stevia I was using before despite some of the reviews I had read that it was “the best”. I think that is what peeves me off the most, everything can’t be the best.
I’m not a blogger but I am an avid reader of many health and fitness blogs. I really appreciated this post because I’ve decided to stop reading several blogs recently because I felt like every other post was some kind of advertisement. I don’t mind the free giveaways once in a while, but I do get annoyed when it seems like the free giveaways always to go other bloggers! I get that people want to promote their blogs by having giveaways but it looks shady when the free stuff seems like it’s always being traded between bloggers.
I appreciate these tips. I’ve been turning away a lot of companies lately because I know that I won’t like their product and it’s a pain in the butt for me to get boxes delivered to my apartment. I only want to go through the hassle if it’s something I really want to try or I think my readers would be interested in.
Another thing I’ve been doing is reviewing restaurants and sending the link to the contact on the restaurants website. A few of them emailed me back with coupons for a free entree or drinks with my next visit. One of them I even gave a bad review!
Thank you so much for this. I really wonder sometimes if bloggers really LOVE the product or just like it because it was free. I think No Meat Athlete is also a great example of how to handle product reviews. One time he told a company he doesn’t really like something, but they asked him to review it anyway…
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/rx-sorbo-insoles/
And when he admits he doesn’t like something, it means I can trust that when he says he loves something, he really does….
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/slow-burn-slow-read/
I think the idea of the emailing the company once you do review their product. I wouldn’t turn free stuff down THEN!
Thanks for this post. I see reviews from time to time that I feel like are total b.s. when bloggers review things ONLY for the blog and you never see those items on their blog again. If it was really something they loved then IMO you would see that product again!
.-= betsy´s last blog ..Overdue Sunday Funday =-.
I definitely accepted some things when I first started my blog that I wouldn’t take now. I try to only accept offers now for things that are actually relevant to my content, or relevant to things that I want to talk about. If I want to talk about the benefits of coconut oil, I’ll accept some free coconut oil to try, and then post about the benefits along with the review.
I try to shy away from things that I know I’ll hate. Nobody wants to post a negative review, but if I had to do it, I would.
Great advice, I’ve just started to receive samples but they are all from companies that I already spend money with.
I’ve only done 1 review because a company sent me samples, and it was fun but a lot of pressure! I felt like I was obligated to say positive things, even though the point of the review was to be honest. I also felt awkward because the product was a bit expensive and I had to say “They’re good but I don’t know if I’d spend the shipping…”