Businesses warned against falling under influence of bloggers looking for a free ride
Businesses have been warned to carry out background checks on social media influencers to ensure they are licensed and not chancers looking for “something for nothing”.
Hotels and restaurants are being bombarded with requests for free stays and meals in exchange for publicity, typically in the form of Instagram video posts and images.
Experts have warned businesses to deal only with licensed and established influencers for coverage on their social media channels.
In some cases, hotels and restaurants are being asked to pay influencers as much as Dh50,000 for a single post.
The UAE brought in laws this year requiring influencers, who are paid for content, to have a trade licence and an e-media licence costing a total of Dh30,000.
Celina Aoun, 35, a marketing consultant for luxury hospitality in Dubai, said those who are just looking for something for free were easy to identify.
“They contact me and ask if we can cover their birthday parties, baby showers, and also ask for tables of eight over a weekend,” Ms Aoun said.
“We didn’t get any return of investment when we did invite them. They would never return to the restaurants any other time.”
She advised her clients to invite only local influencers from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE, and never when they ask for money.
“When they ask for money they try to justify it by saying they will bring some of their influencer friends with them,” Ms Aoun said.
“It only ever happens when we approach them and invite them to a restaurant. It is a different story when they need you and they are almost begging for a table.”
She said that many companies in the UAE paid fees to influencers.
“Small brands fall for it because they have no marketing experience,” Ms Aoun said.
“In some cases the influencers’ rate cards can vary from Dh10,000 to Dh50,000 a post.
“They try to justify it by saying they are creating content but I could go to an advertising agency and get a much better return on investment.”
Ms Aoun, from Lebanon, said the fashion industry was mainly responsible for the rise in influencers.
“It is fuelling their sense of entitlement,” she said. “When I speak to my friends in the fashion industry they say they get very little in the return on investment they expected, or none at all.”
Nathalie Visele, director of Shamal Communications in Dubai, has frequent requests from influencers to work with her clients.
“Anyone can have millions of followers on social media,” Ms Visele said. “There are a lot of chancers out there who call themselves ‘influencers’ but are not.
“You have do your research and dig a little bit further. You have to look at who the followers are, the quality of their output and who is actually liking their comments, as well as the overall standard of communication between them and their followers.”
She also questioned the integrity of reviews that have been paid for.
“While quality influencers are invaluable to the food and beverage industry, paid reviews are completely unethical,” Ms Visele said. “You have people who want to come with their whole family for a full week in a five-star hotel in exchange for a couple of posts on their blogs.”
Ms Visele urged businesses to think twice about paying influencers. “You cannot rely on a review that has been paid for.”
David Allan, general manager of the Radisson Blu Dubai Waterfront Hotel, said influencers were not people he would encourage.
He said that the less-credible influencers tend to be those who contacted hotels directly, asking for free stays and meals.
“We would normally approach influencers through reputable PR firms and there would be an agreement they would have to put up so many posts or share a certain amount of images,” Mr Allan said. “That way, if they do not honour their end of the bargain we can give the feedback to the PR firm.”
Caroline Rowe, director of marketing and communication at Dubai’s Media One Hotel, is a fan of influencers and believes that they provide a vital service.
“I receive about five to 10 requests a week from influencers to come to the hotel and we even have a form on our website for them to fill out and contact us through,” Ms Rowe said.
She said it was not difficult to identify influencers who are not right for a property.
“It is easy for people to buy followers online but it is no good working with an influencer who has millions of bots as followers,” Ms Rowe said.
“To find the right ones you have to look at their engagement rate. It does not matter if they have millions of followers if nobody is liking or commenting on their posts.”
She said some influencers did take advantage of hospitality
“The ones who misbehave are never the influencers with the biggest reputations,” Ms Rowe said. “But we have had people turn up with lots of their friends, which is not OK, and sometimes they act like divas and sometimes they drink too much.
“When that happens I just subtly mention to the team that we won’t be inviting them back. But they are only the minority of influencers.”
It is not uncommon for Media One to offer influencers four nights’ stay in the hotel in exchange for their comments and videos on social media, but money never changes hands.
“We would never pay influencers to come here,” Ms Rowe said.
“We have to be very aware of the regulations but the better influencers who are respected in the industry would never ask for a fee anyway.
“Influencers have been around for a very long time. We just used to call them socialites or celebrities. It is human nature to look at other people and be influenced by them.”
It is not a new phenomenon and anybody who is simply trying to get something for free will be quickly found out.”