No, You’re Not Really Passionate About Toilet Paper Mr. or Mrs. Blogger

Can we get real for a second here?

Nobody on God’s green Earth is passionate about toilet paper.

Nobody.

Not even the people who work for the toilet paper companies are passionate about toilet paper. Those folks go home and spend some serious hours on hobbies that they are passionate about but toilet paper? That’s just a day job.

So, if we can all agree that this is likely true, why are so many bloggers touting toilet paper as though it’s just as exciting as a free car from Oprah?

(Side note: we’re not hating on toilet paper. We use it, daily, but you won’t find us connecting influencers with a toilet paper company here. We want to work with PASSIONATE people and you can’t find truly passionate people inside of a toilet paper campaign.)

We understand why bloggers scoop up these opportunities — sometimes it’s the only thing you can scoop up when you join influencer networks and it’s often viewed as a gateway to larger opportunities.

While we don’t disagree that you have to start somewhere, it simply doesn’t do your personal or business brand any justice to get behind a product with ENORMOUS EXCITEMENT that you otherwise wouldn’t be excited about.

So, how can we fix this?

Well, the first way to stop the flood of toilet paper recommendations on social media is to create influencer opportunities that are truly aligned to the influencer and highly beneficial to the brand. This requires thoughtfulness and time, which a lot of networks fail at because time cuts into profit.

The second way we combat poorly matched campaigns is to look at the industry as a whole and logically think about the following: which brands can benefit from influencer marketing and which should stick to other means of advertising instead?

The truth is, influencer marketing isn’t a good fit for every brand / company. It should be for brands who have a tribe or who want to establish a tribe. A toilet paper company, by nature of what they sell, does not often have a tribe — you won’t find Facebook Groups, for example, filled with people sharing pro tips about two ply.

Here’s our litmus test for whether or not an influencer campaign makes sense: if there aren’t passionate folks out there already, in the industry in which the product or service exists, influencer marketing probably isn’t the best fit.

We think this is why people have a hard time relating to influencers who talk about products like this on social media.

Products, like toilet paper, typically don’t have a cult-like following so anyone who does wave the flag for that product, service or brand is going to stick out like a sore thumb. When this happens, people feel the contrast greatly and can instantly sniff out those whose opinions (and social feed) were purchased.

At When Brand Met Influencer, we work diligently to ensure that there is no contrast between the influencer and the brand they are working with. If their audience can’t tell whether it’s a paid ad or not, aside from the disclosures because following FTC rules is crucial, that’s where the magic happens.

Better yet, if the influencer was already talking about the brand before but now simply has the support of that company, there won’t be the friction that arises when an audience thinks the person they follow has “sold out.”

The influencer marketing landscape is changing and we’re excited to be on the forefront of that change. While some people may not want to set fire to the toilet paper empire, we’re okay doing so… especially if it means one less conversation about it on Facebook and one less Twitter party to wade through.

Originally published at When Brand Met Influencer.