We just received a message from an #influencer to book a Table this week we gave them times available and they picked one then they replied with have we influencers rates?Is this a thing?Like we are a #smallbusiness and in these times we all need to #supporteachother
— LaPeniche (@LaPeniche3) August 16, 2020
Last night.
La Peniche, Grand Canal, Dublin 2.
Anyone?
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this ‘influencer’ (read: twit) is looking for a discounted, or possibly free, meal in exchange for promotion on their social media accounts.
they are clearly chancing their arm and seem to have an inflated sense of their own self worth. you could, of course, charge them more money for the privilege of dining in your establishment because they are, as I said, clearly a chnacer and a tw~t.
I was in a shop 2 years ago when an “influencer” came in and after buying an expensive item, she asked for 40% influencer discount! – When the shop said it wasn’t their policy, she went mad, saying that she had the power to ruin them “who did they think they were” etc. I was so shocked, I didn’t think to record it
She was on TV3 a couple of times and since then, she has gotten a reputation locally for being really difficult in many local shops
Influencers are pointless – they will do little or nothing to help a business; they just want cheap and free stuff
On TV3 doing what exactly?… Any further description?…
:-J
The right influencers are far from pointless.
(Un)fortunately, it’s quite big business and many top brands are playing ball with them.
It’s all the other ‘I think I’m an influencer’ sort who are a total mess and need to be put in their box.
You are right. Whatever you think of the business of ‘influence’, creating social buzz by engaging with these self-promoters is one of the first boxes that brands and marketers now have to tick. Love them or hate them, they ain’t going away…
Influencers remind me of those younger slightly menacing “Hard Lock” parasites from deh flats who would magically appear in front of you whenever you commenced your parallel parking manoeuvre on Dublin streets back in the 80’s/90’s
https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0108/758711-the-lock-hard-men/
Double the rate. These people are leeches.
Dude, you’ve just some top drawer publicity here. Tell them to buy some vaseline, rub some on their a-hole and then shove their influence as high up as it can go.
vaseline? nah, he probably gets discounts on some manner of hipster lube..
glide
What Bill said :0) lol!
what a time to be alive
even the world influencer is a sinister notion
I just hear manipulator
& Influenza…
When you say hear, all I can think of is beer tho, so idk?
:-J
all I can think of is champagne…a regular reaction to a miserable Monday as I scroll through my friends on beautiful beaches and terraces
One LA ice-cream van owner’s response to entitled influencers doing exactly this went viral a few years ago
https://time.com/5619750/ice-cream-truck-viral/
4dollars for a 99? Nope.
As a business you need to be careful when dealing with these eejits.
You should find out who they are and try to get their request in writing / via recorded message.
If they don’t like a polite no and become threatening or nasty you should report and publicise any bs from them. Especially if they smear or slander your business for not playing their pathetic game of narcissistic racketeering and extortion.
Watch out for similar bs dealt with by others and every business with a social media profile should look into the previous examples of this scam.
e.g. yelp(yikes) the “Billion Dollar Bully” whose corruption helped create this culture of nonsense…
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=yelp+documentary&atb=v109-1&ia=web
:-J
The problem is, if you’re a small business with limited presence online it might be hard to counteract a moderately-popular influencer’s smear campaign no matter your evidence.
Influencers are a pox on our society, as evidenced by recent shenanigans in Berlin D2.
Ye, true or before you even know it you’re smeared and out of business…
Just be careful with them and get every request officially in writing / recorded form.
– If people can’t be respectful or take a polite no you have to draw a line in front and around them.
The LA Ice-cream lad has the right idea…
:-J
Well said Joe. Document every interaction.
If they phone, tell them you’re busy and to text or email.
They should have a pirate’s plank installed on the boat for such requests.
This for sure :)
Just so ye know tisn’t me (¬‿¬)
…the influencer thing is just a new media catching up with old media…newspaper restaurant reviewers have been at this wheeze for decades…
To be fair a good influencer could have a positive effect.
All they have to do is to convince one person to visit that wouldn’t have to make giving a discount worthwhile.
Don’t get me wrong I think the vast majority are twats and hate the term.
But from a business perspective it could make financial sense to give a discount to gain extra business.
I would want to know details, how many followers do they have, what is the profile of them, do they live local enough that they would realistically consider coming to the restaurant.
fair point – that old system of ‘payola’ has always been around. although if i was a business owner i would imagine you get more from having your name associated with properly accountable community initiatives than whatever these morons will get you.
My cousin has been working is arse off to be an influencer. He drew on his moderately known media persona, but still been doing 12-hour days shooting videos, editing them, publishing them and working with a SEO agency to spread visibility. He never solicited any kinds of discounts or freebies, but built a viewership where businesses who want this kind of promotion, are paying him for product placement. His current rate is around 200 Euros per video, but he is making sure to release the vast majority of his videos without any promotional content, as not to appear that he sold out to brands. I highly respect his work and dedication, and through him I started viewing the entire influencer business in a different light. This also strengthened my conviction that anyone who requests free or cheap stuff in exchange for publicity should go stuff themselves.
That said, the business should look at the existing audience of a given “influencer” and determine whether that audience is actually the target demographic of the customers they want. If, for example, the “influencer” looking for cheap food has an audience consisting of females in the 11-14 years age bracket, the restaurant can safely ignore them.
Within the context of this article, who is the influencer?
Broadsheet, for letting me know about a restaurant that I have never heard of?
LaPaniche, for getting free publicity from Broadsheet and possibly new punters?
Me, for adding fuel to the fire?
The influencer may well be a complete prat for not getting paid for the resultant influenced heads.
It’s just blackmail or at the very least threatening behaviour.
I was in Kai in Galway for a meal in what feels like aifetine ago… Last December maybe.
There was a couple beside me. And just after ordering, one of the duo anounced they have a food blog and would be interested in writing a piece on the restaurant ‘if’ the chef would like a chat after the meal.
That’s how to do it.
No requests made for discounts or anything, and the blogger got a very frank interview with one of Galway’s top chefs.
And myself and my good wife, being in ear shot, heard the whole interview :) Which was nice.
Their duck in a Buckfast jus is devine :)
Tell him to take a long walk off a short pier!
Hope this doesn’t get ye into trouble Broadsheet
but isn’t this type of #Influencer just the new Lovin’ Dublin carry on
i was on that boat last week and we were the only customers all night. its a really gorgeous experience, so so nice and not expensive at all. But we were the only customers. This guy cannot afford to give out free meals at this time. The influencer could post about it, but who’s going to be influenced? People don’t have money, many more are working from home, far from Mespil road, all the tech company staff arent around there anymore.
Im still struggling to understand why any individual gives a flying fig about what an “influencer” thinks or wastes any of their time “following” them.
The problem is with the mindless numpties who follow these eejits!
i remember i kept hearing the name “james kavanagh” and that he was an influencer. so i looked him up one day, and ive no idea how hes an influencer. literally all his posts are him with a product, and a comment saying “i love this product” and thats it. i dont know what he’s done to get him to this position, but hes not doing it anymore, he’s just doing the product promotion, i dont know what other draw there is. like why do people like a dude whos literally just putting up pics of products??
famous for being John Kavanagh”s brother, I think
(who’s Conor McGregor’s coach)
i brought this up in the office pre-covid. i thought nobody in their right mind would pay a blind bit of attention to what these people do, but one young-ish wan disclosed to a colleague after my rant that she buys nothing without seeing who might recommend it on instagram first.
ah well, it’s just another nail in my old fart coffin.
Heeeh heh. Young wans, hah? They’re all cracked.
Anyone can buy a thousand followers on Instagram for a tenner. I know a total ninny with 30,000 ‘followers’ who calls herself an influencer.
Say yeh then stick ur finger up at them.