We all love a freebie. It’s no secret that for lots of bloggers, Instagrammers etc the odd freebie or gift from a company is considered a perk of “the job”, while for others it’s a major source of income. If you post pictures of “free stuff”, you might want to take a look at this piece from BBC news on the subject of making money from Instagram. OK, so it refers particularly to the US, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply to the UK. US consumer regulators are clamping down on celebrities and influencers who regularly post sponsored content without declaring their relationships with the brand. Marketing companies, individuals and celebrities have all been affected and I’m pretty sure that UK advertising standards authorities won’t be far behind in requiring users to be more transparent about the origin of products in their photos and blog posts.

There’s nothing wrong with sponsored content, just be sure your readers and followers know what you’re doing. Make sure you state early on that a post is sponsored (in the subject line or at the top of a post). Don’t hide disclosure among the hashtags, you might think that adding #sp or #ad to that long list of hashtags is OK, but many of your followers won’t see or read that far.

I’ve said before, that when it comes to monetising your blog or social media platform it pays to be open and honest. Readers aren’t averse to reading sponsored posts (in fact they appreciate you sign posting them to great products).  I have a whole page (see above) devoted to disclosure about how and where content is sponsored. Using words like “review” or just saying “XXX sent me this great product to try and I loved it” is usually enough to alert readers to the origin of a product.

Making money from social media is nothing to be ashamed of. Just be open, honest and write interesting content. Follow that advice and you can’t really go wrong!