My wife and I are considered local "influencers" in our city by virtue of a local lifestyle blog we run and our social media presence. We're part of a local bloggers group, we get invited to tons of exclusive social events, we attend branded events, brands reach out to us directly for help with marketing. People and companies we interact with tend to assume we're making great money doing this. Brands tell us the dollar value of the event they're inviting us to as a way of apologizing for not paying us for it, and our followers sometimes seem to expect we're owned by a major brand or at least under contract.

In reality, in the three years we've been doing this we've made a grand total of $38.50 in cash. Just like how people expect artists to work for "exposure", "influencers" (I really dislike the term, we're just local bloggers as a side project) are often expected to work for free or for perks. We've tried to collect cash for obvious advertisements we're asked to make, and nothing shuts a brand up faster than asking for payment. The reason for that, I'm speculating, is that when we ask to be paid, there are a dozen more "influencers" in the area willing to do it for a free sample of the product.

We've since pretty much determined that we're doing this for fun and for the local influence/access and perks we get, and not for cash. We started as a hobby without the intent to make money, so it's not like we're losing anything. As an added benefit to this approach, we can afford to be super picky and only advertise the brands we actually enjoy using and the places we actually enjoy visiting. If a place/brand we hate asks us to promote them, well... we take cash or card. And 99% of the time, that's the end of the conversation.

Too many people are willing to shill for free, which hurts anyone trying to do it for money.