It’s hard not to be disappointed or frustrated with a brands sudden email to you to cut their ties loose with you until you meet their criteria.

Which I already do. FYI here’s their criteria:

• 5,000 followers
• Authentic followers and likes
• Consistent & proportionate engagement rate
• Regular and frequent posts
• Original content
• Public account
• Beauty, lifestyle, or fashion theme

When I questioned then about it they gave me this response:

Unfortunately, our third party verification provider has flagged your account for unexplained activity. We will be looking into this further however we are unable to reinstate your account at this time.

Wat?! If the brands did their homework they’d realize there is no spike in my engagement, following etc. There are apps that can let you know of false engagement. Look up your favourite bloggers and friends, I guarantee one of them will have an erratic growth rate. It should be a steady incline, maybe a plateau.

I suppose you could say the proportionate engagement rate lacks on my Instagram platform. This is why I’m 100% certain that bloggers, and influencers feel the need to bump up their engagement by faking it. Buying likes. Buying followers. Buying comments. You name it.

Well I’m NOT doin’ it.

I’m not giving in.

Guess that’s what you get with being a blogger or posting on social media and being an “influencer”. There are no rules. There is no set norm.

Personally I know my engagement sucks right now. For the past 15 years with my blog (and now social channels) I’ve posted regularly, interacted with many. Left comments, likes. I spent hours after my regular job doing so. It was like a second full-time job keeping up with it all.

Now? I’m posting infrequently, I’m not on that daily schedule like I once was. And you know what? I probably won’t be like that for a long time, if ever. I now have a five month old baby I care much more about than the darn tootin’ internet.

As a blogger I’ve signed some great contracts recently (it’s only now starting to pick up), and I have made some amount of income for our family. I’d love to keep that up, so I’m voicing my opinion.

It just sucks that these brands are coming out with rules out of their butts, making them up because they see other influencers getting more (faux) interaction. I’m disappointed because some bloggers and influencers even admitted to me they’re faking the system. Hence this weird logic for brands to make such rules. How disappointing.

It drives me (nuts). I’m hoping this blog post doesn’t sound bitter. I’m just trying to explain the facts and of course some feeling is involved as well.

My new “mom rule” for myself is to not be on my phone while my baby is awake. Sure it’s hard and I definitely break my own rules. However, of course he’s more important than an electronic device. So when he’s down for a nap, or down for the night, I gotta bust out that multitasking skills that many parents have, and get to work. Including blog work.

Anyway, to end this, I’m happy some brands trust me, my readers and engagement and are helping me make an income.

If you have a favourite blogger, instagrammer etc., don’t forget to pop in and say hello sometimes with a comment or a like. It helps.