This is an excerpt from Please Like Me, BuzzFeed News’ newsletter about how influencers are battling for your attention. You can sign up here (and you should, ’cause we just revamped it).
For months now, concerns over a possible recession have fueled conversations on social media about the economy — the changes people are seeing in their day-to-day lives and what else it might impact. And as companies rethink their spending strategies, the influencer economy is one of the many areas being affected as small and midsize content creators tell BuzzFeed News they’ve been seeing declining sponsorship offers and more brands backing out of paid deals this year.
Karla Alverio, 27, is a Puerto Rico–based vegan micro influencer with more than 12,000 followers on Instagram. She told BuzzFeed News that this year she’s seen more opportunities fall through the cracks, including a short-term two-month paid sponsorship that she thought would ramp up to something bigger. “I got invited to a very exclusive event with eight other content creators,” she said. “And in that event, they offered us a long-term partnership. I still haven't got it.”
She saw a similar pattern unfold earlier this year with another company. “We were having conversations, doing all the processes, and then out of nowhere it just stopped,” she said.
Peter Lee, 22, is a food TikToker with over 438,000 followers. He said he’s seen fewer opportunities in his inbox since the beginning of the year. “I think some content creators have managers and agents that reach out to companies and do all those things for them,” Lee said. “I don't have that luxury to afford a manager or agent, so getting brand deals is all up to me.”
Tobias Buxhoidt, the CEO and founder of parcelLab, a data software that works with retail brands to track operations, said companies’ rising concerns about a recession has led to lower marketing budgets, which in turn puts less money on the table for influencers.
“Brands are used to spending a tremendous amount of money and effort to find and convert customers into buying something, and influencer marketing is one hot topic,” he said. “We see a trend that it just becomes harder and harder to find and acquire customers. So it becomes more expensive. And we see brands become more cautious about what’s going to happen. Some are already kind of getting ready for the recession to hit on a broader base.”