How to Know if Brand Collaboration Inquiries are Scams

Happy Monday! This blog post stems from a question I got in my inbox last week asking how you can tell the difference between scams and genuine collaboration inquiries. Whether you started your blog yesterday or five years ago, scammers can come out of the woodwork to prey on those who may not recognize their collaboration efforts are total frauds. Today I’m sharing how you can tell the difference between legitimate collaboration inquiries and fake ones, and what you can do on your end to make your brand communication safer and more streamlined.

Here’s the question I received from a reader/follower:

“I have recently started a blog and had a few brands reach out to me… however it is always in a comment on my Instagram photos telling me to click a link… would you recommend me getting an email for my blog? If so is it better to start with just a Gmail or go ahead and pay for an email specifically for the blog (similar to how yours features your name). Also, how can you tell between scams and genuine collab interests?”

HOW TO IDENTIFY A SCAM

Those types of comments are spam and asking you to click a link is a red flag. If a brand reaches out to you, they’ll do it directly and privately by sending you a DM (direct message) or email to initiate the conversation — though those can sometimes be spam too, unfortunately, but not nearly as often. Typically a spam/scam comment on Instagram looks something like:

I received the one above recently. The truth is, these accounts leave thousands of these comments on people’s photos daily and I’m not sure what they get out of it, but steer clear. Weirdly enough, a majority of the ones I’ve gotten lately have been coming from people claiming to be sunglass companies. My guess is they’re trying to get information or money from you, so don’t fall for these! I hate that these fakes clog up social media and get innocent people excited for nothing, but that’s how it is. I get at least a few of these types of comments on every single photo I post and I usually just delete them, so I suggest doing the same.

Also, don’t assume they’re real if they have a website and what seems like a legitimate following and interactions. All of this can be faked too and many scammers will go the distance to falsely legitimize themselves. Don’t follow these accounts and don’t associate yourself or your business with them.

SET UP AN EMAIL FOR YOUR BLOG & SOCIAL MEDIA

I highly recommend to refer all collaboration inquiries to your email. Whether you’re a blogger or social media content creator, you’ll need an email for negotiating collabs, signing contracts, etc. in the future. You need a Gmail account to set up Google Analytics through your blog anyway, so I recommend choosing Gmail and creating one specifically for your blog. You don’t have to have a custom one (i.e. contact@abbysaylor.com), but one that applies to your blog will suffice. For example:

• abbysaylor@gmail
• abbysaylorblog@gmail

List your business email on your blog and social media profiles (specifically on your blog’s contact page and your Instagram bio) so it’s easy for people to find and they know the best way to contact you — don’t make them hunt for it! If brands end up reaching out to you via DM on social media instead, refer them to your email to keep your conversation organized and professional. This is what I always do and brands are okay with shifting the conversation elsewhere if they have a genuine interest in you and your work. I think DMs are unreliable and don’t always notify you of new messages, plus they don’t work too well for sharing media kits and brand materials, so don’t centralize your communication there.

__________