What's up, guys? I'm Brian Sacawa, you're
watching He Spoke Style, and today I just wanted to take a little bit of time to
talk about sponsored content and sponsored videos on this channel. So the
reason I wanted to bring up this topic now is because of what has been going on
in the comments of one of my previous videos. The video I'm talking about is
Expensive Products Worth The Money. It's right up there. You can watch it. And
several people in the comments were, let's just say, fairly cynical. I kept
getting a specific type of comment which was along the lines of, oh, you're talking
about a specific brand, they must have paid to be in this video, you're not
talking about that, you're not disclosing it, shame on you,
you're not credible, you suck. Now, the majority of comments were not like this
but there were enough of this type of comment that I just wanted to come out,
put something on video to clarify where I stand on this and what you can expect.
First of all, none of the brands mentioned in that video paid to be in
that video.
I've been doing He Spoke Style for over six years and during that
time, I have taken transparency when it comes to sponsored content very
seriously. There are lots of people don't, but I do. I've always considered it very
important to be upfront and honest about that. I think it's very important in
terms of credibility. I think it's important when it comes to running a
good business. I cannot get over the hypocrisy of people who say I'm an
entrepreneur, I'm building a business, but then they show no regard for running a
business properly within this space by not disclosing their relationships with
brands. It happens all the time. I have seen it my entire career within the
digital space. Now how do I show that content is sponsored? Well, we do it very
clearly and conspicuously. And I just want to walk you through how you will
know that content is sponsored or paid for on our three biggest channels,
YouTube, the He Spoke Style website, and our Instagram account.
Let's just start
with YouTube because that is where you're watching this video. Now, if a
video is sponsored on our channel you will know about it in at least two ways.
First, after I do my usual intro, what's up guys? I'm Brian Sacawa, you're watching
He Spoke Style, blah blah blah and then the graphic rolls, pretty much the first
thing I will say is, big thanks to Brand X for sponsoring this video.
Or this
video is presented in partnership with such-and-such brand. That will always be
up front, one of the very first things you hear. Not buried somewhere two or
three minutes into the video or halfway through the video. Not how I'm going to
do it. People see right through you if you try to hide it.
Second, you will always see that the video is sponsored in the video's
description. It will be among the first things you read and it will also be at
the bottom of the description as well where you will see, FTC: this video is
sponsored by or presented in partnership with Brand X. Now let's talk about the
website. At the top of any sponsored post, right below the dek, you will see the
text, in partnership with Brand X.
Or this post is sponsored by Brand X. If you like,
you can click through on partnership which will take you to a page with a
complete rundown of how we view brand partnerships and transparency and more
information about how you will know whether something is sponsored.
Definitely give that a read. Also, all brand partnerships on the website are
designated in the collaborations category. If you take a look at the
header and then go to the features drop down menu, you will see the
collaborations category.
Click on that and you will see every single sponsored
post we have ever done. Now, Instagram. Instagram has a tool where you choose
that you have a business partner for that specific post and it will display
paid partnership with whatever brand right underneath your Instagram handle.
It is customary and required to use either #ad or #sponsored.
I'm sorry but #BrandXPartner is not an adequate disclosure. I don't do
that. What I do use is #HSSPartner and that is not for the brand or
the FTC but rather for our own ability to go back and quickly search through
all the sponsored posts that we have done. Now sometimes I will run into a
situation where I have a paid partnership with a brand, and this is
happening more and more nowadays, where the scope of work is generally for
website content plus Instagram but no video. Now, of course, because we are
putting more emphasis on video in terms of developing our brand, we will make
video content even if it is not in the contracted scope of work. Why? Well, it
shows our video capability as the channel continues to grow.
And it gives
the brand added value, which shows them that we are willing to go above and
beyond for them and help us build a really strong relationship for the
future. So recently this has happened with our partnership with Jaeger-LeCoultre. We went to Miami with them to make content for Instagram and the website,
but as you saw on the channel, we did end up making a lookbook video
that showcased the watch three ways, which we then packaged as three separate
outfit videos for IGTV. As I said, this was not part of the contracted scope
of work but in the description of that video you can read
the following, I had, FTC: this video is not sponsored.
I did a paid partnership
with Jaeger-LeCoultre on Instagram and the He Spoke Style website, however, this video
was not included in the contracted scope of work. I thought that was a good way to
be transparent about it even though the video itself was not sponsored. So that
is a rundown of my views on transparency as a relates to sponsored content or
paid content as well as how you will know whether a video on the He Spoke Style
YouTube channel, website, or Instagram account was sponsored.
I hope that was
helpful. I hope that clears things up. If you have questions, please leave those
down below. I will gladly answer all of them. Thumbs up. Subscribe. And until next
time, thanks for watching and stay tailored..
