Score Great Deals At Flea Markets In Just 5 Steps

1. NARROW DOWN WHAT YOU WANT

Know what you want to buy before coming in to the flea markets. A whole area of second hand and budget-friendly items can be overwhelming so it is best to come prepared. The more focused you are, the easier it is to avoid impulse purchases.

2. MEASURE AND RE-MEASURE

To avoid buying furniture that does not fit your home, measure the room dimensions accurately by using a tape measure and a ruler. If you want to match an item with the room then take a picture or bring a fabric piece with you as you buy.

3. TIME IS ESSENTIAL

You will get the best selection in the first few hours of sale but vendors are reluctant to negotiate early one. So, if you want to save more then wait until the final day. But, expect your selection to be slimmer.

4. DO RESEARCH

Be sure to do your online research before shopping in the flea markets. This way you will be able to spot if the item is overpriced. Then if it is, use your bargain powers to sway the price.

5. GET CREATIVE

The items for sale may be multi-purposed. For example you are looking for a sideboard to put your dishes in, but a dresser/drawer has a better price. Grab the gorgeous dresser instead since you may use it as a sideboard.

Image Credits: US CPSC  via Flickr

Image Credits: US CPSC via Flickr

 

BONUS! Here are some of the recommended and unique flea markets you shall visit…

A. MAAD (Market of Artists and Designers)

MAAD houses pet-friendly and budget-friendly items for the whole family. Their innovative creators are from independent and are known for artsy fashion and artisan stationary pieces. Here you will find a wide array of crafts, plush toys, handmade jewelry, and paintings. The price range starts from S$10 to S$50. Visit museum.red-dot.sg/maad/ for more information.
B. ZOUK FLEA & EASY

Zouk, one of the famous clubs in Singapore, organizes a flea once every three months. From trendy pre-loved threads to hipster rags at bargain prices, Zouk Flea & Easy offers an eclectic flea experience.Blogshops are welcome to participate! Visit zoukclub.com for more.

C. CHINA SQUARE CENTRAL (CSC)

CSC has a Sunday flea market that offers DVDs, souvenirs, and electronics for less. Aside from that, comic book junkies can grab the later issues and action figures at CSC’s Level 2. Price range starts from S$5 to S$30.

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Affordable Detox Solutions for Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year festivities are well underway. By now, surely a significant majority of the Chinese in Singapore would have went through their fair share of visiting old family friends, exchanging well wishes and greetings, and if my Instagram feed is any reliable indicator, our Chinese friends have certainly been werking it in their newest shirts and dresses indeed!

Truly, Chinese New Year is one of the most anticipated annual celebrations for every Chinese, and amidst the excitement, the hype, and the joy, it is certainly little wonder why it’s the favourite time of the year for most of the Chinese.

That being said, it is undeniably easy to get caught up in the storm of the festival excitement, and many of us may have over-indulged in some of those delicious Ferrero Rochers or Love Letters, offered time and time again by a friendly relative or two.

Well, don’t fret too much about it! After all, Chinese New Year is a special occasion that happens only once each year, and if you think about it from another perspective, this is the only time that you’ll be able to get so much free food without guilt. Plus, everyone gains weight during Chinese New Year anyway – you’ll hardly be the exception.

(Image credit: voucherlicious.com)

Indulge in junk food to your heart’s content for now, but perhaps not to the scary extent of eating yourself sick, that’s a definite no-no – we’ll worry about the weight gain and toxic build up after Chinese New Year. And perhaps, this article may come in handy then.

Through this article, you’ll learn 3 simple tricks to detox and cleanse your body of any harmful toxins without having to break your bank. Expensive juice cleanse regimes? The latest tea-tox trend that has been taking a toll on your wallet? With these affordable detox methods, you certainly won’t be needing any of those!

1. Drink more water!

(Image credit: www.uswateralliance.org)

And by water, I mean water. For some who abhor plain water, or preferentially define your own terms of water, let me break it down for you. Boiled water, water fresh from the tap, mineral bottled water – yes, this is water. Your milk tea from Koi, apple juice from NTUC, or your can of Coke – darling, these are certainly not water! While it may be easy to assume that simply drinking liquid – no matter what form, sugared or not, is sufficient to fill your daily water uptake requirement, the truth is that they really aren’t! In fact, the additional sugar, syrup and other preservatives added into such flavoured drinks are more often than not, one of the causes that contribute to dehydration, particularly in sunny and humid Singapore. To get rid of those toxins from all the excessive Chinese New Year goodies that you’ve been popping into your mouth, you’ll have to up your plain water drinking game if you truly want to give yourself a good detox.

After all, water has a remarkable ability of flushing out the toxins from your body in a simple, yet affordable way. All you need is to habitually get yourself a mug of plain water from the tap every hour or so, or perhaps bring a large bottle to your workplace for frequent refills at the water dispenser, and you’ll be well on your way to a more hydrated system, and a body that will naturally rid itself of any toxins that have been building up. Frequent cups of plain water will certainly prove to be particularly useful when the toxins in your body begin to accumulate, and return to haunt you in the form of a scratchy throat, or an aching dry cough after you’ve had one too many slices of Bak Kwa.

Not to mention, drinking more water is certainly very easy on the wallet as well. As long as your taste buds do not have a haughty ache for only well-packaged mineral water, drinking more water from the tap comes only at a marginal addition to your bills!

2. Reward yourself with a home made juice blend

To cleanse your body and simultaneously give your immune system a quick boost, opt for an affordable option of making your own home made juice blend! While laziness and procrastination may compel you to simply pop over to that snazzy new smoothie bar for your juice fix, a cup can set you back a surprising 6 to 8 bucks easily. Not to mention, more often than not, these juice shops tend to add in a spoon or two of sugar or syrup, to keep you coming back for more. Ever wondered why your home made juice blends never taste quite as good as the ones sold outside? Well, this is the reason – the added syrup sweetens up your drink, and while this makes your cup of blended juice much more palatable, you’re left wondering about how much sugar has actually been added, and the extent of detox help you’re truly gaining from that cup.

Save yourself from the uncertainties, and make your own juice blends at home instead! This way, you’ll be able to determine what fruits and vegetables you wish to add into your own custom blend, without having to fret over whether your desired blend is on the menu. Plus, you’ll get to save much more, as each blend can easily serve up to three or four cups, and you can simply refrigerate any extra cups for consumption at night. This is in stark comparison to the $6 that you’re shelling off for a paltry cup of blended juice found in malls.

To pack an extra detox punch to your own home made juice blend, make sure you pop in some of the following fruits and vegetables to your blender. Cucumbers, carrots, celeries, oranges, cranberries, blueberries, lemons, and pomegranates often contain high contents of anti-oxidants and vitamins, which can help in cleansing your body of any unnecessary toxins that have been building up. For the junk food gourmet, a custom juice blend containing some of such fruits and vegetables will certainly have an immensely beneficial impact on your health, as the power-packed juice will help to give your body a thorough detox.

If you have a sweet tooth, balance out the portions of fruits and vegetables in each blend, to keep your cup of home made juice sufficiently tasty for yourself.

3. Cleanse it out with a good sweat!

(Image credit: http://thisisitnyc.com)

Indeed, it can be quite a chore for those who are unaccustomed to working out frequently, but a good round of exercise can certainly do wonders in cleansing your body of those ill toxins that will eventually make you sick!

Go for a quick round of exercise once every two to three days to get your sweat glands working, and ensure that you perspire sufficiently to shed off toxins and fats. Each round of exercise does not have to take very long – just 30 minutes to 45 minutes of such regular sessions every alternate day would be good enough to give yourself a good, healthy detox. Not to mention, regular exercise is undeniably the tried and tested way to lose that extra tyre around your waist! What better way to lose off the weight gained from chomping on too much Chinese New Year goodies? Through sweating it out, you’ll be able to not only lose the additional pounds that you’ve gained of late, but also give your body an affordable detox to stay healthy and make sure that you stay on top of the game!

To cut costs, opt for a simple run around your neighbourhood, or perhaps around the CBD during your lunch break at work. After all, jogging is free, and it helps you to sweat out the bad stuff really effectively.

This is certainly a preferred option as compared to taking up expensive gym courses or signing on for exorbitant yoga sessions that can set you back $50 an hour easily. While these options may seem like the trendiest path to take these days, it is important to keep in mind that they’re not exactly the best financial decisions to make. After all, the end goal in mind is simply to detox your body – surely it doesn’t matter whether your chosen mode of exercise is Instagram-worthy or not, right?

Get your running shoes ready! Though Chinese New Year has yet to come to an end, it won’t be long before the festivities and excitement die down, and we’ll be brought down to the frenzy of desperately trying to lose the extra weight gained, and detoxifying our bodies of the scrumptious but oh-so-sinful Love Letters, Almond Cookies, and crackers alike that we’ve all unwittingly ingested amidst the Chinese New Year hype.

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8 Places To Go This Chinese New Year On A Budget

River Hongbao Singapore

As the most important day for the Chinese in the world arrives, it is also the time when festive mood kicks in. Most of us look forward to usher in the Year of the Goat hoping for a better year ahead filled with abundance and prosperity. For the younger generation, it is also the time of the year when they get rich as they fervently collect the red packets.

There are also various activities and places to go where you can soak into the ambience of the festive mood. We take a look at 8 places where you can celebrate the Chinese New Year on a budget:

1. River Hongbao 2015

River Hongbao

River Hongbao is one of the best place to be at during Chinese New Year as there are a varieties of activities from Xinjiang performances to large lanterns and God of Fortune. For your kids, there are more than 25 game stalls and rides such as the bumper car and carousel. There are Traditional Chinese Art and Crafts stalls if you enjoyed arts. When you are famished, there is also a Food Street for you to try out some of the local delicacies such as Chicken Rice, Bak Kut Teh, Laksa, Hokkien Prawn Noodle and more. There’s also fireworks on the eve of Chinese New Year. Admission is free.

For more info: http://www.riverhongbao.sg/

2. Open House at the Musuems

Musuem Open House

Take a walk at the museums as there are Open House during Chinese New Year. With an array of activities organised for you and your family, learn the history and cultural aspect of the Festival of Spring. Admission is free.

For more info: http://www.nhb.gov.sg/

3. Catch a movie

Ah Boy To Men 3 PosterKing of MahjongFrom Vegas To MacauDragon Blade 2015Triumph in the Skies12 Golden Ducks

As this is a festive period, expect a number of movies to be launched on the first day of Chinese New Year.

Make sure you catch these movies:

  • Ah Boy To Men 3: Great family show. If you have watch the first two series of Ah Boy To Men, you know Jack Neo is a good director who know what the Singaporeans want to see.
  • King of Mahjong: Starring Mark Lee. Good show to watch for those who wish to be inspired before their Mahjong’s session this CNY.
  • From Vegas to Macau II: With Chow Yun Fatt, “the legendary gambler” as the main lead, you shouldn’t miss this for those who like to gamble during CNY. Gamble with care.
  • Dragon Blade: With Jacky Chan in the movie, need i say more?
  • Triumph in the Skies: If you are a HK Drama addict like myself, you would have watched their drama on TVB years ago. It has also been cited as one of the best serial dramas. With Julian Cheung and Charmaine Sheh in the movie, this will be a movie on my watch list.
  • 12 Golden Ducks: Another HK Movie, this time a comedy starring Sandra Ng who plays a cross-gender gigolo that will make you laugh your way out of the theatre.

4. Chinatown Countdown Party 2015 and Street Light-Up

Chinese New Year 2014

Image credit: ST

Expect Chinatown to usher in the Chinese New Year with a blast! After your reunion dinner, head over to Chinatown for a countdown party from 9.30pm – 12.30am on 18 February 2015. Immerse yourself with the festive joy with performances, skits and festive songs. Did i mention there will be firecrackers and fireworks? On the first day of Chinese New Year, the entire street of Chinatown lights up with lanterns and “goats” figurines.

For more info: http://chinatownfestivals.sg/chinatown-chinese-new-year-celebrations-2015/

 5. Sentosa 

Wei WeiLED Dragon Dance

Do not miss out the actions at The State of Fun as Sentosa will bring you a series of performances this Lunar New Year. Wei Wei, a Shaolin Master who also holds the Guiness World Record, will showcase his Kung Fu and martial art skills during the events. Be captivated by the Northern and Southern Lion Dance performances located at the Merlion Plaza and Wings of Time Concourse respectively. That’s not all. When night falls, you will be mesmerized by the LED Dragon Dance at the Beach Plaza and the Prosperity Walkway with hundreds of lantern beautifully lighted up.

For more info: http://www.sentosa.com.sg/en/SentosaCelebratesLNY/

6. Singapore Flyer

Singapore Flyer

Ride the Singapore Flyer for free this Lunar New Year if you are the first 88 visitors from 19 – 22 February 2015! It operates from 8.30am so make sure you are there early if you want to embark on a ride that provides unrivaled view of the Singapore’s skyline. Make sure you snap a photo of Marina Bay and the Esplanade. There are also other fun-filled activities such as Lion and Dragon Dance performances, Wushu performances and God of Fortune/Lucky Goat mascots to welcome you.

For more info: http://www.singaporeflyer.com/lunar-new-year-2015-promotions-activities/

7. Gardens by The Bay

Gardens By The Bay Chinese New Year

At Gardens by The Bay, there are also plenty of events lined up for Chinese New Year. Don’t miss the floral showcase at the Flower Dome where you get to see display of goats and other Chinese New Year figurines made of flowers. There’s also Lion Dance performances on 21 February 2015, from 5 – 6pm.

For more info: http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/whats-on/calendar-of-event.html

8. Wildlife fun

Zoo

Since this is the year of the Goat, don’t you think you should visit the Zoo to snap a picture with the “main lead” this year? There’s Goat Photography on 18 – 22 Feb 2015 for you to take a shot with the baby goats! There are also Lion Dance performances and Mascots to greet you during your visit.

For more info: http://www.zoo.com.sg/events-promos/cny-15.html

Zoo Goat Photography

 

Jurong Bird Park

Jurong Bird Park CNY

Visit the birds and feed the parrots with curated treats in festive ang baos!

For more info: http://www.birdpark.com.sg/events-promos/cny-15.html

River Safari

 

 

 

River Safari CNY

 

Catch the giant pandas Kai Kai and Jia Jia at the River Safari as you witness these majestic Chinese animals fervently open up their Chinese New Year’s treats.

For more info: http://riversafari.com.sg/events-promos/cny-15.html

Night Safari

Night Safari CNY

 

Want to catch glowing ‘Lions’? Then head over to Night Safari where you can catch spectacular LED lighted Lions showcasing their moves to bring you luck and prosperity. The LED lighted mascots look forward to snap pictures with you, so make sure you bring your camera with you. If you would like to read your future, take a walk along the Zoo-diac trail which predicts your horoscope for the year of the Goat.

For more info: http://www.nightsafari.com.sg/events-promos/cny-15.html

May you enjoy this festive season and long holiday with plenty of activities that are lined up for you.

Wishing You a Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year.  新年快乐, 恭喜发财!

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Shopping Intervention: 7 Things You’re Doing Wrong

1. GETTING TEMPTED WITH THE EXTRAS

You may go shopping during a huge Laptop sale and save big time on what you need but find yourself purchasing its costly accessories. Extras for laptop, computer, Smartphone, and so on can be purchased at a bargain price online on Ebay or Carousell rather than from the shop itself. Shop for the necessary, weight your options when buying extras, and look at the bigger picture.

2. COMPARING PRICES BY SHOPPING

Compare prices online or through magazines and newspapers instead for buying the items yourself. Also, when comparing prices, give yourself a time limit (e.g., 20-30 minutes). This is because people who can’t stop looking for the next best deal are never satisfied.

3. LETTING IMPULSE TAKE OVER

When impulse takes over your shopping, you regret purchasing an item the minute it arrives. To know if you really need and want something, walk away from it and you will save money. As most heard: “if you love something, set it free”. And, if you find yourself thinking about it after 24 hours then go back and buy it.

4. OVERSPENDING DUE TO AN ATTRACTIVE DEAL

Online shoppers are found to spend over 1/3 more when the shipping is offered for free. This is because the attractive deal catches you. Avoid overspending by writing down the things you need to buy and sticking to it.

5. NOT NEGOTIATING

Most goods are negotiable these days. You would not know if there is a sweeter deal if you do not ask. You do not have to say: “Can you give me a discount?” directly if you are shy…use “Can you work with the price with me?” instead. Before negotiating, be sure that you did your homework about the competitors’ prices first.

6. TRYING IT ON

If you are not prepared to buy an item for its price, do not try it on. Psychology suggests that physically touching a product makes you desire to buy it more. Touching a product can lead to lingering and prolonged feelings of ownership. This is why clothing stores have an abundance of changing rooms or why more expensive grocery items are just within your reach.

7. GOING FOR RETAIL THERAPY

People often know that you must not shop hungry in a grocery store because you would end up buying everything that satisfies your hunger.

Image Credits: Pedro Ribeiro Simões via Flickr

Image Credits: Pedro Ribeiro Simões via Flickr

Same goes for other aspects of shopping, it is best not to shop angry or sad. Shopping while you are angry makes you more likely to take risks. While, shopping while your sad may fill up the void in your heart but empty your wallet along the way. Making retail therapy a habit can turn in an unhealthy and costly addiction.

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Blogger reviews are not as honest as you think

Singapore Blogger

“Influencer marketing” is something that has been talked about a lot in Singapore recently, due to the feud between Xiaxue and Gushcloud (more recently, SMRT LTD (Feedback)). This is somewhat of a rising trend as more and more brands turn to influencer marketing in today’s social media obsessed world.

3 metrics frequently used to quantify how much influence a particular influencer has are: Audience Reach, Expertise, and Relationship with followers. In the context of Singapore, social influencers are frequently popular bloggers, YouTube stars, Instagrammers and the like, and they are usually popular in the millenial generation (with a growing number of mum bloggers). One of Singapore’s first blogger-celebrities, Xiaxue, has 554,000 followers on Instagram, 345,000 on Facebook, and 216,000 on Twitter, not to mention a very popular blog. Others such as Ladyironchef, known food blogger, boasts of average monthly page views of 2 million.

With today’s digital age, it is easy for consumers to whip out our smartphones and Google for product reviews before we commit to purchasing the item. Peer recommendations or word of mouth marketing play a much greater role in purchasing decisions. According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising. Influencer marketing is thus very important to brands because the influencer can act as a nexus between the brand and its potential customers, acting like a loud-hailer to broadcast a certain message. Most of us would be cynical when faced with an obvious advertisement these days. But what about a review from a social influencer that we already like and trust?

Back when I was younger, I used to buy products that my favourite bloggers recommended all the time, without even searching for other reviews on the product! I liked and trusted them so much, that I simply took their word at face value. Sadly, quite a few times, I was disappointed by the product they recommended. So no matter how big a fan you are of an influencer, it would be wise not to trust blindly. Here are some reasons why:

1) Influencers are under no obligation to disclose their posts as advertising

This topic came up in the Gushcloud expose by Xiaxue, and the official response by Gushcloud was that in Singapore, bloggers are not required to disclose whether or not they are being sponsored or paid by the brand.

This, while true in Singapore, is not true in other countries such as US and UK, among others. The Federal Trade Commission in US has guidelines that require marketers to disclose advertising, and as recently as last month, settled charges against an ad agency (Deutsch LA) for encouraging employees to tweet about a client’s product without disclosing the relationship. Even within the 140-characters of a tweet, an ad must disclose in a “clear and conspicious” way any financial relationship. Similarly in the UK, in November last year, YouTube videos featuring influencers “Dan and Phil” were banned by the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK as the relationship between them and the brand Oreo was not clearly disclosed.

Is Singapore simply behind the times? Will Singapore soon change its stance with all the recent drama? The fact remains that influencers in Singapore are not required to disclose their relationship with the brand.

The post that you might be reading or watching, thinking that it is an objective and unbiased viewpoint from someone who purchased the item themselves and use it often, may in fact be a paid advertisement, in which the views reflected in the post are more likely to reflect the brand’s opinion than an honest opinion.

So why do so many bloggers chose to parrot what their sponsors say? According to Fleishman-Hillard’s 2010 Digital Influence Index, most readers do not trust sponsored blogposts to be honest, with only 24% fully trusting the article if the sample was given free, and as low as 19% fully trusting the article if the blogger was paid. With statistics like this – it’s no wonder that influencers choose not to disclose the sponsorship! It gives their readers the impression that what they’re posting is directly from their heart.

Whether to disclose or not has been widely discussed in the Gushcloud affair – and ultimately it is up to each individual influencer to decide what they are comfortable with and there are definitely some that choose not to.

2) Honesty in reviews

Even amongst the bloggers that disclose the relationship between them and the brand, it can be hard to determine how honest and unbiased their reviews are.

The success of a blog also largely depends on how much content they put out as a key factor. With the need for more and more new and interesting content, it may be hard for influencers to turn down such free sponsored products, especially when they mainly blog about reviews, food being one key example. For influencers who are either paid for the blogposts, or are being given sponsored products/services, they are definitely less likely to be impartial as compared to someone who has paid for the products with their own money. This can be in the form of demands by the brand, or even having lower expectations of the product. After all, if it is free, I think most of us would agree that we would be less fussy about it as compared to a product that we spent hundreds of dollars on.

Credit: Mothership.sg

Many brands that pay for influencer marketing also request to vet the posts beforehand. This can be seen most obviously in the Instagram post by Xiaxue in which she posted the edited caption by SkinnyMint. Now, in that case, the edit may be as simple as adding an extra line about free shipping, but it certainly puts pressure on the influencer if they know that whatever they post is going to be vetted. As said by Xiaxue herself, it is “protocol” that clients will go through the captions and photos of bloggers before approving them to be posted.

With this pressure, bloggers may feel compelled to gloss over more negative parts of the review or sponsored post in favour of emphasizing the positive parts. After all, they are being paid to promote the product.

To the credit of some bloggers, I have noticed that they include a “cons” section in their review – but usually the overall review is more favourable than not. Some bloggers also choose not to work with brands/products that they personally feel they cannot claim to be supportive of, only choosing to work with brands they genuinely endorse.

However, you should definitely exercise caution and take everything with a pinch of salt.

3) Social Influencers are not experts

It is wise to also keep in mind that many social influencers gained their influence by being funny, popular, and entertaining, rather than for their expertise.

One of the examples where this distinction is very important is when products with any health benefits are recommended. Social influencers may not have the expertise to determine if the products they are endorsing are really healthy and beneficial for you (as the brand claims they are). For instance, expensive detox cleanses of all kinds, including juices and teas, raved about by many influencers, may actually be bad for you according to actual nutritionists.

There are many times where you might benefit from reading a review from an actual expert in the field rather than a social influencer with no expertise. Another example would be in the case of gadget (phone, camera, etc), and food reviews. Some influencers receive sponsored electronics in exchange for their services, often with a clause of being locked into the phone for some time. However, there is certainly a reason why most of them are not technology bloggers – are they simply only using the phone because of the contract, or because they genuinely believe it is the best product available?

Similarly, many food bloggers have not received any culinary training. While it is certainly easy even for a layman to differentiate tasty food and bland food, it is less easy to back up a statement like “so-and-so restaurant is the best restaurant in Singapore”, if you do not have the training and experience to say so. Add this to the incentive of receiving sponsored food, and you may find that even food bloggers are not as trustworthy as it might seem.

It is important to keep in mind that the influencer can only write from their personal experience, and their posts should be taken more as opinion than as fact, especially if they are not familiar with competitor products in the way that an expert in the field would be.

4) Photo Manipulation

Sometimes, seeing is not necessarily believing. Many bloggers like to make use of before and after photos to show the effectiveness of the product especially in the cases of skincare, health and fitness. However, our eyes can easily be tricked into thinking that the product is more effective than it actually is.

There are some influencers that freely admit to Photoshopping, such as Naomi Neo, who made the news a few months ago when criticized for promoting unhealthy body image by Photoshopping herself to look slimmer. Photoshop or even just photo filters such as Instagram, can serve to make the product more visually appealing than it is in real life. One example is by making the colours more vibrant in pictures of food or clothes, making the image much more striking.

Apart from the obvious mention of digitally manipulating one’s photos, there are many non-Photoshop tricks that can be used to emphasize the difference in before and after photos. Before and after photos can be easily faked, as demonstrated by BuzzFeed in the following video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt1eG1g9vNY]

Look out for differences in:
– lighting (unflattering vs flattering)
– posture (eg: slumped shoulders vs standing up straight)
– facial expression (unhappy vs happy)
– clothing (ill-fitting clothing vs neat and flattering clothing)
– angle (unflattering vs flattering)
– position in photo (closer to the camera vs farther away)
– any digital manipulation (eg: no filter vs filter)
and many others

All of these small differences add up to produce a much more flattering and better photo in the “after” photo, leading the reader to believe that the difference is solely because of the effectiveness of the product rather than as a result of these little tricks.

5) Your experience may not be the same as the influencer

It stands to reason that brands that employ influencer marketing do not want negative reviews from the influencers. After all, they are spending good money to increase their brand exposure. Therefore, it is possible that brands may take slightly more care in attending to the influencers as compared to what an average consumer may receive.

Perhaps some of you may have experienced the frustrating case where when your complaints to customer service are going nowhere, in desperation, you resort to posting on their social media. Unsurprisingly, once the issue is made public for everyone to see, your complaint is usually dealt with more swiftly and satisfactorily than your fruitless attempts at going through customer service. In much the same way, brands may pay more attention to ensuring the influencer receives their order without delays, and without any mistakes, or paying more attention to customer service than they would for a normal customer, as they are aware of the influence wielded by the influencer.

Due to this “VIP” treatment, your actual experience with the customer service of the brand may be very different. Influencers may also limit themselves to reviewing the product itself rather than the entire process of being a consumer.

One example of such differential treatment can be seen in the media tastings often attended by food bloggers. For media tastings, the emphasis is placed on the food, rather than the service and ambience (two things most readers would want to know when deciding whether or not to patronize a restaurant!). You can bet that at such events, in general, food bloggers and media will not be kept waiting as long as you might be during the rush lunch hour, and the chef might pay slightly more attention to the food for media tastings. You can read more about the lack of objectivity that some Singaporean food bloggers have at these links, written by fellow and former local food bloggers themselves.

Another case study:

Back in 2012 when Zalora first launched in Singapore, there was a wave of sponsored posts from influencers about the new shopping website. However, many customers subsequently complained about the absymal customer service that Zalora provided (examples: 1, 2, 3, 4). Whether the influencers simply were lucky enough not to have experienced the slow customer service or if they received better service, many consumers likely did not have the same fuss-free transaction that the influencers enjoyed. Or, at least, if the influencers received similar treatment, most did not openly blog about it, leading to any readers having a positive impression of the brand through the sponsored posts.

(Note: Zalora seems to have taken all the negative complaints on board, and improved in the customer service department from 3 years ago – negative reviews from 2014 onwards are significantly less.)

Conclusion:

Don’t be too quick to believe your favourite influencer when they are promoting a new product! Always do your due diligence and Google for other reviews, and exercise caution by keeping in mind that they may not be offering an unbiased opinion – and even if they are, you are free to form your own before making your purchase!

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