‘Sponsorship disclosure is necessary for bloggers’ Laetitia Wajnapel, Mademoiselle Robot

Blogger Spotlight with Laetitia Wajnapel, author of Mademoiselle Robot, ranked as one of UK’s top fashion blogs by Cision. Laetitia spoke to us about why bloggers need to be compensated, the importance of sponsorship disclosure and working with her favorite brands including Pandora and LK Bennett.

What’s new on Mademoiselle Robot? I have completely changed the way I go about running the blog and after seven years of daily posts, I am now embracing thematic months. January was “Reinvention”, this month is “Love” and next month is a surprise! I can tell you it has to do with travel but I won’t say anymore…

It is hard to keep things fresh when you do something creative for a long time, so I think this new direction is perfect for me as it allows me to see things in a slightly different way and is making me feel much more inspired. So far, the response of my readers to the new formula has been overwhelmingly positive so I am happy!

Give us an example of successful brand collaboration. What did you learn from it? I have just come back from a trip to Los Angeles where I shot several creative projects for brands such as Pandora, Liberty or LK Bennett – it was great to have full creative control over everything and be able to work with some of my favourite brands.

How do you use social media to promote/share content? What are the challenges? I share my content on Twitter (@mellerobot) and relay it on Instagram (@mellerobot) and Pinterest (pinterest.com/mellerobot) but I mostly use my social channels to chat with my followers and friends. I still believe social networks are a good way to showcase your personality and voice outside of other content platforms. They are of course brilliant promotion tools, but sometimes less is more when it comes to self-promotion!

Do you feel bloggers need to be compensated for the work they do? Absolutely! A lot of us are now running our blogs as businesses and we essentially offer full creative services, from styling, writing, photography to modelling for some. I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be compensated for collaborations. Of course not all content should be paid for, but high profile, high visibility advertorials and collaborations definitely come with a price tag.

What do you feel about sponsorship disclosure? I feel it is absolutely necessary. I always disclose when I collaborate with a brand. I decline a lot of paid projects if I feel they are not right for the blog and I only collaborate with brands I already love, to make sure it doesn’t feel untrue to my readers and also to be able to look at myself in the mirror. I have been saying this for years and I think it is more important than ever now that money is involved: transparency and integrity are everything.

How do you like to work with PRs? I am quite traditional when it comes to PRs, I like email pitches, meetings in person, and generally building relationships!

What will be big in your blogosphere in the coming months? You will see! I am working on a few things at the moment, including the promotion of my photography exhibition at the Hoxton Holborn hotel so 2015 is looking pretty good!

Editorial information on Laetitia Wajnapel, Mademoiselle Robot and thousands of other media/blogger contacts and outlets, can be found in the Cision Media Database.