Melbourne cafe Legacy Camberwell has been forced to pay more than $1600 to Instagram influencer Chloe Roberts after The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) found she had the right to archive paid posts on her feed.
Legacy owner Con Katsogiannis agreed to pay Roberts $200 to $300 per Instagram post in a bid to attract new customers. But when Roberts met with Katsogiannis to receive a $2,250 payment for the posts, the cafe owner became concerned when he realised the images were no longer visible on her Instagram account.
Roberts admitted to archiving posts as “90 per cent of the views of an image occur in the first week” and argued Instagram accounts with old photos were “unattractive for followers”, according to ABC.
VCAT deputy president Ian Lulham agreed “new images are viewed more than old images”, and said Katsogiannis was not losing value when Roberts archived images.
Katsogiannis was ordered to pay Roberts $1,400 (two thirds of the original sum) and $276 for her legal fees.
The growing presence of influencer marketing has hit the hospitality industry hard, with increasing numbers of bloggers approaching venues requesting free meals in exchange for social media posts or requesting payment for said posts.
Money is tight for many operators, and there’s doubt over the real value influencers can bring to businesses.
Hospitality covered the topic in the May issue. Read the full feature here before you consider working with influencers.
Image credit: A Chronicle of Gastronomy
