This one is from the very beginning. Meta's creator marketplace hadn't launched yet. There were third-party tools that could pull audience data, but they cost money, which we weren't spending at that stage. So everything had to be requested manually, and you had to trust what came back. That's what made this kind of thing possible.
A travel influencer reached out. Pretty photos, well-curated grid, clean aesthetic. She probably didn't research us at all. Most don't. They send the same pitch to fifty brands and see who replies. Whether their audience matches yours is not their concern. Getting the collab is the only goal.
The pitch was warm. "I love your brand so much. Would love to collaborate and create something beautiful together."
The question I always asked
At that time, we only shipped within a specific region. So audience geography was everything. If her followers weren't in the right place, there was no point in anything else.
There's also a particular thing about travel influencers worth knowing. If you live somewhere, you tend to follow travel accounts about places you want to visit, not where you already are. So a travel creator based in one country often has an audience dreaming of somewhere entirely different. The location of the creator and the location of the audience are two completely different things.
So I asked her politely: are your top audiences located in our key sales territory?
She said yes.
"I don't just go by words. I asked her to share her audience insights."
The screenshot that didn't add up
She sent a screenshot. I still remember looking at it.
The chart showed that the vast majority of her audience fell completely outside our shipping region. Our key sales territory accounted for around 5% of her total reach. The rest of the data was conveniently cut off. Whatever was in that missing section, she decided we didn't need to see it.
Either she didn't think I would notice, or she assumed brand owners can't read a pie chart.
We ended the conversation politely. "Your audience data doesn't align with our current sales goals. Since we ship within a specific territory at the moment, the collaboration isn't viable." She never replied.
Why the early days were messier
These were the early days. The tools to verify audience data properly existed, but we weren't paying for them yet. Now Meta's creator marketplace shows you audience demographics before you ever have to ask. Location, age, gender, interest categories are all visible upfront. That one free tool would have made this entire situation unnecessary.
But even with better tools, the lesson stays the same. Always check the data yourself. Don't take a yes at face value when the number you care about is specific and verifiable. A screenshot that cuts off half the data is not a screenshot that answers the question.
Collaboration means mutual benefit. It only works if the creator's audience is actually your audience. Otherwise, you're paying for reach that never reaches anyone who might buy from you.
