August 15, 2011

You have a contest, a new product, a new Facebook page—should you pay bloggers to help you promote it?

Let’s consider not paying. What do you get when you don’t pay? You often get second rate support. Or, no support. Or, content that reflects the bloggers’ mood, not your product benefits.

I receive e-mails every day from brands and PR firms announcing new books, products, contests, and more. Each of them would like me to love their pitch enough to write about it on my blog. Some of the ideas are creative and interesting and I take about two seconds to consider using my blog to market them. Mostly, I write a note back to the brand or PR firm and ask, “Did your local newspaper offer to promote this for free? If they don’t do free advertising, why should I?” After all, my blog is much more targeted than the newspaper.

Here’s the rub—too many people (brands, PR firms, ad agencies) believe that bloggers blog just for fun. That wasn’t even true in the early days of blogging and it’s patently wrong-headed thinking now. Bloggers with a devoted readership work hard to build the right audience. They take their blogs and content seriously. They attend conferences to learn how to be better bloggers and how to do professional reviews of products and services. They spend time and money on design and functionality, to make their blog search engine friendly. They connect their Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, Google+ and other social tools to their blog, in order to offer multiple touch-points to brands they work with.

The truth is, every blogger is worth something. Despite some people’s assertion that you should always get blogger coverage for free, smart brands will recognize that every blogger is connected not only to their readers, but to their readers’ audience. Networks connected to other networks—there is nothing more powerful than that. Over on Brafton News, they report, “… 53 percent of respondents (of a BlogHer’s Social Media Matters Study): indicated that they trust the information on blogs they visit regularly.”

Stephanie Azzarone, over at Engage, recently wrote an article titled, “Pay Me, Why Don’t You” in which she gave companies advice on how to pay bloggers. Specifically, mom bloggers. She believes companies can engage mom bloggers via brand ambassadorships—where the blogger writes a series of posts supporting the brand. For pay. She mentions hiring bloggers for content—especially when you see a good writer in your own brand community. She also mentions Twitter parties. If you’re not paying bloggers to market you via these ideas, you’re missing out on powerful messaging that is better than any TV ad or magazine four-color print ad, both of which you will pay thousands or hundreds of thousands, for.

But, that’s not all. Janice Croze over at Momcrunch has a great post on this same topic—paying bloggers. She offers “5 Reasons Why Companies Should Hire Mom Bloggers.” She says, “Moms are Listening…and Loyal.” Her point is that moms listen to other moms. Why do you think there are so many mommy bloggers? Because women want to connect to other women and moms want other moms to help them buy product, raise their kids, train their pets. They will follow the advice of their favorite mom blogger, every time.

Perhaps more powerful than any other reason, is Croze’s second reason: Invest in the infrastructure. “Essentially,” she writes, “companies are helping to build the roads they want to use.” Do you get it? You want a big four-color ad in a major mall where women shop every day? It’s on a mom blogger’s blog. And, though it will cost, it will cost less than the TV ad or the print ad.

Mommy bloggers are just one community group brands have the opportunity to tap into. We know food bloggers are among the most popular—we all have to eat, right? We are beginning to learn that pet bloggers can command attention, also. These are powerful voices that will help you reach the buyers of your products or services, if you treat them with respect. That means paying them for their time, their space, and their advice—it does not mean paying them to write nice things about you.

Free will get you exactly what you pay for: Babble. Sometimes, it will get you more than that—it will get you added to a list of brands that don’t take bloggers seriously. This means your e-mail inviting the blogger to participate in your program, will get deleted or put at the bottom of the “never follow up” list.

Related Topics

• Marketing

Related keywords

Yvonne DiVita, Article, social media, blogging, public relations, marketing strategies, Small Business Trends, Windsor Media Enterprises

Join the conversation ( 13 )

• Paula Lee Bright 8 months ago

  

  I'm an inexperienced blogger who would like to have mom blogs understand my purpose and reason for existing. But I have no clue how to get known. I have a lot to learn! I teach kids who are failing in school, kids who fall through the cracks, kids who can't read...and I turn them around, usually pretty darn quick. I just have a talent for it. I always have had, even as a kid.What would you suggest for me? What should I be paying to get my site in front of moms' eyes? Or parents' eyes? I am a teacher. I don't know nuttin' 'bout sales! ;) Thanks,Paula Lee Bright

• Pamela Findling 9 months ago

  

  It depends on if the PR person is looking for paid advertising or media coverage. There's a difference and different readers view them differently. It also depends on if the blogger wants to be viewed as a compensated reviwer selling advertising space or as a journalist presenting an ubiased opinion.

  • Yvonne DiVita 9 months ago

    

    Oh but you are totally wrong. Sorry, Pamela. Our bloggers are very influential and in demand - and they get paid for their TIME. Once again, they are not getting paid for their opinion. I'm amused by the folks who still think it's okay to get something for nothing. Journalists and food critics are indeed paid - and the people who pay them are no different than the people who pay bloggers. They get free product and write about it and their opinion IS paid for - the paper or magazine influences everything they write. Bloggers are free to express a true opinion! Their readers expect it. So... the payment-- again -- is for their time. Why is that so hard to understand? I know tons of paid bloggers and NONE of their readers object. We're talking numbers in the hundreds of thousands, folks.

• Pamela Findling 9 months ago

  

  By paying bloggers, it just turns into advertising. By not paying them, the bloggers retain some sort of objectivity and the readers have more respect for them. Bloggers are much more credible if the PR companies aren't paying them. Journalists and food critics aren't paid by bloggers, they're paid by the newspapers who get money from advertisers--just as bloggers can. if you're a blogger and you want to be taken seriously, sell avertising, not your review. Or, do an advertorial where is is paid advertising and sell the space to PR companies as such.

• DENNIS FREEMAN 9 months ago

  

  I guess I am old school. When I was a blogger, I made money from the google ads on the periphery of the content, but I treated the content itself as if I were a journalist and kept a clear distinction between editorial and advertising. I would like to think that the bloggers I respect maintain similar standards.

  • Yvonne DiVita 9 months ago

    

    Excuse me... journalist? Journalists get paid. Yes, they do. They're paid for their time and expertiese, and that's what bloggers should be paid for. Influence is not influence if it's only attached to "free." How many rising stars in music and media would offer their endorsement for free? How much do brands pay for product placement? Bloggers are providing product placement and opinion that is not tarnished by being paid for their time and their blog influence. Sorry - your distinction is no distinction.

• Lorie Huston, DVM 9 months ago

  

  Great post, Yvonne. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. As a pet blogger, I agree with you entirely. I know that my readers trust me to offer an honest opinion and I would never do anything to betray that trust. That being said, I definitely think there is room for successful partnerships to develop between bloggers and brands. Working with a brand and offering an honest, truthful evaluation of a product or product line are not mutually exclusive objectives. I believe we, as bloggers, can maintain our integrity and still help to promote brands that we believe in, love and use personally. I have personally partnered successfully with several brands without losing the respect of my readers. I have also declined to work with several others that I felt could not ethically support for various reasons. In addition, as a blogger who receives many of the same types of emails you mentioned, your comment about the local newspaper and free promotion really hit home for me. It makes me feel much better about declining to accept those offers. Thank you for offering that analogy.

• Michael McDougall 9 months ago

  

  Yvonne mentions a study citing inherent trust in bloggers. If you want to destroy that trust, accepting compensation for coverage/content is a quick method! If your readership understands that you are being paid (which you're obliged to disclose under FTC regulation), your authenticity will be questioned.I come at this from a much different perspective -- as one of the PR industry's first proponents of blog-based outreach, which I initiated in the mid-1990s (before "blog" even entered the lexicon). While some bloggers are interested in dollars, others still trade in the original currency that led to the rise of the vehicle: influence.

  • Yvonne DiVita 9 months ago

    

    Really Michael? So, all the folks who get paid to write reviews are suspect? If you read my post you saw that bloggers are paid for their time, not their opinion. My readers know I get paid and all have said it doesn't change their opinion of me at all - because I reveal each paid post or link. And, I write MY own opinion, no matter how much someone pays me. I'm a writer - why shouldn't I get paid for it? Just because that writing is on a blog?

• Mary Schmidt 9 months ago

  

  *Sigh* And there's MSNBC - generic promo of their website. Great example of how viral shouldn't work. Key word here is "respect." Unfortunately, lazy marketers see bloggers as just another way to blast out generic PR. No qualification. No review of blog topics. No consideration. (My little delete key works overtime on some days.) Hello, marketers everywhere: You get passion and commitment from bloggers (people) who find you on their own (or via their friends). NOT by jammin' my email with junk that has little to nothing to do with what I write about (tip: I'm a woman, that doesn't mean i write about diapers or dating.) If you want to place an ad with a blogger - then qualify the blogger (please, no more requests to me re baby diapers) and inquire about rates. If you want a blogger to "discuss how you could promote" - ask for a consulting fee quote. If you want to build a relationship with a blogger, that takes time. And, it doesn't happen with a cold email blast.

  • MSNBC Your Business 9 months ago

    

    Sorry Mary, but what we posted below is anything BUT generic: it;s a link to a specific discussion on this very topic of inexpensive ways to market. Suggest you click on it to find out.And speaking of viral.. here's another segment we did on how to put together an effective viral video:http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/video/getting-customers-viral-videos

• slimy bookworm 9 months ago

  

  I own an online children's bookstore and I have tried the mommy bogger promotion route. The bloggers got paid either in cash or in review items. How many sales did I get from the promotion? Zero! It was money flushed down the drain. Had one blogger who was skillfull in SEO, that post still ranks well in the search engines. Most momy bloggers do not optimize their blog posts for search engines, their readers for most parts are not the buying crowd. They are other mommy bloggers looking for more businesses to pitch to or looking to win free stuff. They might work for bigger brands but I would tell any small business to BEWARE!

• MSNBC Your Business 9 months ago

  

  You can learn more about strategies for inexpensive publicity campaigns in a Getting Customers segment on MSNBC's YOUR BUSINESS:http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/money/video/how-to-get-new-customers