Social Marketing & Digital Agency

… and why brands and PR Pros should treat them properly.

1. Blogging is dead. NOT TRUE.
   Facebook and Twitter might be what people are talking about but don’t write off blogs just yet. According to estimates in a study published by eMarketer, half of the US Internet population reads blogs at least monthly, and they are predicting it will rise to 60% by 2014.  Don’t ignore them – blogs are the springboard from which much of social media sharing emanates.
2. ‘Everyone’ has a blog. NOT TRUE.
   There may be a large number of blogs, but the number of people actually writing and updating a blog monthly is just under 12% of the US population. If you are looking for niche exposure, do your research and pinpoint those that are hot, not ones that are stone cold and lacking a pulse.
3. Bloggers aren’t proper writers. NOT TRUE.
   The majority of blogs are written  – even the company blogs and especially the good ones and the ones that are updated frequently – by people who can write, like to write and are very good at writing. Blogging, like all writing, is an art form and, like all creative endeavours, only some of us can actually do it – the rest just make a hash of it or simply don’t try and just read what we say and comment.
4. Blogging is easy. Sometimes True… if they are just keeping an online diary, but utterly NOT TRUE for business blogs or any kind of information or professional blogs.
   Finding a voice, getting inspiration, writing an attention grabbling headline, getting all the links right, fact checking – it’s the same amount of work as writing an article for a newspaper or magazine. I should know, I do both.
5. Bloggers will write anything we tell them to, especially if they think they’ll get something for free. NOT TRUE.
   If they are writing a sponsored blog they need to declare an interest, so you should always know what is their own voice and what is company inspired. Bloggers are independent thinkers and – more to the point – build their reputation and following by saying it how it is, even if that is painful. Many earn a decent living from the advertising they attract as a result of that traffic. Why on earth would they compromise that for you and your clients just because you are dangling a freebie (or not as the case may be)? If you want advertorial, pay for it like everyone else.
6. Bloggers are all the same, so sending them mass emails is fine. NOT TRUE.
   The beauty of bloggers is their individuality as they usually are passionate about what they write and rarely have company guidelines to follow, which makes for very interesting and honest writing.

So if, and this is especially true for PR pros, you want to get a blogger to cover a story about your brand or company, spend some time reading what they write and what they are passionate about. Clue into their interests and specialities. Address them by name and correct gender (one Dad blogger was sent an email mailer addressing him as Mrs… needless to say it was deleted immediately).

Take a leaf out if the journalist ‘PR pros complaint’s book’ and… don’t patronise, don’t bribe, be upfront about what you want and what you’ll do in return, stick to the agreement, and certainly don’t ignore or mistreat them, because it will backfire badly, as Nokia and their PR agency Mission have found to their cost this month with the embarrassing debacle of Bangs and a Bun’s marathon race.

It is a testimony to the level of reach that a blogger like Bangs and a Bun has, that she has had over 140 replies to her post, one of which was Anna Shipley, Head of Communications at Nokia, who had been previously been unaware of the situation.

Digital IS Communications, and includes all the disciplines that communications entails, and the sooner traditional agencies stop treating it like it’s an interesting ‘add on’, the better it will be for all concerned.

And so we can only say, well done Mission and Nokia for showing the PR and Corp Comms world how NOT to treat bloggers or handle social media or enhance digital reputation.

Nice work.

And contact us on hello@themediamarketinco.com or give us a ring if you would like to enhance your digital reputation, connect with bloggers properly, or indeed integrate social media and all things digital into your marketing and PR.

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1. Bloggers Must Now Disclose Payments/Freebies