Social Marketing & Digital Agency

Content is one of our favourite subjects and it’s been hitting the headlines with a vengeance in recent months.  We’ve always said that having a good presence online is largely down to good quality, fresh content.  And it would seem that Google thinks so too – their latest change to their search algorithm, codenamed Panda, is rewarding original content, and punishing so-called content farms.

There has been a lot of hand-wringing from organisations complaining that their web rankings  have been affected,  with even such lofty organisations such as Yahoo and The Huffington Post being accused of being ‘content farms’.  This article for example was cited as ‘the greatest example of SEO whoring of all-time’ .

And on the subject of The Huffington Post which was recently acquired by AOL for a whopping $315Million, they are being taken to court by a group of bloggers who say that they contributed significant amounts of content to the site which meant that the site attracted the valuation that it did. Arianna Huffington is strongly refuting the claim that she treated bloggers like slaves and said that they were glad to be given a platform to air their views. We are watching with interest to see how this turns out.

But it brings into the spotlight once again the subject of content, what it’s worth and who is going to be paid for it.  Bloggers have become highly influential in all kinds of areas, and in many cases, their views are respected more than their paid ‘media’ counterparts. However, with so many bloggers producing good content (largely for free), traditional media often struggling to remain commercially viable and the public seemingly reluctant to pay, what does the future hold?

We feel that The Huffington Post lawsuit will be a landmark case and it will be a close call as to who wins, but in the meantime, the case is clear: if you want good Google rankings and a positive digital footprint, good content is the way to go.

Why don’t you talk to us about it?

… 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.

Speaking at Cybermummy to Blogging Mums

So tomorrow is The Cybermummy Conference. I admit I’m excited. Not just because I finally get to meet so many familiar online friends and associates, or because I may get to tell India Knight how much she makes me laugh, or because Mumsnet‘s Justine Roberts and Google’s Technical Account Manager Eve Andersson are on my panel, but mainly because I am the moderator of the lunchtime session on ‘Influence and Statistics and how to Expand a Blog’s Audience’, ie how to increase your reach online and measure it and then apply what you learn so can do more of what works and less of what doesn’t…

…ooohhh, getting a shiver down my back just writing this, because as this is what I have spent most of my grown up life doing, and it still gets me excited!

While I would never lay claim to a tech or geek mantle, I admit to getting ridiculously enthusiastic about digital technology, always have right from the earliest days when I was at university playing around on Quantel’s paintbox and with editing suites and cameras and mixing desk… yum…, but what really – and excuse the terminology – turns me on is the application of said technology and working out how I can use it for my business or for my clients.

In fact, whatever the new technology or bit of kit, trend or gadget, my first thoughts after “Mmm interesting, how does that work then?” is…

“What does it do, and how can I use it to… [delete as applicable] produce, influence, attract attention, and make money … for [insert self or client or brand or event]”…

Quickly followed by “and how do I quantify that, measure it, analyse it, monitor it… find out whether it works and how… make it do more of what does work and less of what doesn’t…”

and then “how do I join the dots up to these other lovely technologies over here… to increase profit, brand profile, bottom line…”

Before finally “Wash and Repeat…” (well if it works keep doing it!)

Which is probably why I have ended up running www.themediamarketingco.com, and working as a digital marketing strategist – because I love it. Because it’s where the whole digital revolution really gets exciting don’t you think?

Not just the ‘shiny button-pushing, whizz bang, isn’t it AMAZING’ bit, but the fact that it facilitates so much, enables so many of us ordinary people to do more and have more influence, clout, time and money than ever before.

I mean that’s fantastic isn’t it, when you look at the bigger picture. When has that ever happened before? Never. Who of our parents’ generation would have ever predicted it? No one. How much of a force for good is this going to be and will it be in the future? Limitless.

Cheers Cybermummy and all who made it possible, and here’s to many more ‘ordinary digital gatherings’ in the future.