Advertising And PR, Bloggers And Integrity Making Money While Being Honest

Advertising & PR,
Bloggers & Integrity
Making money, while being honest

by Colin Charles
http://bytebot.net/

Saturday, 4 April 2009

deﬁne: blogger
• a person who keeps and updates a blog
• a contributor to a blog or online journal
• a journal or diary that is posted on the
Internet
• (writer for) a website where entries are
made in journal style and displayed in
reverse chronological order


Types of blogs

• Personal blogs
• Corporate blogs
• Media blogs (videoblog, photoblog)
• Device blogs (moblogs)
• Genre (politics, travel, daily life, etc.)


Is a blogger a journalist?

• deﬁne: journalist
• reporters and columnists
• abide by a code of ethics


So... is a blogger a
journalist?
• Want invites to media junkets
• Love press passes
• Tend to photograph, write about events,
new products, etc.
All to drive more
• Likes the freebies trafﬁc to a blog!


Malaysian bloggers
aren’t journalists
• By and large, lack journalistic integrity
• No editors to report to
• Try to steer clear of slander/libel/
defamation
• Unless they’re a political blogger


A blogger therefore,
blogs for herself
• Write... about life... let there be some
photos accompanying...
• Build a community of readers
• Build a signiﬁcant number of readers, and
you’re now elite

• Promote the elite lifestyle
• Parties, meetups, food together, etc.

However, there’s an
audience
• Elite bloggers will carry some form of ads
• Some will even carry some form of
sponsored posts
• Google AdWords is popular, but there exist
Text Link Ads, Chitika, Amazon Store, IZEA


Why do bloggers run
ads?
• To become a pro-blogger
• To make (easy) money fast
• To supplement income
• To pay for hosting
• To donate to charity


The birth of “blog
advertising communities”
• Act as a bridge between bloggers and
advertisers
• Network marketing/MLM-styled
• Nuffnang, Advertlets
• How does Nuffnang work?
• What is your reward?

So, is a blog-vertising
community viable?
• the idea of earning your ﬁrst pay cheque
after 6-8 months, entices many (RM50)
• All the elite that you look up to, are on
the same network
• Free parties! Free movie tickets! Free!
Free!
• RM50 is quicker to earn than USD$100

Why do advertisers use
blog-vertising communities?
• Media buyers don’t understand social media
dynamics or the Internet
• Media buyers have no idea how to engage
bloggers
• Advertising communities exist to make life
easier
• Trade money for time (or understanding)

A unique selling point

“Your ad gets displayed in over 85,000 blogs
for X ringgit”


Media buyers and social
media
• Social media is about conversations
• A good product speaks for itself
• PR companies exist to ensure conversation
takes place everywhere
• More “buzz” ensures a good PR job


Exploiting the trust

• Once an elite has created a community,
know that the community trusts the author
• Creating conversations equate to brand
recognition quot;discuss on the deal:
with your requirements,
we will suggest a
package of blogs that
we think will suit your
needsquot;


Media buyers going
direct to market
• Approach bloggers directly
• Elite don’t write about products that they
aren’t paid to anymore
• Canon Singapore’s recent (April 1 2009)
success shows this can still be done,
without blog advertising communities


So, bloggers, what
about integrity?
• If you’re not a journalist, and you’re writing
for yourself, is integrity required?
• If you have a community, who trust in you,
integrity plays a big role
• Disclosure is important


Integrity
“This above all:
to thine own self be true,
And it must follow,
as the night the day,
Thou canst not them be false
to any man” -- William Shakespeare


What should
advertisers look for?

• Blogs that have a disclosure policy
• Blogs that clearly state that they have been
paid to review a product
• Blogs that have a useful PageRank


What should bloggers
do?
• Create great content
• Your community is created on it
• Your PageRank is calculated about how
often you’re in the “conversation”

• Use nofollow in sponsored links
• Always keep your integrity

Do I lose value by
disclosing?

• No!


So how do bloggers
make money, anyway?
Works because of
• Sponsorships (podcasts) great content!

• RSS news feed sponsorship (Daring
Fireball)
• Services that pay you when you reach a
certain number of page views


How can bloggers make
money honestly
• Clearly identify genuine content and
advertorials
• Publish a rate card
• Tell advertisers and PR ﬁrms what kind of
content you’ll be happy writing about


Sponsored posts
working overseas?
• Chris Brogan and the K-Mart gift voucher
• IZEA - the beginning of sponsored
conversations (PayPerPost). Create buzz,
drive trafﬁc
• Chris Pirillo (lockergn0me fame)


Bloggers that do the
right thing


Recent media brouhaha
• Blogger: Gareth says PR agencies are just
hacks, and need to get a clue
• “if you want us to go to some event and
write about it you better pay!”
• “if you want to treat my blog as a means
of advertising then I am the media
owner”


Case study: Maxis and
the iPhone 3G
• Make sure you use a “virgin” browser
• Google: “maxis iphone”
• Danny Foo, LiewCF, Byte’s photo,
@limyh, and the 9th link smells like a
sponsored post
• Google: “iphone maxis”, “maxis iphone 3g”


Case Study: Maxis
Broadband

• Is there even a modicum of information
there, with regards to the sponsored “Girls
Day Out” campaign last year alongside Dell
and their Mini 9?


Case study: mitigating
brand damage
• Service plans on increasing its price
• PR firm starts commenting on blogs
• Blogs flare up, PR firm has some “cred” and
doesn’t seem like a troll
• All seems well


Horror stories from
the trenches
• Elite members in a community shouldn’t be
writing reviews of anything unless they get
paid to do so
• Holidays, plus generous spending money, in
exchange for 3 blog posts, no disclosure


Take away
• Does PageRank matter?
• Is sponsored posting acceptable?
• Without disclosure?
• Social media is two way - companies are
realising consumers are getting blind
towards advertorials


Thanks

• David Lian (@davidlian)
• Carolyn Chan (@thechannelc)
• Ben Israel (@ben_israel)
• Mike Foong (@mikefoong)
• Paul Tan (@paultantk)


Resources

• Groundswell
• #smfail and the Web 2.0 panel
• The Wisdom of Crowds
• The Long Tail


Comments?

Colin Charles
http://bytebot.net/
byte@bytebot.net
@bytebot on Twitter


Advertising And PR, Bloggers And Integrity Making Money While Being Honest

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Destaque

Destaque (11)

Mais de Colin Charles

Mais de Colin Charles (20)

Último

Último (20)

Advertising And PR, Bloggers And Integrity Making Money While Being Honest