advertising and pr, bloggers and integrity making money while being honest
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Advertising & PR, Bloggers & Integrity
Making money, while being honest
by Colin Charleshttp://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
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Types of blogs
• Personal blogs
• Corporate blogs
• Media blogs (videoblog, photoblog)
• Device blogs (moblogs)
• Genre (politics, travel, daily life, etc.)
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Is a blogger a journalist?
• define: journalist
• reporters and columnists
• abide by a code of ethics
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So... is a blogger a journalist?
• Want invites to media junkets
• Love press passes
• Tend to photograph, write about events, new products, etc.
• Likes the freebiesAll to drive more traffic to a blog!
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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)
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A unique selling point
“Your ad gets displayed in over 85,000 blogs for X ringgit”
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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
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Exploiting the trust
• Once an elite has created a community, know that the community trusts the author
• Creating conversations equate to brand recognition
"discuss on the deal: with your requirements, we will suggest a package of blogs that we think will suit your needs"
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Do I lose value by disclosing?
• No!
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So how do bloggers make money, anyway?
• Sponsorships (podcasts)
• RSS news feed sponsorship (Daring Fireball)
• Services that pay you when you reach a certain number of page views
Works because of great content!
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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
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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)
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Bloggers that do the right thing
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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”
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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”
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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Thanks
• David Lian (@davidlian)
• Carolyn Chan (@thechannelc)
• Ben Israel (@ben_israel)
• Mike Foong (@mikefoong)
• Paul Tan (@paultantk)
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Resources
• Groundswell
• #smfail and the Web 2.0 panel
• The Wisdom of Crowds
• The Long Tail
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Comments?
Colin Charles
http://bytebot.net/
@bytebot on Twitter
Saturday, 4 April 2009