Leveraging the power of the “Bloggosphere”…
Okay, how do we feel about PR companies targeting blogs? I’ve been approached by a couple PR people in the past few months, and I’m feeling rather conflicted about it. Here, I’ll describe the two cases so you can see what I mean:
- Small PR company promoting local independent musician’s upcoming album release. They Google his name and find a post on my blog. They email me, offering to send me the new album to listen to and review if I like. They’re very friendly, non-pushy, and actually have their own silly blog. Their email makes me feel vaguely flattered.
- Bigger, fancier PR company send an email about a Sydney gym they’re promoting. They’re running an online contest to win free membership, and they want bloggers to promote it. They don’t mention why they targetted me. Their website has example case studies for how they “leverage social networks and the power of the Bloggosphere.” This makes me feel like a cog in a giant machine.
But really, it’s the same thing, isn’t it? Or do you agree with me that somehow the first one is more acceptable than the second? I actually do like the musician, so I acquiesced to that one. (I haven’t gotten around to reviewing it yet, but thankfully they’re not nagging me or anything.) The gym contest seems harmless, but it still irks me a little. It feels so impersonal. Or am I just mad because they didn’t flatter me?
Anyway, I figured I’d at least put the issue out there, rather than be tempted to secretly sell out without telling anybody…
Anna
September 4, 2008 — 5:30 pm
Maybe I’m not understanding properly, but as I can see, they are very different. No 1 is giving you a free CD – so you are getting something out of it, there is a benefit to you. No 2 is just bizarre. What’s in it for you? If promoting it gave you some kind of benefit than sure.
Kris
September 4, 2008 — 6:08 pm
You wouldn’t feel weird reading something here if you knew I was getting free stuff for it? Not that I have much journalistic integrity to compromise… 🙂
Rachel
September 4, 2008 — 7:20 pm
If you cared about the subject they were asking to promote and you gave us your trusted and honest opinion then it’s cool. This is ,after all, your blog. The thing about the 2nd one is that I presume you’ve never even been to this gym so what would you say? “Hey a new gym opened up in Broadway, guys. Check it out.” ummm… Why would you put that on your blog? You could always put banner ads on your blog if you were that way inclined.
Ali
September 4, 2008 — 7:51 pm
The first look like they’re using their initiative in a way that might be effective. The second look like they’re hired a consultant who’s spun them some line, which they’re now trying to implement, poorly.
Kris
September 4, 2008 — 10:24 pm
The funny thing is, Rachel, it’s not even in Broadway! It’s in ROOTY HILL. Do I have any readership in Rooty Hill? I have no idea.
Thanks for the feedback, ladies. (And to the knitters at TC tonight, who also debated it with me.) It’s an interesting topic…
(And I really need to write that Pinky Beecroft review. It’s actually quite a good album.)
Eric
September 4, 2008 — 11:31 pm
I’m with everyone else. I think in case 1, they thought “let’s find people who might like this artist’s stuff and hope to kick start word of mouth.” Then they did some searching and found you. It sounds like you are an actual match. You get the record and hopefully they get a review if you like it. Making music/book/movie recommendations is something that friends do to other friends, so it would be appropriate for you to write up a review of the CD if it was good. (and we will know from reading your site regularly that if you write a flattering review it’s not a trade for a free CD)
In case 2, they thought “I’ve heard these internet blogs are good marketing machines.” But your blog isn’t a “hey! freebies!” blog or a gym membership blog or (other than running) a workout blog or anything that would ordinarily have an entry that says “check out MegaGym.com for a chance at a free membership.”
So I think you can rock out with your credibility fully intact, and think of it as a perk for your hard work here.
eileen
September 5, 2008 — 1:25 am
Dude, I’m all about free stuff. I would accept #1 in a heartbeat. You can just say that you were sent the CD for free and asked to review it, and then give your honest opinion. Nothing wrong with that.
#2 seems a little random, I mean, if they offered you a free or discount membership, it would make more sense. Otherwise, why would you run an online contest for a gym you know nothing about?
Daniel
September 5, 2008 — 2:54 pm
I saw this last night and have been thinking about it since. Here are my thoughts…
Take the Gym… I’m guessing you have no affiliation with them to the point you wouldn’t have even known about them unless they had contacted you. All they are doing is hoping to increase their Google hits by having you link to their site or mentioning something about them. Considering that you haven’t even set fooot in the place it would just be straight out advertising for a ‘product’ which you aren’t aware of.
As for the musician (kind of being one myself I know they struggle for all possible forms of advertising they can get). Sending out a CD doesn’t cost that much and is classed as advertising. Now considering they are looking at blogs who have mentioned them in a positive way before they hope that they will get a nice review… again with a link etc and thus possibly selling a few more CD’s. A fan is more likely to give a positive review than a negative. Plus side is you get something in return… something which you will hopefully get some enjoyment out of.
I guess it could come down to, do you believe it what you blog about? From what I’ve seen you do. If you believe in the band… blog about them… if you believe in the gym too… blog about them as well.
stefanie
September 5, 2008 — 6:38 pm
As a former PR flack – I would agree with what everyone else has said, Kris.
If you remove the specific medium, all these PR people are doing is reaching out to various journalists (in the broadest sense), who can help them get the word out about a client. If you read a music magazine, do you think it would be odd for a reviewer to have received a CD? How else would s/he have reviewed it? Or a little blurb in a local paper about a competition a new gym opening. You’d probably think they’d lazily reprinted a press release.
A PR’s job is to find the right media for their client and client’s audience; the journalist’s job is to write about this with integrity (eg, disclosure, such as at the bottom of a travel article saying ‘jane doe flew with BA’) . If the PR has done their job right, both parties will be happy, as will the client AND the readers. And if wrong — you get writers like you saying ‘this makes no sense’, and potentially even generating bad press for their clients.
The only reason ‘social media’ becomes a bit confusing is that not all bloggers have as much integrity as you — and having also recently worked at an SEO company that paid for links, I can see this as well. That’s why the EU recently instituted consumer protection laws that include making it fine-able offense to misrepresent yourself as a genuine consumer if you’re being paid in some way to do so.
This is a very long winded way of saying, if you *want* to write about something, and do so honestly, then you have nothing to feel icky about. Which is a long winded way of agreeing with everyone else here!