“Social marketing is about influence.” “Women, ages 35-44, make up the biggest demographic on Facebook.” “When purchasing a product, word-of-mouth (WOM) is the most valuable and trusted source at 65%.”[i] As I heard these tidbits of data in class Monday night two words kept coming to mind…. “Mommy Blogs.”
I follow a few Mommy Blogs that range from close friends posting pictures and stories for family and friends to “famous” award-winning Mommy Blogs, such as, http://thepioneerwoman.com/ and http://www.dooce.com/. The blogs that have become jobs for these women are due to the content that they produce, whether it is pictures, stories, or advice, in turn, they have created a following that is very loyal.
With this said, as Brown shared statistics and theories in regards to advertising, I began to think about “product placement” on the Mommy Blogs. These vehicles already have a following so what better way to target an audience. There are two main ways to advertise on a blog, 1) buy advertisements (both Pioneer Woman and Dooce are represented by Federated Media) 2) get the blogger to mention your product. My interest lies in the latter due to the human interactive nature an endorsement fosters, as well as, the trust element that comes into play.
The Pioneer Woman[ii], for instance, endorses products by conducting contests and giveaways with the prizes being gift cards to merchants that she shops or actual products that she uses in her own home. The approach she uses to “attract” her readers to the products is one that merges help, training, user review, and word of mouth. She has built a trust among her readers, while at the same time has become someone who they feel is their best friend; they relate to her and see themselves in her.
When she gives away an HP printer, Canon camera or Microsoft Zune, she might give a tutorial on it, or write about how she uses the product. This approach helps and teaches her readers how to actually use the product and at the same time her tone is “if I can figure this technology out so can you.” So if there was a mom out there that didn’t feel confident in her technology skills or her ability to use the product, Pioneer Woman makes them feel at ease and gives them a confidence boost. Now, the reader starts thinking “well if Pioneer Woman can do it and says it’s easy, then, I can too.” All of a sudden they are purchasing the same printer or camera Pioneer Woman uses.
Another tactic she uses is posting items that her readers will want to print, such as her recipes and her photos, and at the same time giving away an HP printer. She basically leads them to buying the product.
recipes you want to print + printer to print = conversion
This seems like a great strategy for advertisers; however, what if we took a look at the side of the reader, the consumer. Can the reader really trust the Pioneer Woman? How does the reader know that HP, Canon, or Microsoft isn’t paying Pioneer Woman to say great things about their products? Now the reader starts to feel duped by Pioneer Woman, therefore, questioning the product and at the same time the authenticity of the blog. So is it wrong for bloggers to blog about products while at the same time accept a form of payment? This very question has incited a heated debate that is going on in the blogosphere, and has most recently spurred the government to get into the game.
This strategy is called sponsored conversation[iii], and according to Jeremiah Owyang, sponsored conversations have been going on for years in different mediums, from television to movies to podcasts, and they aren’t going away. However, this doesn’t quiet the arguments.
On one side there is the contingency that believes sponsored blogging is just another form of paid media and that specific conditions should be followed. Forrester’s Sean Corcoran states the requirements are: 1) sponsorship transparency and 2) blogger authenticity.
“Sponsorship transparency means that both the marketer and the blogger must make it absolutely clear to the reader community that they are reading paid content – think of Google Adwords “Sponsored Links.” Blogger authenticity means that the blogger should have complete freedom to write in their own voice – even if the content they write about the brand is negative.”
On the other side, there is fear of becoming “cheap tools of corporate interest” as Marshall Kirkpatrick writes in his ReadWriteWeb post posing arguments against Forrester’s document.
Now the government is stepping in with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) expected to release new guidelines later this summer clarifying “that the agency can go after bloggers - as well as the companies that compensate them - for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest.”[iv]
As a reader of blogs and a consumer, I like the intent of both Forrester’s requirements of transparency and authenticity and implementing future FTC guidelines; however, I don’t think it will save us from ourselves. We, as consumers, must take responsibility in self-policing and making judgment calls as to what is authentic and what is not. The issue around sponsored conversations in the blogosphere isn’t black and white, and isn’t going to be solved with guidelines. There are too many nebulous topics that come into play, but isn’t that why we like the internet? I read blogs because they are “…personal, informal, off the cuff and coming from the heart - unfiltered, uncensored and unplanned;"[v] however, if they are anything but this, I have to filter it appropriately. The bottom line, it comes down to trust, trust in my judgment, trust in the blogger and trust in the company behind the product.
[i] Holly Brown, Managing Director. MRM Media
[ii] Pioneer Woman only uses sponsored conversations on rare occasions http://thepioneerwoman.com/category/contests_giveaways/about_contests_giveaways
[iii] According to Forrester Research, a sponsored conversation is a marketing technique in which marketers provide financial or material compensation to bloggers in exchange for their posting blog content about a brand.
[v] Sam Bayard, a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society
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