Brands working with bloggers – it’s confusing

May 18, 2010 by

While I was busy last week getting my new site up and running, a major conversation was happening in the blogosphere about compensation for mommybloggers.  This is a topic that I’m pretty passionate about, having recently moderated a panel about how PR and bloggers can work together, and as a long-time liaison between brands and bloggers.

From the brand side, there is certainly a great deal of confusion (and, dare I say, ignorance) about how to work with bloggers (of any type, not just moms).  Here are the issues from my perspective.

Public Relations and Bloggers

If you’re coming from the PR side, you’re used to working with editorial content, and calling up or emailing journalists to place stories about products and services you represent.  You would never think to compensate those journalists, and even if you did send product samples you often get them back.  And your budget does not extend into payments for anything editorially related; you may have budget for events or stunts, but not for paying people to evangelize your brand.

Why this works in “old media”: Journalists are paid by their publications (whether they’re paper or online), and the publications monetize based on subscriptions and ad revenue.  The two are, in theory, held (more or less) strictly separate (more on that below).

Why this doesn’t work for bloggers: Bloggers don’t have “publications” paying them, they are the publications.  Some are monetizing their site via advertising, others are not.  Those that have worked hard to build up their readerships to a level where they’re valuable to a brand have probably done most of it uncompensated.  They therefore often (but not always) want to find ways to generate revenue from their blogs/sites.

Advertising/Media and Bloggers

If you’re an advertising or media buying person, you’ve got a budget. You’re used to finding places to put your ads and paying those places to take them.  So now you want to attract niche demographics, like moms, to your brand, and so you assume you can just pay bloggers with those readerships to get the exposure you’re looking for.  While you don’t necessarily expect editorial coverage to accompany your ads, in practice there is absolutely an unwritten code that makes it more likely that a publication (particularly magazines) will cover your product if you’re advertising frequently.

Why this works in “old media”: It’s a pretty simple equation. Advertisers want to put their product in front of people who will care about it, and publishers have space to sell, online or off. And hey, if it does encourage editorial coverage here and there, all the better.

Why this doesn’t work for bloggers: Marketers and advertisers are now more than willing to compensate bloggers for product reviews, as if they were just another ad buy – whether that compensation is in cash or product.  This is  complex territory all around, clouding the notion of what a product review is (or at least should be).  Bloggers who remain editorially neutral and/or provide full disclosures may not be as attractive to advertisers who want their reviews to look as organic as possible.

Additionally, although many bloggers do take paid advertising, as a persistent online publication it’s more difficult to straddle the line between advertising and editorial.  What if you really love a product and write about it one week, then the brand offers you advertising dollars the next? That post lives forever and may be featured alongside that advertising, murking up the waters of integrity.

So What’s a Brand To Do?

No doubt this debate will continue, as marketers need to break out of their “old media’ models and bloggers further assert themselves as hardworking assets to brands.  Others have written eloquently about great ways to compensate bloggers without paying for posts and how agencies should evolve.

Here’s my advice: Start with the assumption that you’re going to need to compensate bloggers in some way.  If you’re PR, make sure your bosses or clients are aware that there will be costs involved in blogger outreach – to compensate bloggers as paid brand ambassadors, to create customized content for your site, or to test your product or service and write a properly disclosed review.  Then be pleasantly surprised if your product or service is cool enough that your pitch gets met with a warm editorial reception, without compensation.

If you’re advertising/media, don’t expect more than what you pay for.  If you’re buying advertising, that’s what you’ll get.  If you want bloggers to do other things for you, plan to compensate them accordingly.

And, brand marketers, put yourself in the bloggers’ shoes.  Take the time to communicate with the blogger and understand their motivations.  Are they blogging for their community, and just trying to pay the hosting bills?  Are they building readership to attract more (and more valuable) paid advertising?  Do they have other skills they can bring to the table for you – are they trained marketers themselves who can add a new perspective to your marketing team? Once bloggers become your true marketing partners, everyone will win.

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  • http://twitter.com/karenbryan Karen Bryan

    I have asked many PRs if they work for their clients for free. If they don’t, why do they expect me to give their client exposure for free?

    • http://www.stephanieschwab.com Stephanie Schwab:Socialologist

      Right on, Karen!

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  • http://twitter.com/PARENTise Andrea

    Great Post Stephanie – just found it… Really good use of examples from both sides of the bench!

    • Stephanie Schwab:Socialologist

      Thanks, Andrea! I have the feeling this is going to continue to be a debate for a long time to come.

  • http://mom-101.com/ Mom101

    Fabulous Stephanie! Just found this and it's so smart.

    Of course I still think that ample compensation might be relevant content for your readers. But when the pitch goes beyond mere story placement, I think the game changes.

  • goodncrazy

    Okay I'm following a lot of this monetize the mom and her blog 'chatter' on blogs, twitter etc…

    And I'm guessing you could call up any number of bloggers (not just 'A-listers' but regular have only a few hundred visits bloggers) and they would be able to tell you both nightmare stories and fabulous positive stories… EXACTLY about how companies/brands/PR HAVE in fact evolved…

    Wouldn't it be great if there was a place for the POSITIVE stories to be written? Could you write a 'series' about the times PR did got right..? At least as far as THAT blogger was concerned?

    I know I have a few stories… :)

    Another thing as far as PR evolving, (and the recent Mother's Day holiday is a good example), they really need to re-think how they go about pitching a 'campaign' for their brand surrounding a holiday to bloggers. I received a large handful of these requests, and I know a blogger who found over 35 mother's day 'requests' in her in box… !

    HELLO… maybe that isn't the best way to go about getting (free) Press for your campaign? Imagine if I have 35+ requests for the SAME WEEK… how would I go about choosing one or even two? Well… duh? If one or two were offering some sort of compensation!

    And I agree with Kelby here and disagree as well, I really think it will be hard to come up with a cash only option on compensation for bloggers. Like she says, if bloggers are willing to work for product then why should a company compensate with cash?

    Oh and contacting me one week before the upcoming big 'campaign', not a really good idea.

  • socialologist

    Yup, it's both a blogger problem and an agency/PR/ad problem. Hopefully this will help some bloggers understand what the issues are – I'd love to work with more of them but they've got to see where my clients are coming from. And of course there's lots of work to be done on the brand side…:-)

  • socialologist

    Couldn't agree more. Ad agencies haven't kept up, so there is an opportunity for PR, but only if they evolve. But that's where the “who owns social” problem comes in – it's primarily a budget problem, because PR traditionally hasn't had the kinds of out-of-pocket budgets that they need to fully realize a blogger outreach campaign. Hopefully budgets will start to shift or merge and the problem will be at least partially solved when it's no longer an issue of where the number falls on the spreadsheet.

  • socialologist

    Adrienne, you're so right – it's not just about the agencies (or PR or ad people), it's a blogger problem too – there's definitely a “gimme” attitude amongst some bloggers. It's that attitude which is making it tough going for all bloggers with some PR and ad people. Constantly getting asked for payment by bloggers who haven't yet built a following leaves a bad taste in PR/ad people's mouths, and makes them want to say “forget it, we're not paying anyone.” It is a two-way street and both parties need to be conscious of the issues.

  • Adriennevh

    My issue with all of this are bloggers who jump in and immediately feel they should be paid top dollar for a post or whatever.

    Just like any “job” you need to start and work your way up and in. You can just expect to receive the same as others, it simply can not be worked that way, there has to be a “curve”.

  • kelbycarr

    Yes, and that is the real issue. I'm honestly getting past the point of sympathy with the argument that PR isn't set up that way. Then catch up or stay behind. As in, decide you want to pursue this and change your model… or decide you will only pursue earned media and leave it at that. That means don't ask for things for free that should be paid and hide behind calling it earned media when it's much more. Leave that to ad agencies, which if they were keeping up wouldn't be leaving this gap for PR to jump on. Just pursue earned media, and understand that on a blog there aren't many natural ways for most blogs to talk about products.

  • http://www.everythingmom.com Michelle {EverythingMom}

    The more this conversation evolves the more clearly we are able to come to soft landing place of answers.

    We just made the bold move to stop doing “reviews” to focus more on editorial content featuring products in an effort to compensate our writers, feature cool products AND maintain our integrity with our readers.

    You can read more here –> http://www.everythingmom.com/our-blog/everythin…

  • socialologist

    You're dead on when you say that only unpaid opportunities are being pursued. From my perspective, I think that's because most blogger relations is happening from the PR side, and PR people don't have budgets. So they're caught between a rock and a hard place – their charge is to get blogger coverage, but it's not the same as getting old media coverage. It's going to be a while before agencies evolve to understand this.

  • http://www.mamavation.com/ Bookieboo

    Stephanie, I love the way you broke this down. I don't think there are a lot of bloggers that understand the “old media” side of it and why brands are so slow to pay. I'm of the frame of mind that some bloggers should be paid and others should not be paid based on what they can provide the brand. It's a matter of exposure. I straddle the fence with this issue cause I'm both in PR and a blogger. I understand both sides of the story. But I think that in the end this will all work itself out.

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  • Anonymous

    This may be the best piece I’ve read yet from a marketer’s perspective. THANK YOU! Honestly, I repeatedly see people who not only don’t get what you’ve stated very clearly, but get even more confused when you try to explain it. Having a background in both old media and new media, I think many don’t understand the differences. Both are publishers. Both want advertisers and need some form of monetizing the publication (yes, some bloggers are hobbyists, but I think you’d be hard pressed to find many bloggers who wouldn’t love to earn some money for their hard work).

    But in most cases with new media, only unpaid opportunities are being pursued. It’s frustrating. Many think paid reviews are the only model to pay bloggers, and that is even more frustrating. I especially love when you say this: “Start with the assumption that you’re going to need to compensate bloggers in some way.”