1. BLOGGERS AS AN ADVERTISING TOOL FOR BRANDS:
TARGETING MILLENNIALS
An
Independent Honors Thesis
Presented by
Mariela Siegel
December 2015
Approved By:
Bruce Weinberg, Marketing
José Molina Machuca, CEO at Trajesamedida.com
2. ABSTRACT
Title: Bloggers as an Advertising Tool for Brands: Targeting Millennials
Author: Mariela Siegel
Thesis/Project Type: Independent Honors Thesis
Approved By: Bruce Weinberg, Marketing Department
Brands are having a harder time reaching millennials through traditional media efforts. As a
consequence, they are shifting their spending to more interactive media like social media, in
which younger generations spend most of their time. Bloggers are proving to be a great
marketing tool because of the impact on awareness and increased sales for the partnered
company. This is why I investigated the notion of companies starting connections with bloggers
to promote their products and allocating more resources to this new advertising technique. This
thesis examines the option of brands collaborating with bloggers as an effective marketing
technique, and provides useful insight for companies to consider in order to increase brand
awareness and drive sales. For my thesis, I used other authors’ research from the Du Bois
library’s resources and information mentioned by professor Kathleen DebevecWitz in my
Advertising and Promotion class, as well as my own experiences and observations about
bloggers. The research shows that the advantages provided by bloggers are an important reason
for brands to put more emphasis on using bloggers as a marketing technique. The advantages of
bloggers were analyzed in terms of broad exposure, influence, credibility, and feedback. I have
concluded that bloggers are a great way for companies to advertise their products to reach a
larger audience and to create brand awareness, and therefore are a good investment for
advertising resources.
3. TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 2...........................................................................................................................
SUMMARY OF WORK OF PREVIOUS RESEARCHERS 3..........................................................
EXPLANATION OF CURRENT METHODOLOGY AND GOALS 6............................................
METHODOLOGY 6.....................................................................................................................
GOALS 7........................................................................................................................................
REPORT AND DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH RESULTS 8..........................................................
INTRODUCING THE BLOGOSPHERE 8..................................................................................
BLOGGERS AS AN ADVERTISING TOOL 17...........................................................................
TARGETING MILLENNIALS THROUGH BLOGGERS 25......................................................
BLOGGER CREDIBILITY 28......................................................................................................
GROWING INTEREST IN BLOGGING AS ADVERTISING TOOL 32....................................
BLOGGING AS A LIVING 33......................................................................................................
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 38......................................
BIBLIOGRAPHY 42..........................................................................................................................
4. INTRODUCTION
My thesis topic is “how bloggers have changed the way companies advertise their
products and are used to target millennials.” In the past 25 years, the Internet has become one of
the most important aspects of our society. As each year goes by, technology continues to innovate
and evolve, and the Internet becomes even more essential in individuals’ lives. Blogs have
become a very important source of news, a great way of expression, and, therefore, a great way
for companies to advertise their products.
A blog is commonly defined as a frequently updated web-based chronological
publication, a log of personal thoughts and web links, a mixture of diary forms around what is
happening in a person’s life, and reports and comments on what is happening on the web and the
world out there. Many blogs have become commercial, generating money from the ads on the
blogs. Popular bloggers receive money and/or free samples from the companies in exchange for
spreading the word about the company’s products. This has led to an increase in the number of
bloggers whose careers have become to blog on a daily basis.
Bloggers who have been adopted into mainstream fashion press didn’t start out imitating
or trying to be a part of it; they just wanted to express their opinions. Blogs have brought a breath
of fresh air into the fashion industry. Bloggers advertise a product or brand by writing a few
sentences about them and most likely including photos of the product itself or of the blogger
wearing the product if it is wearable.
I personally believe that bloggers have become one of the best ways to market products,
whether it is a clothing brand, beauty product, car, food and drinks, restaurants, etc. As a fashion
blogger reader myself, I am exposed to hundreds of different products daily when I either read
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5. fashion posts or check my daily feed on Instagram, where I follow over a thousand fashion
bloggers. Bloggers are my number one source of advertising and for learning about new
products. Considering the fact that there are millions of other blog readers like me, I strongly
believe that all companies should start connections with bloggers to promote their products.
SUMMARY OF WORK OF PREVIOUS RESEARCHERS
When researching work of previous researchers on how bloggers have changed
advertising for companies, I did not encounter a large amount of sources. Most current research
is about why companies should start a blog themselves to interact with consumers and get their
feedback. However, it is clear to me that my topic is gaining importance since a few new books
showed up this time in my research, compared to when I researched the topic earlier on in the
year. I focused my search on other researchers’ work in the use of blogs as an advertising
technique and in the credibility of the bloggers.
I found a book called Mobile Media Making in an Age of Smartphones that mentions that
while bloggers might have debuted on blogs, commercial bloggers are now using Instagram
extensively. Asia-Pacific’s most prolific commercial blogger, Wendy Cheng from Xiaxue,
confessed that she received sponsorship for her house renovation and interior design, and a
year’s use of three different vehicles from a car dealer. All she had to do in exchange was to
advertise for the companies on her social media. For the most part, bloggers receive payment for
their advertising services. The book also mentions that famous bloggers are signed to blog
advertising companies, who deal with the collaborations, although there are still many that work
as freelancers (Berry).
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6. Instagram has become so important for bloggers that they have to maintain an Instagram
persona by posting photos that show an upper-middle-class lifestyle, since they are partnering up
with brands that want to sell their products to the higher end users of the middle class. Bloggers
mostly show their luxury items, which increases followers’ interest; they don’t tend to show their
non-luxury items. The reason behind it is the notion that expensive objects are perceived as more
desirable since people nowadays value wealth. In addition to showing luxury items, bloggers
show a glimpse of their exotic trips, exclusive dinners and private events that celebrities attend,
and that are not accessible to the public (Berry).
The choosing of what to show on social media even extends to who they post photos
with. Some bloggers only post a picture of themselves accompanied by someone when that
person is a successful blogger, which further establishes the value and exclusiveness of their
social network. Bloggers evaluate the potential of the photo by estimating how many likes it will
get, and even manipulate the image to improve their bodies in order to get more likes, and obtain
more followers. Bloggers’ managers sometimes recommend avoiding photos at clubs in order to
remain appropriate role models for underage followers (Berry).
Research shows that followers remain interested in a blogger when the blogger doesn’t
seem too commercialized. For this reason, bloggers have to make sure that sponsored posts don’t
overshadow personal posts. This may be a justification for why many bloggers avoid disclosing
when a photo is sponsored. Bloggers started off as ordinary reliable and trustworthy people, who
expressed their opinions openly and honestly with no hidden motives, so they have to remain
being perceived like that to continue being successful (Berry). This is harder for them nowadays
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7. since they get paid and receive presents for posting about a brand, which is very likely to affect
their judgement.
By mid-2013, the amount of people who read blogs decreased. Instagram took over,
which had its disadvantages, since they don’t allow as much text as blogs do, so the capability to
communicate more information decreased. Basically, blog views are decreasing while Instagram
followers continue to increase. This is why many bloggers constantly refer back to their blog in
the caption of the Instagram photo, in order to gain more traffic on the blog (Berry).
Bloggers are also strategic in terms of scheduling their posts during high traffic periods
such as 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., when the readers are usually using their
phones for recreational purposes. Maintaining the ideal persona lifestyle and work life, has
become bloggers’ way of life. Bloggers don’t have a traditional work schedule because of this,
and they are constantly maintaining that persona throughout the day, and showing it on social
media. As the authors of the Mobile Media Making in an Age of Smartphones say, “bloggers who
successfully capture an audience who will ‘Like them,’ ‘Buy them,’ and ‘Watch them’ will have
long careers in the industry,” which justifies why bloggers have to pay attention to so many
details (Berry).
As part of the previous researchers’ work, I looked over some research by Shu-Chuan
Chu, a doctoral student at the department of advertising of The University of Texas at Austin.
Chu conducted a study to examine how perceived blogger trustworthiness affects blog readers'
elaboration of brand-related messages and its interaction effects with argument quality. The
results showed that the degree of a perceived blogger’s trustworthiness affects the extent of
elaboration by blog readers, consistent with prior research, and suggests a significant interaction
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8. effect on brand attitudes. When perceived blogger trustworthiness is high, argument quality has a
greater impact on brand attitudes than when perceived blogger trustworthiness is low (Chu).
The study shows that when a blog reader is not sure about whether an expert blogger will
provide information that is correct because of the blogger’s low perceived trustworthiness, the
reader may examine the argument more closely and make sure that the message is valid.
Conversely, the reader does not engage in such close examination of the information and will
accept the argument when he or she believes that the blogger is trustworthy. In addition,
argument quality (strong arguments) has a greater impact on readers’ brand attitude when
perceived blogger trustworthiness is high. Research shows that trustworthiness leads to positive
attitudes toward the brand when the argument is strong (Chu).
This information about blogger credibility is very important for advertising media
strategy and for companies to learn about how consumers process blog information, since
companies want to increase advertising budgets on blogs to develop effective communication
strategies. Bloggers with high perceived trustworthiness and strong arguments lead to the most
positive attitudes toward the brand (Chu).
EXPLANATION OF CURRENT METHODOLOGY AND GOALS
METHODOLOGY
In order to collect information for my honor thesis, I mainly used the Du Bois library’s
resources. I used physical books and ebooks from the Du Bois library, articles from their
databases and Google scholars for additional information. I tried contacting bloggers to hear
about their thoughts about how bloggers have changed marketing and about whether or not they
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9. promote brands on their blogs for incentives. I contacted them via email, but they never
answered back. The reason behind this, in my opinion, is that bloggers usually get paid and
receive free gifts from brands for promoting their products, but bloggers don’t seem to be too
transparent about it and try to hide it. One of the only bloggers that accepted a Harper’s Bazaar
interview about collaborating with brands is Danielle Bernstein, from the famous blog We Wore
What.
GOALS
During my college career, my marketing classes and textbooks have barely mentioned
blogging as part of the marketing strategy. During my free time, I enjoy reading blogs and
following bloggers on social media, which is why I have learned so much about this advertising
strategy over the two years that I have been reading blogs.
With a personal interest in fashion and blogging, and a blogger myself, I have tried to
take any given opportunity at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to learn more about the
impact of blogging on the way companies market their products. I have taken my thesis as an
opportunity to further develop my basic knowledge on blogging and to connect it to my
background as a business student. If I end up working in the advertising department at a business
that sells a product, I would recommend bloggers as a way to advertise the products, so I would
like to know more about it, to be prepared to make a case for it in the future if I have to.
My objective for this thesis is to further expand my knowledge about blogging and about
how bloggers have changed the way companies market their products to the rest of the world in
order to increase their bottom line. After doing some initial research on how blogging has
changed advertising methods, I wasn’t able to find an overwhelming amount of sources, like it
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10. usually happens when I google a more common topic. This is why I wanted to develop some
research on my own and put it all together, for others to read in the future. My goal was to gain
knowledge about this marketing technique because in the future, I would like to incorporate this
recent new method and put it into practice in my career as a marketer.
REPORT AND DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH RESULTS
INTRODUCING THE BLOGOSPHERE
In the past 25 years, the Internet has become one of the most important aspects of our
society. As each year goes by, technology continues to innovate and evolve, and the Internet
becomes even more essential in individual’s lives. The New Media Environment refers to it as the
age of the Internet, and as any other thing in life, it has its benefits and its downsides. Blogs have
become a very important source of news, a great way of expression, and therefore, a great way
for companies to advertise their products.
According to the US Census Bureau, 74.4 percent of US households had internet access
by 2014, with 73.4 percent reporting a high-speed connection (File). On any given day, about
87% of U.S. adults say they use the internet, at least occasionally (Fox). Internet use is most
common among homes with relatively young householders, in households with Asian or White
householders, in households with high incomes, in metropolitan areas, and in homes where
householders reported relatively high levels of educational attainment (File).
Nowadays, desktops or laptops are not the only sources of Internet access; cell phones
allow people to access the Internet whenever they want and wherever they want. Ninety percent
of US adults have a cellphone and two-thirds of those reported using their phones to go online.
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11. One third of cellphone owners identified their phone as their primary internet access point. When
smartphones were introduced in mid-2007 with the introduction of the iPhone, Mobile access to
the internet had a huge increase. As of 2014, 58% of US adults have a smartphone. About 68% of
US adults say they access the internet on a cell phone, tablet, or other mobile device, at least
occasionally (Fox).
Geert Lovink, author of Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical Internet Culture, adds
that “the birth of new media is closely tied to the democratization of computers with the
development of the personal computer (PC). According to some, it is an art form...with its
videos, art and performance. New media art, as defined by the Australia Council, is a process
where new technologies are used by artists to create works that explore new modes of artistic
expression. These new technologies include computers, information and communications
technology, virtual or immersive environments, or sound engineering. They are brushes and pens
of a new generation of artists” (Lovink 42).
David L. Hudson Jr. starts off his book Blogging by saying that “the internet has been
hailed as the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed” and a “far more speech
enhancing medium than print. It allows individuals to become modern-day pamphleteers, to
contribute to the marketplace of ideas that for so long has been dominated by a relative select
few” (Hudson 11). This new way of expression is reflected in the existence of blogs. Blogs allow
random people to express themselves and explore. If a blog doesn’t work out, it is deleted and
the creator can move on without being as criticized as book authors are if their books don’t
succeed.
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12. So “what is a blog?” people might ask themselves. Hudson explains that in the late
1990s, “a new medium developed on the internet, which increased the participatory nature of
online expression even more. Blogger Jorn Barger referred to this development as a Weblog.”
Barger coined this phrase to refer to his web site, which consisted of a series of links to news
articles and other sites he found interesting and informative. Barger formed the term by
combining the words web site and logging-hence, the work weblog is now in our cultural lexicon
(Hudson 11). His book also explains that in 1999, Peter Merholz used the term blog to refer to a
weblog. He wrote on his site, “I’ve decided to pronounce the word ‘Weblog’ as wee-blog or
‘blog’ for short.” In 2002, the Oxford English Dictionary asked Peter Merholz for a print source
for the word ‘blog’ so they could include it in their dictionary (Rettberg). According to Blog
Rules: A Business Guide to Managing Policy, Public Relations, and Legal Issues, the word ‘blog’
was added to Oxford English dictionary in 2003. In 2004, the word became word of the year by
Merriam Webster dictionary. Since then it has formed into a verb, to blog, and nouns, a
blogosphere and a blogger (person who blogs) (Hudson 12).
Lovink explains in the introduction of his book Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical
Internet Culture that “a weblog or blog is commonly defined as a frequently updated web-based
chronological publication, a log of personal thoughts and web links, a mixture of diary forms
around what is happening in a person’s life, and reports and comments on what is happening on
the web and the world out there.” The blog allows to create new content easily, adding text and
pictures to the template within the web browser, and then submitted for the public to see.
According to Lovink, “to blog merely means to quickly point to news facts through a link
and a few sentences that explain why the blogger found this or that factoid interesting or
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13. remarkable or is in disagreement with it.” Blogging doesn’t require high technological skills, just
basic computer knowledge, so anyone who knows how to use a computer can blog. Lovink also
defines blogging as to quickly pointing “to news facts through a link and a few sentences that
explain why the blogger found this or that factoid interesting or remarkable or is in disagreement
with it” (Lovink 7). Hudson adds that “blogs can be online journals or diaries in which
individuals can post entries about the subjects that interest them most. According to Jonathan
Yang’s ‘Rough guide to blogging,’ “it’s those links between blogs that make the blogosphere
such a dynamic, interrelated whole. The blogosphere simply covers every subject imaginable. It
is a diverse human thought. There are blogs on music, business, the arts, video games, pets,
politics and more” (Hudson 12).
I strongly agree with Hudson when he says that “blogging represents a worldwide
phenomenon. Blogs can inform, educate, titillate, inflame, and enrage. Nearly every segment of
the public blogosphere - students, employees, and journalists - raises important legal and societal
issues and controversies.” Even politicians have made use of the medium to communicate with
their constituents and campaign for office. Blogging is a revolutionary medium of
communication because it enables an average person to communicate to a wide audience at a
relatively low cost. Professor Donald J. Kochan says “the blogosphere allows anyone to be a
publisher, anyone to be an author, anyone to have their own imprint, and anyone to have their
own broadcast” (Hudson 96).
Nancy Flynn, author of Blog Rules: A Business Guide to Managing Policy, Public
Relations, and Legal Issues, says that “with a new blog created every second, the hype and
hoopla surrounding blogging is understandable. From the millions of individuals with a
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14. conviction or cause they are eager to share with like-minded readers, to the thousands of
corporations that are looking for a more effective and reliable way to polish reputations and build
trust-based relationships with customers to the bands and citizens journalists who are challenging
the mainstream media by offering an alternative news source-everyone, it seems, is
blogging” (Flynn 3).
Flynn mentions in her book that Business Week said that “blogs are simply the most
explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself” (Flynn 4), but there is more
as to why they are so important besides that they allow everyone to freely express themselves.
Hudson restates that “blogs have become amazingly popular in a short space of time. Technorati,
the leading tracker of blogs, has indexed more than 130 million blogs since 2002. The
blogosphere has become nearly as influential as other media for many people in the
world” (Flynn 12). This is the other important aspect of blogs; online blogs as a source of news
for society. Debbie Weil explains in The corporate blogging book-absolutely everything you need
to know to get it right that “turning to web search is now a reflexive response. If you’re frantic
with worry about a family member being caught in the path of a hurricane or a tsunami, where
do you go online to get more information? a blog, of course” (Weil 5).
So now the question is “why are blogs themselves so successful?” In my opinion, Weil
does a great job at explaining this in her book. She concentrates her explanation into three main
aspects, which are scale, speed and impact. In terms of scale, there are so many blogs that
according to her, “the explosion in the number of blogs is mind-blogging” (Weil 4). She says that
“while the first wave of blogs was personal-many written by self-indulgent diarists-the second
and third waves have been written by consultants, academics, small business owners and,
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15. increasingly, by bigger companies and corporations” (Weil 5). Anything you can think of, there is
probably a blog about it. There are so many blogs about so many topics for so many different
tastes that a broad audience is captured by the blogosphere. For example, I am very interested in
fashion, so I go online daily and read some fashion blogs and look at pictures with different
outfits that portray the fashion at the moment.
Blogs are current, so they keep me posted on fashion trends that are happening that day,
that month or that year. Most successful blogs are updated daily so I am well informed about the
current events in fashion as well. This goes along with what Weil identifies as the second
successful aspect of blogging which is speed. She says that blogs are “instant and always on (by
always on I’m referring to the 24/7 nature of the web). Accessible anytime, anyplace, though any
internet-connected device. Whether it’s a political scandal, a natural disaster or a terrorist attack,
people increasingly turn to blogs to get the most up-to-date news and in turn, to post their version
of events” (Weil 5).
The example that Weil gives is very powerful in my opinion. She goes all the way back to
September 11, 2001, when blogs weren’t even as common as they are today. She recalls that “the
major online news sites were overloaded and stopped working. Blogs supplanted mainstream
media for on-the-scene reporting, for what was really happening” (Weil 5). Weil then explains
that “late that night on 9/11, pioneer blogger and technology entrepreneur Dave Winer wrote:
“we got first hand reports from people who were there...real time human touches that are hard to
capture in a print pub with a lead time. There’s power in the new communication and
development medium we’re mastering” (Weil 5).
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16. Lastly, according to Weil, impact is another important characteristic of blogs. For this she
gives an example about Democrat Howard Dean’s BlogForAmerica.com. She states that this was
the “first-ever official blog for a presidential candidate” that “helped the candidate raise millions
of dollars from online donors during the primary. Hundreds of individual bloggers were granted
press credentials at the democratic and republican national convention. Now everyone could be a
journalist or a reporter (although you weren’t guaranteed credibility or readership). Citizen
Journalism, an emerging concept, was a reality” (Weil 6). In this case, blogs served as a way to
raise funds for the political campaign, as well as for random bloggers to serve as reporters of
political conventions, with the latter most likely not being possible if it wasn’t for blogs.
Blogging is a concept that refers to writing your own blog but also reading other blogs.
They represent a shift from uni-directional mass media to participatory media. The viewers and
the readers are creators of media. Blogs are considered a part of the history of writing, going
back to the early forms of autobiographies and diary writing. They represent a change in
journalism and in marketing, along with other social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The
blogging movement really accelerated with the creation of Blogger.com and other sites that are
free and easy to use (Rettberg).
That same year, the blog search engine Technorati.com launched. The number of users
grew very quickly, from 100,000 in late 2003 to three million by July 2004, doubling every few
months. Technorati.com made the connection between blogs easier for outsiders to access. It also
provided big amounts of data about the blogosphere, the word used to describe the global
networks of blogs and the conversations among them. They began releasing quarterly reports on
‘The State of the Blogosphere’, which were highly used and cited, since they showed what blogs
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17. were like worldwide. The company is still running nowadays, reaching over 100 million blogs in
2008. Since then, they have cut down to one million blogs and only index blogs in English. It is
still considered one of the hundred most popular blogs (that indexes), but their focus is more on
marketing and advertising across social media instead of being a search engine for blogs. They
have also switched to annual reports instead (Rettberg).
In 2004, when the number of blogs on Technorati was doubling each month, and Merriam-
Webster declared ‘blog’ to be the word of the year, the word seemed known by everyone at that
point. In reality, 62% of Internet users reported not knowing what the word meant. The years
after that, other personal platforms were created, further expanding the idea of freely being able
to publish online. Some of those new platforms were Facebook, which opened to the public in
2006, and Twitter also in 2006, but reaching the top ten most visited websites in 2012. These
platforms now have billions of users, demonstrating the desire of people to communicate
(Rettberg).
The term ‘social media’ was officially adopted in 2008, and it was spread quickly. In most
countries, a majority of the population has some kind of social media account. Social media
platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Pinterest are not referred to as blogs, but they do
have a lot in common with them. Twitter is actually defined as a micro-blogging site, and it is
very similar to early versions of blogs like Scripting News or Metafilter. Youtube is used a lot to
publish a video blog, also known as vlog, where the person speaks to the camera like a blogger
types on the keyboard. Pinterest is also a visual blog, where people can share and comment on
images found online. On the other hand, Facebook is more of a closed blogging system
(Rettberg).
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18. Blogs have changed with the widespread use of smartphones, which allows access to a
camera and internet connectivity. Twitter’s 140 character limit per tweet was designed based on
the 160 character limit of an SMS on a mobile phone. This also fits well with the small size of
the phone’s screen and the few minutes dedicated to look at social media from the phone, while
on public transportation or waiting at a doctor’s office. With the huge improvements in the
quality of the cameras in a smartphone, photographs have become very important on social
media and blogs. Facebook has adapted to this new trend by allowing more space for images on
the news feed, while Instagram was designed to allow mobile photo sharing, with the added
benefit of filters to edit the photographs taken with the phone (Rettberg).
In addition to photographs, graphics and other kinds of images dominate blogs much
more than years ago. This is partly due to the faster download of images, better quality of screens
for viewing images, and the increase in use of tablets for reading web content. Images are usually
more appealing to a drive-by audience, which is why many blogs are mostly images instead of
words (Rettberg).
An important feature of social media is sharing links, which has also become more visual
over the years. When you share a link on Facebook, a thumbnail image appears next to it.
Pinterest is mostly visuals that are connected to websites, and it acts as a mood board where you
can pin photos. Taking all of this into account, blogs have evolved to more visual pages
(Rettberg). Along with the changes in technology, bloggers have also transitioned into a more
visual based documentation and have adapted to the constant use of social media platforms.
There is no exact number for all of the existing blogs, since there is no registry to control
it. However, in 2012, Wordpress reported over 50 million blogs on its own, with 100,000 new
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19. blogs created each day. Something to take into account is that not all of these blogs are updated
on a regular basis. NM, a media monitoring company tracked 181 million blogs at the end of
2011, but it is not clear if it is only for English blogs. The China Internet Network Information
Center reported more than 300 million blogs in China in 2011. Blogs are used worldwide, but not
every country has the same blogging intensity. About 20% of users in the United Arab Emirates
work on a blog at least once a week, 5% in Australia, 5% in New Zealand, 6% in Sweden, 38%
in Mexico, and 39% in Cyprus, just to name a few (Rettberg).
BLOGGERS AS AN ADVERTISING TOOL
Advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal communication about an organization,
product, service, or idea by an identified sponsor. The paid aspect refers to the fact that the space
or time for an advertising message generally must be bought, while the nonpersonal component
means that advertising involves mass media (Belch). Based on this definition, blogging can be a
form of advertising. Businesses have started using blogs as part of their marketing campaign to
improve customer relations and also to establish a presence on the web. Individual bloggers have
been making money from the advertisements on their blogs, and in many cases, people have
started a blog on a specific topic with the hope that it will host ads and will make money from it
(Rettberg). Blogging is a win-win situation since the brands reach a broader audience which
leads to more sales, and bloggers make money through this. Because it is beneficial for both
parties, I think that it should be taken advantage of even more.
Since the appearance of social media, companies have had to rethink the way they do
public relations and marketing. A publicist named Trevor Cook believes that blogs make it
possible for companies to speak directly to customers, without having to go through a journalist.
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20. Publicists used to have to find a way to get the media to publish about their company, learning
how to attract journalists’ attention. Journalists usually look for conflicts and inconsistencies
within a story, since they want to be critical of corporations, instead of just writing good things
about them. The publicist’s job is then to eliminate the negativity from those statements.
Publicists now also work with bloggers, forced to accept some of the roles traditionally
associated with good journalism, like an emphasis on fairness, balance accuracy and integrity,
instead of the advocacy that ultimately relies on the third-party endorsement of a trusted media
brand for its credibility (Rettberg).
Many blogs have become commercial, generating money from the ads on the blogs.
Popular bloggers receive money and/or free samples from the companies in exchange for
spreading the word about the company’s products. This has lead to an increase in the number of
career bloggers (Rettberg). Almost every big company nowadays collaborates with bloggers to
increase brand awareness, including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Adidas, Lancôme, etc.
Proof of how important blogs are nowadays is the fact that the Time Magazine now
publishes an annual list of the ‘50 coolest blogs’; there is also Bloggies, which is the annual
awards ceremony that recognizes the public’s favorite blogs and bloggers from around the globe.
Blogs have become amazingly popular in a short period of time. The blogosphere has become
almost as influential as other media. Since companies are already engaging in social media as a
way to promote products, they should also use connections with bloggers as an advertising
method.
Every April, the Hyères International Festival of Fashion is celebrated in Saint Tropez,
where the French fashion elite gathers to discuss fashion and to see the work of new young
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21. designers through fashion shows. Only a select group of people used to attend this event, due to
the fact that they worked in the industry, at magazines or just knew the right people. However,
recently fashion bloggers have been sitting in the front row. Susanna Lau, a British blogger, is
one of those bloggers. She often gets recognized when she goes shopping, so her popularity with
everyday consumers has attracted brands, and allowed her and other bloggers to attend exclusive
events. She also gets attention from fashion brands for styling and consultancy advice (Tungate).
Readers realized that blogs were a refreshing source of news and opinion. Small
designers saw this as an opportunity to promote to thousands of readers. While fashion
magazines take months of preparation, a blogger can report on a fashion show 10 minutes after
the show is done. Every year, fashion bloggers attend fashion week in London, New York, Paris,
Milan, and other cities. They receive gifts from designers, are invited to launch parties and are
invited on extravagant trips, just like glossy magazine journalists (Tungate). One of those fancy
trips was organized by the online luxury fashion retailer Revolve clothing, which took the top
fashion bloggers to Dubrovnik, Croatia for a week over the past summer. Some of them were
Chiara Ferragni from The Blonde Salad, Jessica Stein from Tuula Vintage, Aimee Song from
Song of Style and Negin Mirsalehi, which are all from different countries. During the duration of
the trip, Instagram was flooded with pictures of them in Croatia, of the country itself and of their
outfits wearing the retailer’s clothing. Not only did the bloggers advertise the company, but they
even created awareness and desire for visiting Croatia.
Magazines have always been a great way to showcase products, reaching an extensive
amount of readers, but are magazines threatened by blogs? Scott Schuman, blogger of ‘The
Sartorialist,’ doesn’t think blogs will replace magazines as the most influential fashion media:
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22. It’s a totally different thing. My photos are a slice of life, while a magazine makes you
daydream in another way. But I do think blogs are a great source of talent for the
mainstream media. And at the same time, the people who run blogs have a certain amount
of power. A blogger who is recruited by a newspaper can maybe negotiate a better
contract because they have an audience of thousands of people that they’re bringing with
them (Tungate).
Bloggers who have been adopted into mainstream fashion press didn’t start out imitating
or trying to be a part of it; they just wanted to express their opinions. Blogs have brought a breath
of fresh air into the fashion industry. Public Relations always over pack fashion shows, including
celebrities, fashion elite and bloggers. In 2007, there was a memorable interaction between a
member of the elite and a newcomer. According to media news website Mediabistro, blogger
Julie Fredrickson conducted an impromptu interview to Vogue’s editor Anna Wintour. Then
Wintour’s publicist showed up and sent the blogger away (Tungate).
Brands expect positive feedback when they send a freebie to a blogger or invite them to a
launch event. Some bloggers do what is expected, but others want to remain true to their readers,
and write an honest opinion. Susanna Lau is one of those bloggers. She shared that she was
invited by Chanel on a trip to Paris to cover the launch of their newest advertising campaign, but
she was completely honest on her blog about what the deal was about. She confessed that she
doesn’t accept money from brands to post about them, like many other bloggers do. She receives
over 30 emails a day asking her to promote a product or brand, but she says that she is not here
for that (Tungate).
Not all bloggers are like her, and it is known that many bloggers are making a huge
amount of money for promoting products. I personally think that bloggers who expect to live off
of their blogs will accept money for sure, but others who do it as a hobby might not accept
money necessarily (Tungate). Recently, Alexandra Pereira, the author of Lovely Pepa, one of
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23. Spain’s most recognized bloggers, admitted during an interview on national TV that she rejected
a collaboration that paid 50,000€-75,000€ because she didn’t identify with the brand’s beliefs
and with what was expected of her in return.
Many blogs have served as a launching technique for their careers. Many bloggers like
Schuman and his partner Garance Doré have created their own brands and have appeared in
advertising shoots. Samir Arora, founder of Glam.com, mentioned that bloggers have evolved
into independent publishers and their blogs have become their full-time occupations. Many have
been able to do this, but others haven’t been able to make a decent living out of their blogs.
Glam.com places blogs on its network, and splits advertising revenue half way, based on page
impressions (Tungate). Due to all of the collaboration offers that bloggers get, many of the most
well-known and established bloggers are actually represented by agencies now. One of the
biggest agencies is Digital Brand Architects, which brokers the relationship between brands and
the bloggers that they represent (Belosic).
Bloggers also create micro-sites and promotional content for brands. Arora says that three
of Glam’s content curators have made over $1 million in residuals this year, which is equivalent
to a good year for a writer or editor. Glam.com, which has a focus on women aged 18– 49, has
created a very deep connection between the content and the advertiser. The ads on the network
showcase over 1,000 brands, including Gucci, Prada, stores like Neiman Marcus, etc. (Tungate).
Google’s AdSense, which launched in 2003 and was incorporated into Blogger, was the
first major program that allowed bloggers to advertise easily. Most blogging platforms nowadays
have a similar program to make it easier for bloggers to advertise, or they just advertise
automatically, and share the revenue with the blog host (Rettberg).
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24. Bloggers advertise a product or brand by writing a few sentences about them and most
likely including photos of the product itself or of the blogger wearing the product if it is
wearable. A typical post reads as “the fall is coming, and it is time to prepare with shoes such as
this simple, suede, slingback peep-toe pump by Kate Spade. Not only it is elegant, but Manolo
thinks it is very smart in these two rich colors, the ruby and the navy.” This is part of a post from
August 2007, by ‘Manolo’s Shoe Blog.’ The link for the underlined words takes the reader
straight to the item page for the shoes at Zappos.com, which is an online shoe store that pays
bloggers a 15 percent cut of the total amount paid by customers who they refer to the page. The
shoes mentioned in the post cost $278, so each time someone buys a pair after clicking on the
page through Manolo’s blog, Manolo makes $41.70. If the person decided not to buy that shoe
model but still bought another shoe from the website, Manolo would still get 15 percent of the
purchase. Besides the money made off of referrals, Manolo also earns money from
advertisements on his site. His ads are displayed on the right of his website, all the way down the
page. This is just one example of the many bloggers who do this each day (Rettberg).
One of my favorite fashion bloggers, and also one of the most famous bloggers in the
world, Chiara Ferragni, is one of the go to bloggers to showcase new products chosen by brands.
She has won several awards, including the 2014 Best Personal Style Blog for The Blonde Salad,
her world famous blog.
Besides using their personal blogs to promote products throughout their posts, they also
have advertising sections for famous brands. They even have links on their websites to shop for
products. Not only do companies pay bloggers to wear their products and advertise them, but the
bloggers have so many followers and fans that companies create clothing campaigns with them
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25. as models. An example is Chiara Ferragni’s capsule collection for Superga shoes called Superga
x Blonde Salad. She had previously collaborated with Superga in a macramé lace collection that
sold out in less than 10 days. The success of these types of campaigns have led her to create her
own shoe brand, which is also very popular.
Her Instagram account has 2.8 million followers and her blog gets millions of views
every month. Considering the amount of people who check out her posts, it makes sense for
companies to invest large amounts of money in the fashion bloggers and to get them to attend
their events. Chiara has been the model for famous campaigns such as Armani, Louis Vuitton,
Caia Jewels, etc.
Another example on the power of bloggers on social media is Kylie Jenner, who is not a
normal blogger, but she is treated like one by brands since brands use her to advertise products to
her fan network and she has her own website and app where she advertises products. Months
ago, there was a huge controversy about her getting lip fillers. She denied it for months before
admitting it later on, and said that her lips looked like they had been filled because she applied a
lot of lip liner. She even said which one she used, which was a product by the company MAC.
The product was sold out shortly after, no surprise since she has 43.9 million followers as of
December 3rd, 2015. Even more recently, she has been “accused” of getting breast implants. She
has also been denying it, and recently posted a video on her personal app explaining that she
used the Bombshell bra by Victoria’s Secret. I actually stopped by the store recently and asked
about the product. While the saleslady was leading me to the product, she explained to me that it
was selling very well recently and she didn’t really know why-but I do since I am guilty of
following Kylie Jenner on social media.
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26. Fashion blogs have become a great marketing tool lately because of the amount of people
that they reach and also because of the great influence that these bloggers have on their readers. I
personally have expanded my knowledge about brands in the past two years since I started
reading these blogs and have bought many of the products that these fashion bloggers
“recommend.” I say recommend in quotations because I am aware of the fact that these fashion
bloggers are paid by the companies to recommend the products even though they might not use
them otherwise. In many occasions, Chiara posts on Instagram a picture of a few Chanel
products that she got for free in order to promote them to her followers. The caption of her
photos are usually something like “new makeup to try @chanelofficial.” And this is just an
example of the many famous brands that give her products to market throughout the world.
Bloggers also host giveaways in collaboration with companies to create more brand
awareness and desire. Companies are usually the ones who give the gift for free to the winner
and they also reward the blogger either by paying them or through gifts. There are different ways
to enter the sweepstakes, but a really common way is by reposting the photo by the blogger on
your own profile and tagging a few friends on the original post. If you don’t follow those steps,
you are not considered for the sweepstakes. Companies do this to expand even further the
number of participants and to increase brand awareness even more.
I personally believe that bloggers have become one of the best ways to market products,
whether it is a clothing brand, beauty product, car, food and drinks, restaurants, etc. As a fashion
blogger reader myself, I am exposed to hundreds of different products daily when I either read
fashion posts or check my daily feed on Instagram, where I follow over a thousand fashion
bloggers. Bloggers are my number one source of advertising and to learn about new products.
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27. Considering the fact that there are thousands of other people like me (a millennial), I strongly
believe that all companies should start connections with bloggers to promote their products.
TARGETING MILLENNIALS THROUGH BLOGGERS
My interest falls mostly on to advertising targeted at millennials, since I am one of them.
As a Marketing student, I am beginning to think as a marketer, which is why based on my
experience and learning throughout business courses, I would recommend that companies
allocate part of their advertising budget on targeting millennials through the blogger network.
According to the article “10 New Findings About The Millennial Consumer,” it seems
like companies are competing for millennial mindshare, and as of January of this year, Forbes
stated that it is only the beginning. The Millennials’ generation has a lot of potential since it is
formed by “eighty million millennials in America alone and they represent about a fourth of the
entire population, with $200 billion in annual buying power” (Schawbel).
In the past, companies have only had to use traditional methods of advertising such as
TV, radio and magazines to reach older generations, but it seems like these methods have proven
ineffective at capturing millennials’ attention. Marketing spending in the USA is shifting from
traditional media to more interactive media like the Internet, social media and mobile marketing.
Brands are starting to consider Snapchat, Instragram and Twitter as platforms that they need to
cover in order to adapt to new consumer behavior. Companies need to find new ways to attract
millennials, and I strongly believe that bloggers and social media are a great way to do so.
During my Advertising and Promotion course this semester, the professor mentioned that
millennials are referred to as ‘digital natives’ since they were born in the technology era and have
been using digital devices as far as they can remember. She also mentioned that millennials use
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28. an average of 4 devices (smartphone, laptop, tablet, desktop, ipod, etc). Millennials are all about
technology and like to keep up with it, which is why brands need to be able to engage millennials
on new platforms as soon as they are released in order to stay relevant and appeal to millennials.
Millennials, like anyone else, use those 4 devices partly to access the internet. In terms of the
smartphone, 24 minutes and 49 seconds per day are dedicated to Internet search, which is ranked
at the top, above social media, music, phone calls, texting, etc. One of the things searched for
during those 24 minutes are blogs (Richmond), which further supports my argument for more
advertising spending on bloggers. Thirty three percent of 18-24 year olds use blogs overall,
which is 6 times that of seniors, and the same amount uses a photo or video sharing service (10
times that of online seniors).
Nowadays more time is spent on mobile devices than on computers (Murtagh). Instagram
being the fourth most downloaded app of all times with over 300 million monthly users,
surpassing Twitter, is making brands find ways to interact with these users and gain invested
customers who keep coming back for more (Perez). Instagram is one of the fastest growing sites
so more and more “influencers” are emerging, whose creative photos trigger an emotional
response – they amaze, motivate, and inspire their communities. Brands are partnering with these
influencers, in many cases celebrities, to create natural interactions and touch points to reach a
larger community – a digital army for a brand. Seventy one percent of the world’s largest brands
have adopted Instagram, posting an average of 23 photos per month (Belch).
Besides the advantage of broad exposure to potential consumers, Instagram offers the
advantage of advertising a product without any hard sales pitches, which is perfect for appealing
to customers without appearing like you are trying to sell them something (Perez). Having a
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29. blogger (someone people trust) post the picture about a brand or product instead of the brand
posting it prevents the audience from feeling like the company is trying to sell something to them
directly, and it makes it seem like they are just suggesting the product or brand.
An added bonus of using bloggers is that they help with the process of obtaining
feedback on products. Engaged followers usually comment on photos or blog posts from
bloggers and give their opinion on the product and even request more information about them.
Consumer feedback is very useful for companies because they can use it to better adapt to
customers’ needs. Consumers are always encouraged to give feedback to companies by taking a
survey, but not many people do it, unless they receive some compensation for it, whether it is a
coupon for the next purchase or entering a raffle. Bloggers have a huge follower database, who
are more likely to interact with the bloggers and express their opinions. Companies can look
through the comments to hear consumers’ thoughts, making it easier for them to know what the
consumer truly thinks about a product.
Social media is impacting buying decisions, where people are influenced by friends,
experts, brands, and influential bloggers. The following graph from 2010 shows that 26% of
people say that they are most influenced by social media, but this number has surely increased
since then, further making a case for advertising through bloggers to increase sales and
awareness.
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30. The article “10 New Findings About The Millennial Consumer,” highlights how the
Millennials’ generation has a lot of influence over older generations, for example over their
parents. In my case, I love the brand Michael Kors and every time I see something by the brand,
I show my mother. Now she has become a big fan of the brand and only looks to buy this brand.
This idea goes along with what the article says about millennials being “trendsetters across all
industries from fashion to food” (Schawbel).
Some companies believe that millennials aren’t brand loyal, so they don’t worry about
investing too much money on them since it is not going to lead to a long-term relationship
between company and consumer. However, a study based on interviewing 1,300 millennials
shows that millennials in fact are brand loyal (which I personally agree with). About 60% of the
interviewees said that they are often or always loyal to brands that the currently purchase. This is
why the sooner companies realize this and start making an effort to build a long lasting
relationship with millennials, the more profitable they will result in the future, since they will
probably continue to buy the same brands as they grow up (Schawbel).
BLOGGER CREDIBILITY
According to the Forbes article, this generation relies heavily on blogs and bloggers’
opinions when it comes to making a purchase. About 33% of millennials review blogs
beforehand, which compares to less than 3% for TV news, magazines and books. The older
generations are the ones who still get their news updates through traditional media, whereas
millennials head to social media to do so, which content is mostly written by people who they
trust (Schawbel). I follow a certain amount of hometown bloggers whose opinions I truly trust,
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31. and I use them as a source of information for reviewing mostly cosmetic products but also other
types of products or services such as local restaurants.
Scholars suggest that the increased personalization of mass media may increase the
credibility and persuasiveness of advertising messages. A recent study shows that “brand-related
messages on blogs are perceived as highly credible because bloggers remain independent from
corporate interests” (Chu). However, it can easily be argued that because bloggers get paid, it is
in their own interest to positively review a product in order to continue doing business with that
brand. Since bloggers started off blogging as a way to express their opinions and review products
in an honest way, many people believe that they still have that essence and stay true to
themselves and their readers.
In order to analyze source credibility, scholars usually look at expertise and
trustworthiness. Expertise refers to “the perceived ability of the source to make valid assertions”
and trustworthiness refers to the “audience's belief that the communicator provides information
in an honest, fair, sincere, and honorable manner” (Chu). Research shows that these two
components have a huge impact on persuading consumers and influencing their attitudes.
Interestingly, attractiveness has also been identified as a dimension of source credibility,
referring to the source’s social value in terms of physical appearance (which explains why most
famous bloggers are attractive in some way), personality, social status, or similarity to the
receiver. Research shows that “physically attractive endorsers are often more liked by audiences
and have a positive impact on attitude changes and product evaluations” (Chu).
Bloggers are usually considered credible sources because they are experts since
companies provide legit information for them to share. They are also considered trustworthy by
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32. their readers, since they readers choose to follow certain blogger’s because they see the bloggers
as honest. Since bloggers satisfy both criteria, they are considered credible sources. When the
reader perceives the blogger in this case, to be an expert and trustworthy, the reader “may
relinquish the thoughtful process of scrutinizing the message and instead unthinkingly accept the
position as valid without careful thought” (Chu). In conclusion, “in the context of blogs,
sponsorship by bloggers with high perceived trustworthiness and strong arguments combine to
generate the most positive attitudes toward the brand” (Chu). Shoppers nowadays turn to social
media for references, and to help them guide shopping decisions, and, more specifically,
“Instagram helps convert passive shoppers into confident customers” (Perez). If a blogger
reviews a product or recommends something, this makes consumers more likely to buy it since
they already have someone telling them that it is a good buying decision.
The study mentioned previously states that only 1% of the interviewees are influenced by
advertising and would trust a brand more because of a compelling advertisement. They believe
that advertisements are full of lies and are not authentic. Something that I was not aware of is
that millennials use Tivo to skip commercials and avoid banner advertisements on Facebook and
various news websites. This further proves my point of why companies should invest in bloggers
to do the advertising for millennials. If millennials see the blogger that they follow advertising a
certain brand, in my opinion, they are more likely to feel positive about a brand than if they saw
it advertised on TV during the airing of their favorite show, in which case, advertisements are
just bothering them.
After thinking about blogger credibility from my personal perspective, I have come to the
conclusion that the audience of bloggers don’t worry much about credibility when it comes to a
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33. blogger that they have followed for a while. In addition, the products that bloggers usually
advertise are categorized as low involvement products since they are medium-priced.
To help with the credibility question, the US has the Federal Trade Commission which
regulates advertising to protect consumers from false and misleading claims. Bloggers are legally
required to mention if they have a collaboration agreement with a company that could bias their
opinions. Each country has its own laws about false advertising, but generally, they all say that
bloggers must disclose “material facts” not obvious to the person seeing a post or claim,
“material” meaning that a reasonable person would consider the fact important when assessing
the credibility of a source of information.
When bloggers receive free things, they are more likely to give the product a better
review, so it is very important for bloggers to state whether or not they are being sponsored so
that the audience can be aware of it and consider it in their decision process. When a blogger
doesn’t say that it is sponsored, people can think that the opinion or recommendation is based on
a personal experience of using the product, leading the readers to purchase it. Disclosing it
means that readers can take into account the fact that the blogger may be happier about the
product since it was free, or that they just state a positive opinion to continue receiving free
things. Communicating that a photo is posted in collaboration with a company is as simple as
adding the hashtags #sponsored or #ad (Gorgone). I have personally seen many bloggers write in
the caption something like “I have teamed up with…” or “I bring you this giveaway in
collaboration with Coach.” Not all bloggers communicate when a blog post or photo is in
collaboration with a brand, but they are supposed to do it when the relationship is not obvious to
the reader.
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34. GROWING INTEREST IN BLOGGING AS ADVERTISING TOOL
In my Advertising and Promotion class, we learned that research shows that marketers
have 10 seconds or less to get their message across. Companies have a hard time making such a
short ad for TV which is why in many occasions, they have to make two 10 second ads that are
shown back to back on TV in order to get their message across. This is why a picture on
instagram by a blogger for example is a great way to promote a product. It is quick and easy, and
you can still get your message across. If a certain product demands more than one photo with a
caption to get the message across, the brands can have the bloggers post several pictures
throughout a span of time, for example 2 photos in the same week. In addition, a photo through a
blogger doesn’t require a big amount of spending on creating an advertising campaign.
My professor mentioned that marketers increased spending in 2014 by 56% to create
brand awareness. Bloggers help with brand awareness because they post about new products and
brands that are not common to their readers. This is actually how I find about a lot of products
that I end up purchasing.
The topic of blogging has become even more predominant in my classes. We discussed
how TV ads used to be good for “pester power” which is kids bothering their parents to buy them
a toy, which increased sales. Now people don’t watch as much TV and moms don’t seem to
understand why their kids like cars and engines, so they have a hard time understanding why
their kids find interesting the toys they choose, so when they buy toys for their kids, they don’t
buy Hot Wheels. In order to change this, Hot Wheels has actually been reaching out to mothers
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35. through social media and bloggers, and trying to convince them of the benefits of these toys, so
that they go for this brand over another brand (Townsend).
As part of my class, we had a speaker from Ryobi who spoke to us about digital
marketing. He mentioned that company executives attended the 2011 Bloggers Conference, and
realized the benefit of using bloggers. They met some bloggers who engaged in a lot of DIY (do
it yourself) projects and showed them on Pinterest,and Ryobi ended up collaborating with them
by giving them their tools so that they could use it for their projects. According to the speaker,
this had a huge impact because it created a lot of brand awareness, and the bloggers were even
hired for a TV channel about DIY projects.
BLOGGING AS A LIVING
Myself as a newly started blogger, I help advertise products for free even though it might
just be to my circle of friends and family members. Girls are all about seeing someone else with
something and wanting it immediately, so it is a very powerful tool. It is part of the word of
mouth technique.
I have been contacted by a few brands who want me to advertise their brand on social
media or my blog, but I still haven’t accepted any because they don’t pay; they offer me a 30%
discount on their products. They also provide me with a discount code to share with my “friends,
family and followers” according to them. A company emailed me saying that they would love to
see me post a few outfit ideas about what I would wear to spend a day in Las Vegas. They
wanted me to share it on social media using the hashtag #UltimateVegasOutfit, and their social
team would choose their favorite posts and share them. The offers that I get are not great because
of the small amount of followers that I currently have, compared to that of famous bloggers.
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36. Over the summer, an article from Harper’s Bazaar exposed details about bloggers getting
paid by brands. Blogger Danielle Bernstein, from the famous blog We Wore What, was the one
who spoke about about it. She has 1.2 million followers as of right now, but the information she
provided was based on when she had 992,000 followers. She is represented by Next Models,
which sets the range of $5,000 to $15,000 for a single piece of sponsored content, such as one
instagram picture. The rate changes based on the terms of the deal like if the brand wants a long-
term commitment or multiple Instagram pictures, and also on the amount of followers that the
blogger has. Brands want their message to reach the largest amount possible of consumers, so
based on that they offer different compensations. Her rates were based on when she had under 1
million followers, but after reaching the 1 million mark, the range goes up. However, she said
about the amounts that “everything’s negotiable, I’m Jewish” (Pieri).
Bernstein stated that the prices range from $500 to $5,000 when the blogger has
thousands of followers. An account with 6 million followers can charge $20,000 to $100,000
approximately for each image. Based on this, brands spend millions of dollars each year to
finance Instagram sponsored shots. Experts say that there are still many brands that send out free
products to bloggers, hoping that they will post about it on their social media, which they usually
do. Bernstein mentioned that in several occasions, she shares on social media pictures of presents
that she receives from the brands, but doesn’t get paid for posting it. She said that at 22 years old,
she is making much more money than she ever thought she would, and she can support herself
by blogging and advertising for brands (Pieri).
As part of the contract that bloggers sign with brands, they usually commit to not
showing any other brand in the same picture. Bernstein has recently been promoting on social
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37. media only about Lancôme and Virgin Hotels. For example, for Lancôme, she posted a picture of
their new Miracle Cushion product as part of her makeup bag. For Virgin Hotels, she attended
the opening of one of their hotels in Chicago and posted on Instagram a picture of her with
Virgin's owner Richard Branson at the event (Pieri).
Companies try to have the bloggers promote their products in a casual way so that it
doesn’t seem so forced upon the consumer. Bernstein worked for Project Runway and had to post
pictures of her sitting on her couch saying she was watching the show. Thomas Rankin, co-
founder and CEO of Dash Hudson, a program that makes your Instagram posts shoppable, says
that when he reviews blogger’s pictures before approving them to be posted, he rejects pictures
that look “too posed.” He justifies it by saying that “we're not trying to be in a magazine. We're
trying to create a moment.” Brands want sponsored posts to look casual so that consumers are
more accepting about the product. If brands didn’t care about making it look effortless and
casual, they would pay to have their product promoted on a magazine instead (Pieri).
Similarly to Dash Hudson, there is an even more famous phone application that allows
people to buy their favorite instagrams from their favorite instagrammers, called LIKEtoKnow.it.
The first step is to sign up for an account, then you like an instagram photo that has the
www.liketk.it link, and then you inmediately receive ready-to-shop product links to your inbox.
Thomas Rankin, says that in fashion, “there's a rapidly developing economy on
Instagram” (Pieri). He noticed it earlier on, same as the founder of LIKEtoKnow.it, so they made
their apps to make it easier for customers to buy the products they see on their favorite bloggers,
taking advantage of this untapped growing market. They establish a connection between
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38. advertising through Instagram and bloggers with the goal of selling mainly clothing, and making
a profit.
These apps have become even more important now that the purchasing behavior of
consumers has shifted from in-store shopping to online shopping. Web sales in the US reached
$304.91 billion in 2014, up 15.4% from 2013, and continue to increase (Enright). In the
following graph, we can see how web sales are on a constant increase from year to year.
In the past few years, retailers have been experiencing a downturn, with the holiday
shopping season receiving much less foot traffic than usual. The decrease in foot traffic shows a
shift in the way consumers shop. People nowadays have very hectic lives and have less time for
shopping. Many of these people have realized that shopping online is more convenient than
brick-and-mortar visits. Consumers can shop online at any time, and can do it from anywhere
with an internet connection, and on any device such as a smartphone, tablet or computer. This
means people can shop during a lunch break, after the kids go to bed or on the go, without the
need of physically transporting yourself to the store. Other advantages of shopping online are the
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39. ability to research of information, read online reviews and compare prices. Mainly because of
convenience, online shopping continues to increase, as told by many retailers that have noticed
growth on their websites (Bogaisky). Apps like Dash Hudson and LIKEtoKNOW.it are
convenient as well because they send readers the link of bloggers’ items they liked on Instagram
and they can make their purchases directly, without having to go to a store to find their desired
item.
The founder of Instagram, Kevin Systro, went to Paris Fashion Week specifically to learn
more about the relationship between brands such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton and the style
bloggers who create such a large amount of content on Instragram (Pieri). He discussed it
directly with Karl Lagerfeld and Nicholas Ghesquière, creative directors of Chanel and Louis
Vuitton respectively. Instagram has been adapting to bloggers’ needs by launching landscape and
portrait views on the social media platform. Bloggers post pictures daily about their blogs using
the hashtag #OOTD, which stands for ‘outfit of the day,’ and many of the bloggers were having
issues fitting the whole photo and would have to crop it in order to post it. To make it easier for
the bloggers, Instagram recently introduced their bigger formats, so that the users are not limited
to a square frame. A solution for this need came about when the organization realized that
“nearly one in five photos or videos people post aren't in the square format, and we know that it
hasn't been easy to share this type of content on Instagram," the company said when introducing
the new feature. Now when a photo is shared, the full-sized version of it appears (Peng).
In addition, there are applications that allow you to schedule Instagram posts from a
computer or a mobile phone. This is very convenient for bloggers who are always travelling and
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40. might not have access to the Internet at a specific moment. These apps also allow bloggers to
better follow the ideal times to post on social media, since there are several studies that state
certain times when engagement on social media is higher.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
The purpose of my thesis was to learn more about how bloggers have changed the way
companies advertise their products and are used to target millennials. This is a topic that really
interests me since I am a Marketing student, have a fashion blog and follow other bloggers who
introduce me to brands and products that I wasn’t aware of. With the rise of digital media usage,
blogs have become a very important source of information, and social media platforms like
Instagram, have made it easier to create awareness for products and brands. Traditional
advertising, which focuses on a direct form of selling, doesn’t seem to be reaching the whole
audience anymore. Blogging is more about brand building, and it seems to be more effective in
expanding to other audiences.
Nowadays, people turn to bloggers to get information and reviews about products that
they are interested in buying. Bloggers are considered credible sources of information since they
have expertise and are trustworthy, so they have an impact on consumers’ purchasing behavior.
The main purpose of a blog is to develop a fan base, which is obtained by positioning the blogger
itself as an expert on the topic. When the reader trusts the blogger, he or she is more likely to
spread the message through word of mouth, which happens to be one of the hardest forms of
advertising forms for companies to master. After doing research, I have concluded that bloggers
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41. are a great way for companies to advertise their products to reach a larger audience and to create
brand awareness.
I started off my research by looking into the blogosphere as a whole and reading about its
growing popularity over the last few years. The blogger movement started with the increase of
internet usage. People started to turn to blogs in order to get information about products, brands
and news in general. In addition, it allowed them the opportunity to express themselves freely.
All bloggers started as ordinary people, sharing their fashion style with others. The number of
blogs drastically increased, some bloggers started to stand out and gain a lot of readers, and
companies saw it as an opportunity to make their products more known to others. Brands began
by sending these bloggers free products for them to try out and review, and it transitioned to
bloggers getting paid to tell others about a product, which has led many of them to quit their jobs
and make blogging their full time job. With the appearance of social media applications such as
Instagram, bloggers gained even more followers. Nowadays bloggers get compensated for a
photo post or tweet based on the number of followers that they have.
From the consumer perspective, it is important to look at blogger credibility in order to
know whether or not bloggers can be trusted. This is an important topic since bloggers may be
more inclined to give positive reviews to products in order to continue receiving free things. In
addition, bloggers nowadays sign contracts with the brands through a managing agency. As part
of the agreement, they agree to advertise products in a positive way, to influence consumer
behavior, so they have a biased argument. In order to protect the consumer, the US has the
Federal Trade Commission which says that bloggers have to say when something is sponsored.
This way, consumers can keep that in mind and better analyze their purchasing decision.
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42. In my thesis, I argue that companies should use bloggers to target millennials (myself for
example) since we are digital natives and engage in social media several times throughout the
day, increasing the chances of being exposed to bloggers’ recommendations of products. There
are several benefits to targeting Millennials, since we are trendsetters across all industries from
fashion to food, have influence over older generations, and are brand loyal.
Throughout my time as a Marketing student and a blog reader, I have realized the impact
that bloggers have on myself, and on others, specifically Millennials. This is why I decided to
choose this topic for my thesis, and to learn more in case I work as a marketer, in which case I
would like to incorporate bloggers as an advertising technique. I used research and my own
thoughts and knowledge obtained in my classes to create an argument for why companies should
use bloggers to advertise products. I believe that my thesis provides useful insight for companies
to consider in order to increase sales and brand awareness, especially since it is such a recent
topic and there isn’t much information about it out there.
I strongly believe that more research needs to be conducted on this topic, to make more
information available and to create a strong argument for brands to collaborate with bloggers.
When I scroll through my Instagram newsfeed which is full of bloggers’ photos, I realize that so
many brands are collaborating with bloggers. I think that other researchers should look into
specific brands and try to find out if they provide any information about collaborating with
bloggers. From what I have learned throughout my research, it seems like brands and bloggers
have a hard time admitting their collaboration, since this may affect their credibility and
therefore consumers’ purchasing behaviors. However, it is very clear that companies do sponsor
bloggers even though they don’t seem to want to admit it. It would be useful for advertisers to
!40
43. have more information of specific cases of brands that do collaborations, and to see how it leads
to increased performance, in order to decide whether or not to use bloggers as an advertising
tool.
I have heard in many occasions that the blogger movement is just a temporary trend.
However, it doesn’t seem that way, since each day there are more bloggers, more collaborations
and higher compensations associated with them. I think that it would be beneficial for companies
to have more research available of whether or not it is a temporary boom. This would help
companies decide if it is worthwhile to invest large amounts of money in creating blogger
relationships.
Since there isn’t much information about blogger collaborations, companies may be
indecisive about collaborating with bloggers. My research alone is not enough to convince a
company to invest large sums of money in bloggers, but with some more research done on the
performance benefits of doing so, a stronger case could be made. This is why I think that having
more research done on this topic would help companies make up their minds, without
questioning the duration of the blogger movement.
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