Advertising And PR, Bloggers And Integrity Making Money While Being Honest

Advertising & PR,
Bloggers & Integrity
Making money, while being honest

by Colin Charles
http://bytebot.net/

Saturday, 4 April 2009

deﬁne: blogger
• a person who keeps and updates a blog
• a contributor to a blog or online journal
• a journal or diary that is posted on the
Internet
• (writer for) a website where entries are
made in journal style and displayed in
reverse chronological order


Types of blogs

• Personal blogs
• Corporate blogs
• Media blogs (videoblog, photoblog)
• Device blogs (moblogs)
• Genre (politics, travel, daily life, etc.)


Is a blogger a journalist?

• deﬁne: journalist
• reporters and columnists
• abide by a code of ethics


So... is a blogger a
journalist?
• Want invites to media junkets
• Love press passes
• Tend to photograph, write about events,
new products, etc.
All to drive more
• Likes the freebies trafﬁc to a blog!


Malaysian bloggers
aren’t journalists
• By and large, lack journalistic integrity
• No editors to report to
• Try to steer clear of slander/libel/
defamation
• Unless they’re a political blogger


A blogger therefore,
blogs for herself
• Write... about life... let there be some
photos accompanying...
• Build a community of readers
• Build a signiﬁcant number of readers, and
you’re now elite

• Promote the elite lifestyle
• Parties, meetups, food together, etc.

However, there’s an
audience
• Elite bloggers will carry some form of ads
• Some will even carry some form of
sponsored posts
• Google AdWords is popular, but there exist
Text Link Ads, Chitika, Amazon Store, IZEA


Why do bloggers run
ads?
• To become a pro-blogger
• To make (easy) money fast
• To supplement income
• To pay for hosting
• To donate to charity


The birth of “blog
advertising communities”
• Act as a bridge between bloggers and
advertisers
• Network marketing/MLM-styled
• Nuffnang, Advertlets
• How does Nuffnang work?
• What is your reward?

So, is a blog-vertising
community viable?
• the idea of earning your ﬁrst pay cheque
after 6-8 months, entices many (RM50)
• All the elite that you look up to, are on
the same network
• Free parties! Free movie tickets! Free!
Free!
• RM50 is quicker to earn than USD$100

Why do advertisers use
blog-vertising communities?
• Media buyers don’t understand social media
dynamics or the Internet
• Media buyers have no idea how to engage
bloggers
• Advertising communities exist to make life
easier
• Trade money for time (or understanding)

A unique selling point

“Your ad gets displayed in over 85,000 blogs
for X ringgit”


Media buyers and social
media
• Social media is about conversations
• A good product speaks for itself
• PR companies exist to ensure conversation
takes place everywhere
• More “buzz” ensures a good PR job


Exploiting the trust

• Once an elite has created a community,
know that the community trusts the author
• Creating conversations equate to brand
recognition quot;discuss on the deal:
with your requirements,
we will suggest a
package of blogs that
we think will suit your
needsquot;


Media buyers going
direct to market
• Approach bloggers directly
• Elite don’t write about products that they
aren’t paid to anymore
• Canon Singapore’s recent (April 1 2009)
success shows this can still be done,
without blog advertising communities


So, bloggers, what
about integrity?
• If you’re not a journalist, and you’re writing
for yourself, is integrity required?
• If you have a community, who trust in you,
integrity plays a big role
• Disclosure is important


Integrity
“This above all:
to thine own self be true,
And it must follow,
as the night the day,
Thou canst not them be false
to any man” -- William Shakespeare


What should
advertisers look for?

• Blogs that have a disclosure policy
• Blogs that clearly state that they have been
paid to review a product
• Blogs that have a useful PageRank


What should bloggers
do?
• Create great content
• Your community is created on it
• Your PageRank is calculated about how
often you’re in the “conversation”

• Use nofollow in sponsored links
• Always keep your integrity

Do I lose value by
disclosing?

• No!


So how do bloggers
make money, anyway?
Works because of
• Sponsorships (podcasts) great content!

• RSS news feed sponsorship (Daring
Fireball)
• Services that pay you when you reach a
certain number of page views


How can bloggers make
money honestly
• Clearly identify genuine content and
advertorials
• Publish a rate card
• Tell advertisers and PR ﬁrms what kind of
content you’ll be happy writing about


Sponsored posts
working overseas?
• Chris Brogan and the K-Mart gift voucher
• IZEA - the beginning of sponsored
conversations (PayPerPost). Create buzz,
drive trafﬁc
• Chris Pirillo (lockergn0me fame)


Bloggers that do the
right thing


Recent media brouhaha
• Blogger: Gareth says PR agencies are just
hacks, and need to get a clue
• “if you want us to go to some event and
write about it you better pay!”
• “if you want to treat my blog as a means
of advertising then I am the media
owner”


Case study: Maxis and
the iPhone 3G
• Make sure you use a “virgin” browser
• Google: “maxis iphone”
• Danny Foo, LiewCF, Byte’s photo,
@limyh, and the 9th link smells like a
sponsored post
• Google: “iphone maxis”, “maxis iphone 3g”


Case Study: Maxis
Broadband

• Is there even a modicum of information
there, with regards to the sponsored “Girls
Day Out” campaign last year alongside Dell
and their Mini 9?


Case study: mitigating
brand damage
• Service plans on increasing its price
• PR firm starts commenting on blogs
• Blogs flare up, PR firm has some “cred” and
doesn’t seem like a troll
• All seems well


Horror stories from
the trenches
• Elite members in a community shouldn’t be
writing reviews of anything unless they get
paid to do so
• Holidays, plus generous spending money, in
exchange for 3 blog posts, no disclosure


Take away
• Does PageRank matter?
• Is sponsored posting acceptable?
• Without disclosure?
• Social media is two way - companies are
realising consumers are getting blind
towards advertorials


Thanks

• David Lian (@davidlian)
• Carolyn Chan (@thechannelc)
• Ben Israel (@ben_israel)
• Mike Foong (@mikefoong)
• Paul Tan (@paultantk)


Resources

• Groundswell
• #smfail and the Web 2.0 panel
• The Wisdom of Crowds
• The Long Tail


Comments?

Colin Charles
http://bytebot.net/
byte@bytebot.net
@bytebot on Twitter


Advertising And PR, Bloggers And Integrity Making Money While Being Honest

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