Achieving Goals with Soul: Staying True To Your Personal Ethics in Business, Blogging and Social Media
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This document discusses how bloggers can thoughtfully partner with brands in a way that stays true to their personal values and ethics. It provides tips for bloggers to consider such as evaluating if a brand's values align with their own, researching any controversies surrounding a brand, and being prepared to handle potential criticism of brand partnerships respectfully. The document emphasizes the importance of bloggers making informed choices about brand deals and "owning" those choices even if some disagree.
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Achieving Goals with Soul: Staying True To Your Personal Ethics in Business, Blogging and Social Media
- 1. ACHIEVING GOALS WITH SOUL STAYING TRUE TO YOUR PERSONAL ETHICS @phdinparenting
- 2. “If you make it treacherous and scary for brands to create blogger marketing programs, they will eventually cease to do it – and you’ll see fewer and fewer paid opportunities available for you and all your friends. And that’s when I feel bad for the brands (certainly not for you), because it’s potentially going to close an interesting and creative marketing channel for them. And if you keep bashing brands you don’t like, even the brands you do like won’t want to work with you – the risk will be too great that you could turn and bash them.” @phdinparenting
- 3. - Amy Lupold Bair, ROYO: The Mega “Mindful Monetization” Session!, BlogHer ‘10 @phdinparenting
- 4. • What is in it for you? • What is the brand asking you to do? Are you being fairly compensated for that? • Do your readers care about this brand or can you make them care about it? Or will youjust be annoying or boring them? • Is this brand embroiled in any controversies? If so, what are they and do you feel comfortable standing behind that? • This can be especially important if you are being asked to represent them for free or if they are asking you to help promote a “social good” initiative. • How will the brand support you? • Is this brand aligned with your values? @phdinparenting
- 5. * Sometimes poor editorial or business choices, but sometimes also algorithms (e.g. Google ads) @phdinparenting
- 6. Finding the Skeletons in Their Closets • Google • [Brand Name] boycott • [Brand Name] ethics • [Brand Name] toxic, human rights abuse, environment • Who owns [Brand Name]? • Check out • Buycott.com • BetterWorldShopper.org • StopCorporateAbuse.org • Read between the lines, see through the doublespeak, use critical thinking. @phdinparenting
- 7. Do you know who you’re working for? @phdinparenting
- 8. • Is the blogger well respected? • Does the blogger have an engaged community? • Is your brand or product a good fit for that blogger and her community? • Are your values aligned with the blogger’s values? • Who else has that blogger worked with? • How does the blogger handle controversy? • What support or training will you offer to that blogger? • How do you plan to compensate the blogger? @phdinparenting
- 9. What if someone disagrees with you? Image: davide.tarasconi on flickr • Don’t take it personally • Listen • Consider your role and responsibility vis-à-vis the brand • Do some research • Respond respectfully and rationally (don’t have a temper tantrum) • If appropriate, admit you are wrong, apologize, do better next time @phdinparenting
- 10. If you’re going to support any company you need to put your BIG GIRL PANTIES on and know what you’re getting into. There is always someone who won't like what you’re doing or who you’re doing it for. This is why whenever you take something on you have to "OWN IT" and believe in it. Cheers! -- Dee Brun, Cocktail Deeva Image: susieblackmon on flickr @phdinparenting
- 11. Image: apdk on flickr Options: • Ignore it • Raise it privately with the individual or brand • Write a blog post about it • Take it to twitter (yes, you can hijack a hashtag) • Start a petition ABOVE ALL: BE RESPECTFUL AND STAY TRUE TO YOUR VALUES @phdinparenting
- 12. • An informed choice is usually a good choice. • What is right for you may not be right for me. • But if something is right for you, you need to be willing to own it and handle any criticism that may come your way professionally. • When taking a stand for or against something, be respectful and stay true to your own values. @phdinparenting
- 13. Beyond Page Views and Profits: Setting Smart Goals That Fit Your Values • If your business goals are about nothing more than numbers, you’re likely to get lost along the way. • Decide what you stand for and what you’re trying to achieve with your blog or your business, then focus on the opportunities that are aligned with that and let the rest go. • Believe in yourself, believe in the value of what you do, and insist that the people you work with treat you with respect (yes, that includes fair compensation and not throwing you to the wolves). @phdinparenting
Editor's Notes
- Achieving Goals With Soul: Staying True To Your Personal Ethics. Do you have to resort to dog-eat-dog tactics to get ahead? Do you have to compromise your own sense of right and wrong in order to get business? No way. In this conversation, we’ll talk to people who have achieved wild success by adhering to their own moral compass. We’ll talk about following your gut, how to kindly but firmly walk away, and how to find opportunities that resonate with your own soul.
- I've attended press events for brands where I didn't tweet anything and didn't agree to have my name/brand associated with their brand. Once bloggers start amplifying the messages from those events ("Oh wow...did you know KFC kids meals are only ### calories!"), they open themselves up to people providing a different perspective or asking for further detail. That isn't really unique to brand events though. I expect the same thing anytime I put anything out there on my blog, twitter, facebook, etc. If I'm not prepared to enter into a dialogue, I stay silent. Also, if bloggers agree to have their picture, name, blog name, etc. used in association with that band ("P&G Mom" or "Nestle Family Blogger"), that does create an official relationship of sorts. I don't know whether any such thing happened with the KFC event, as I wasn't following it closely. But certainly with the P&G event last year, bloggers were agreeing to an official title (even if they weren't being paid for it). Further, the reason that people engage these bloggers instead of or in addition to engaging the brand directly on their own social media channels/hash tags is that the brands often do not respond. Where was KFC during the event? ABSENT. In other cases, it has taken brands a long time to jump in and respond or they never have. Finally, using an event hash tag to provide a different perspective has been INCREDIBLY effective. If it wasn't, people wouldn't keep doing it. I don't call it hashtag hijacking though. I call it adding balance to the messaging.
- There is a reason why PR people for tobacco companies make so much money.
- Better World Shopper: Human Rights, Environment, Animal Protection, Community Involvement, Social Justice
- Which one you choose depends on your personality, on your relationship (or lack thereof) with the people involved in what you’re criticizing, and what you’re hoping to achieve (asking for a change versus raising awareness about a persistently badly behaved company).