Disclosure: I am Senior Vice President, Integrated Marketing at SheKnows Media. Advertising and social media marketing programs are a significant source of revenue for my company and for the bloggers in our advertising network.
In my job at BlogHer, and now at SheKnows Media following its acquisition of BlogHer, I am privileged to work with our client brands and our community experts, bloggers and social influencers on some truly excellent sponsored content programs. To start off this year, in my next few posts I will share a few of my favorites from 2014, along with why I think the content created in these programs was so compelling and successful. Actual results are confidential, but I can share that the programs delivered strong brand engagement.
Here are the first two: JCPenney and Chevrolet Traverse.
JCPenney – Five bloggers were selected to participate in an 8 month brand ambassador program, creating content for their own blogs, sharing with their followers on their social graph and contributing to JCPenney’s Pinterest boards.
Why I love this program: The extended timeframe allowed the bloggers to really get to know the brand, and vice versa!! During a two-day immersion event at JCPenney headquarters in Plano, Texas, the bloggers were treated to presentations from JCPenney fashion, hair and home style experts as well as a private tour of the store, and were able to use the great information shared during those sessions throughout the year. We also created custom videos for each blogger during the Plano trip to share with her readers why she was excited to be working with JCPenney:
- Jill Nystul, One Good Thing by Jillee
- Jamie Reimer, hands on as we grow
- Rebecca Lindamood, Foodie with Family
- Natalia Simmons, Ma Nouvelle Mode
- Meseidy Rivera, The Noshery
Chevrolet Traverse – Ten bloggers were selected to drive a Chevrolet Traverse for a week, documenting their experience using dashboard-mounted video cameras. We then edited their videos into short documentary videos to accompany their sponsored blog posts. Start with their posts and videos looking forward to the experience before you dig into the reviews. An additional group of bloggers wrote aligned posts about family travel memories to support the theme of family togetherness and provide context for Traverse messaging.
Why I love this program: Bloggers in cars! Dashboard cams! But none of the shaky-cam that often makes experiential video painful to watch. Our professional editors provided upfront guidance to the bloggers, and then edited the raw footage into tight stories to accompany the bloggers’ posts. This “premium UGC” approach delivers a production quality that lets the story shine through and brings all the videos together into a cohesive series. I also love the juxtaposition of the experiential program with the more reflective aligned posts, allowing us to reach the audience through two very distinct types of content.