Blogger relations

From the inbox, for your amusement

July 8, 2010 by Susan Getgood

It’s hot here in the Northeast. But you knew that. Because that’s all any of us are talking about on Twitter and Facebook.

Well not entirely, but almost.

To ward off crankiness, I thought I’d share some gems from my inbox this morning. They are just so silly they made me laugh out loud.

Let’s start with this glimpse of my spam folder:

I’ve got to believe than one of the four is spamming them multiple times within the same hour.

Then there was the press release offering me:

Media Source Available to Discuss Social Media Use of Lebron James, Lindsay Lohan and Other Celebrities

[Name Redacted], a leading social media firm, provides information on trends and statistics for how social media tools like Facebook and Twitter impact the way celebrities communicate with the public.

Seriously, the “expert commenter media alert” is a very tired PR strategy. Honestly, if you are really an expert, you’d be talking about this stuff ON Facebook and Twitter, media would be following you, and contacting you. Note: it is particularly lame when you send the release to marketing people who specialize in social media. I’m pretty sure we can figure this out for ourselves.

And that was just this morning. This week, I’ve also gotten press releases about something to do with Miranda Cosgrove, a big home improvement chain and a few social media marketing books by people I’ve never heard of.

It is the silly season, my friends. Could be the heat. But I’m guessing it’s partially a timing thing. PR management software company Vocus holds its Users’ Conference in early June.

That’s about three weeks for new users to get the basics under their belt and they are ready to spam, spam, spam! It’s not the company’s fault, but man oh man, when will the “spray and pray” model of press release distribution die the death it richly deserves?

Rambling down my road: random-ish thoughts on blogger relations and expertise

May 29, 2010 by Susan Getgood

For the past few months, I’ve been head down working on Professional Blogging For Dummies, and there just hasn’t been a lot of time to write blog posts. A few things were just too important to let slide, like the FTC/Ann Taylor Loft story, but for the most part I’ve had to let many juicy stories go.

Like the pitch for an FDA approved douche sent to bloggers of both genders. Or the one for a snake repellent sent to mom bloggers in Manhattan. Seriously, outside of the zoo, how often do you see a snake of the reptilian variety in New York City?

Then there are the brand ambassador programs that seem to be multiplying like rabbits. For example, the Sears Outlet brand ambassador program with the laundry list of requirements for the bloggers but zero compensation.

Somehow, we’ve lost the distinction between public relations, which relies on a compelling story to “earn” the placement in the media outlet (hence the term “earned media,” more about that below), and promotion, which is a sales-related activity closely related to advertising. Many blogger programs are really about promotion, but they offer little or no compensation to the bloggers for what is essentially advertising space. Read Liz Gumbinner’s posts for more on this: Nothing is free, except it seems, a mommyblogger and In defense of PR.

And then there was last week’s dust-up between a blogger who took umbrage at, and posted about, a specific pitch, and a pretty strong response from the mentioned agency. I haven’t looked at the specifics of the post or program in question, but my immediate reaction reading the agency’s post was a certain amount of amazement that the author didn’t seem realize that the very questions she was raising in her post have been circling around the blogosphere for years. Read Julie Pippert’s The elephant in the room? Not so much for more about this specific post and its aftermath.

Earned media is a dinosaur
I participated in my first conference panel on blogger relations at BlogHer Business in 2007. More than 3 years later, I often feel like we haven’t moved forward at all. We’re still arguing about the same things — Are the pitches good, targeted and relevant? Are bloggers journalists? And so on. Blah Blah Blah.

This discussion is old and tired, and it’s not going anywhere except down a rathole. We need to move on. As Julie (@jpippert) and I discussed on Twitter after I read her post, earned media is a dinosaur. We need a new model.

One that understands that the blogger is also a customer, not just a reporter. That the old forms of engagement don’t work anymore. And that both sides — PR and bloggers — need to look at the relationship through a new lens. Companies and their PR agents aren’t doing bloggers “a favor” by including them in their programs. There’s an expected business benefit. And bloggers aren’t entitled to anything. If you want to participate in blogger relations or advertising programs, you’ve got to build a compelling blog that attracts an audience that the companies and advertisers want to reach.

The successful approach for reaching out to bloggers integrates public relations and advertising to achieve marketing objectives. If the story is compelling, PR outreach. If the company wants to control a message, advertising.

This flies in the face of the typical corporate organization and certainly agency alignments, and absolutely requires a change in the way we look at our marketing task. I’ve been writing about this changing model for some time now, and will continue to write about it here and at Shamable.com.

Expertise

True expertise is less about knowing how to do something than understanding why you’re doing it. Always start by asking Why? Then worry about How? Check out Toby Bloomberg’s e-book Social Media Marketing GPS for advice from 40 social media experts that truly understand the why and the how. I was doubly privileged with regard to this book — I was one of the people Toby interviewed on Twitter for the book and I was in Atlanta the day she launched, so I got to celebrate with her in person.

Also on my radar screen (and bound to be the topics of upcoming posts): more on measurement, including some thoughts on the importance of sentiment, and another look at Facebook after the privacy dilemmas of the past month. What are the implication for marketers and consumers?

Finally, thank you to the folks at Ignite Social Media for including Marketing Roadmaps (and me) on their list of 50 Women Bloggers You Should Be Reading. I’m not a terrific fan of lists, but feel privileged to be included in this company.

Coming attractions…

March 26, 2010 by Susan Getgood

I’m in the final days of the first draft of Professional Blogging for Dummies so no time to post until next week. Here’s what you can look forward to on Marketing Roadmaps when I come back:

Douches, snakes and Brand Ambassadors — my take on some topics that have been swirling around Twitter this week. Preview: These bad pitches are proof positive that the blogger outreach webinar we are doing on April 6th is very much needed.

Why (most) PR and ad agencies (still) don’t get social media — Inspired by a post from good friend Todd Defren. I agree with Todd that most ad agencies don’t get it, but, see previous item, don’t believe many PR agencies are any better. I’ll explain why.

And over on my personal blog Snapshot Chronicles, I’ll be posting Mainstream Media versus Woman, my take on the issues underlying stories like the March 14th New York Times feature on mom blogs.

Schadenfreude, blogger relations and a little fiber

March 18, 2010 by Susan Getgood

I am beyond busy trying to wrap up Professional Blogging for Dummies and prepping for some speaking engagements, including the April 6th Bridging Brands and Bloggers session.

But a few things crossed my desk this week that reminded me how far we STILL have to go in creating authentic relationships with our customers. Normally, I’d pull screenshots and stuff, but we’ll have to do without this week. Chalk it up to my overall exhaustion. And trust me, copies of the pitches referred to here ARE in my inbox.

Schadenfreude
That’s taking pleasure in the misfortune of others, and yes, we all do it to some extent. But seriously, issuing press releases and doing blogger outreach on the back of another company’s recall? Ambulance chasing. Gross. Don’t do it. Build your story on your features, not on another’s shortcomings. The saddest thing? The brand in question has a lot going for it. Good PR counsel? Not so much.

Fiber
If you represent a fiber cereal, or related product, you’ve got a tough road. No one really wants to write about bowel movements, not withstanding the stereotype that mom blogs are about pampers and poop. You’ve got to be far more creative than the average bear.

Alas, the pitch that hit mom bloggers this week wasn’t creative. In fact, it was disingenuous. More than one mom blogger I know was confused. Was the company looking for consulting services? Participation in a focus group? Or, as it turned out, simply looking to ship product and get reviews.

Be upfront. Don’t send a pitch asking for “insights” and advice when what you want is a review. Especially to bloggers who do not do reviews. Target appropriately and communicate clearly.

It’s not enough to know who to send the pitch to.

You’ve got to get to know the person.

These are the issues we are going to discuss in the April 6th Bridging Brands & Bloggers webinar. If you work with pr and marketing reps, tell them about it. If you are a pr or marketing person, tell your boss you want to attend.

We’ll give you the inside scoop on what works, and what doesn’t, when reaching out to bloggers.

Emptying the bit bucket: books, pitches and too fat to fly?

February 16, 2010 by Susan Getgood

Heard on Twitter about a big brand: Apparently the brand is using multiple word of mouth agencies on blogger outreach programs for the same company initiative. Some of the agencies are offering compensation for posts, others not. Here’s the kicker though: some bloggers are getting both sorts of pitches. For the same program. Ouch!

And before you ask: yes I know who it is, no I am not telling, and I’d appreciate it if my readers do not “out” the brand in the comments either. I’m telling this story to make a point, not to embarrass anyone.

Here’s the lesson. It’s okay to have different programs for the same initiative. Just make sure the programs are highly differentiated, especially if some include compensation and others do not. And for heaven’s sake, de-dupe the lists, and do your best to make sure that bloggers only get ONE of the pitches.

Too fat to fly? The ‘net was all a-twitter over the weekend and yesterday about the @ThatKevinSmith and Southwest Air incident Saturday. It was all over the mainstream media as well, but just in case you missed it (on vacation at the South Pole, crossing Alaska with a dog team, climbing Mt. Everest, etc.), here’s the short story.

Director Kevin Smith (“Clerks”) was asked to get off a full Southwest flight from Oakland to Burbank last Saturday for “safety reasons.” He twittered about it as it was happening, and later released a special, very long, very ranty episode of his podcast with the blow by blow.

Smith has 1.6 million Twitter followers, so the whole thing blew up hard and fast. And of course, the whole situation was further fueled by the fat/thin debate.

Eventually, Southwest apologized, sort of but not really, which further inflamed Smith. They then apologized again, as detailed in both this Nuts about Southwest post and Smith’s final word on the subject in his blog.

I’m not going to do a blow by blow analysis. The pundits have analyzed this thing to death, and it’s pretty clear that this was a customer service snafu that evolved into a full-blown communications crisis due to bad decisions and the power of social networks.

Southwest has learned a hard lesson. What can we learn from it?

First, exercise a little common sense. The entire situation could have been avoided in multiple ways. First, the obvious — just let the man fly. Southwest also could have chosen to NOT clear Smith from the standby list if they were truly already hyper-aware of fliers with “safety issues.” Is that right? No, of course not. It’s awful and stupid and ugly. But, it would have avoided the problem. Putting the man on the flight and then taking him off is the problem, because, truly, he didn’t get any fatter while waiting to board the flight.

Second, and I know others have said this as well: When you apologize to someone, you really should apologize for the thing that actually upset the other party. Otherwise, it isn’t an apology. It’s a justification. The lawyers may not like it, but good customer relations demands it. When you screw up, own it. All of it.

Enough of this. I may write about this on my travel blog this weekend — after I fly Southwest to Houston for Mom 2.0. The airlines — all of them — do have a problem. As they try to pack more seats into each plane and then pack each plane to capacity to improve the bottom line, the US population is getting larger. It’s not good. It just is.

Finally, I meant to post this weeks ago, but forgot. The second edition of David Meerman Scott’s book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR (Amazon affiliate link), has just been released. While I don’t agree with all of David’s tactics, it’s a good introductory text on how to use social media in your marketing plan.

What don’t I agree with? I am a profound opponent of using press releases to reach customers. News, yes. The press release form, no. Otherwise, our approaches to integrating marketing and social media are pretty similar.

Facebook’s new contest rules and FTC guidelines – has social media marketing adapted?

January 5, 2010 by Susan Getgood

Warning – long post

Are social media marketers implementing the new Facebook contest rules and meeting their obligations under FTC guidelines? Survey sez: maybe not, or at least, not yet.

Background

Social media marketing. A bit like the wild west of our imaginations — a little bit glamorous, a little bit dangerous, and as practiced by some, perhaps just a little bit dirty.

At the end of 2009, however, the Sheriff came to town. Or at least a few parts of it. Facebook’s new rules for contests and sweepstakes were announced in November and updated in December. The revised FTC guidelines for endorsements and testimonials went into effect on December 1.

The landscape is bound to change. In fact, strictly speaking, it should have already. Marketers had plenty of warning about the proposed changes to the FTC guidelines, and their responsibilities under them.

The Facebook changes were more of a surprise but they seem fairly straightforward (and a revenue boon to third-party app developers) although there was a great deal of confusion about whether you could require someone to be a fan to enter a contest. The answer BTW is yes, although you cannot have the action of becoming a fan equal an automatic entry in the contest or sweepstakes. There must be an explicit entry form, and there are very specific rules governing how you can administer the contest on Facebook.

I wondered.

Were marketers informing bloggers of the obligation to disclose when they offered free stuff? The evidence, including that in my own inbox, indicated: not so much. Every so often, I would hear of efforts like Procter & Gamble’s for its Vocalpoint program. They sent an email informing community members of the FTC requirements and telling them how P&G would support them. Not surprising perhaps, given that P&G’s programs and products were cited in more than one news story about the guidelines, but still smart and commendable.

By and large though, it seemed the offers were still coming without any information about the FTC requirements.

On the Facebook front, on Christmas, an email from Lands’ End promoted a contest that one could enter simply by becoming a fan on Facebook. Oops.

Now, I adore Lands’ End, and think their marketing is top notch. If a big brand could make such an error, what about the smaller ones on Facebook? Not to mention all the bloggers who had been running contests to build their fan bases.

It seemed to me that perhaps marketers hadn’t got the message yet. So I decided to do a survey.

Disclaimer: In no way does this survey purport to be scientific or definitive. I just wanted to get a better idea of what was going on in these two areas, and figured a survey would give me access to far more data points that conversations and Twitter chat. It was promoted to my Twitter and Facebook friends and here on the blog, and to Blog with Integrity’s fans, followers and email subscribers. Friends and colleagues kindly retweeted and emailed the link as well. The survey was published on December 27th and closed this morning, January 4th.

Survey Says

Here are the raw results with a little bit of analysis. Later, I am going to do some cross-tabs and other fancy stuff that SurveyMonkey lets you do when you have to buy a paid account because your responses exceed the 100 you can get with the free account. But not today.

Started the survey: 243
Completed the survey: 198 (81.5%)

One to 10 pitches per week was reported by more than half the respondents. The answers to the next two questions were equally compelling. Seventy-percent (70.2%) reported that the number of pitches they receive on average every week had stayed the same since December 1 when the FTC guidelines went into effect, and 63.7% reported that pitches since December 1 contained offers for free products, review products or other compensation.

Seems like business as usual. Time for the money question: Thinking about the pitches you’ve received since December 1 2009 that offered free products or other compensation, *generally speaking* how many have contained guidance or information about a blogger’s obligation to disclose his/her relationship with the company?

It’s cut off in the chart but that orange bar in position one represents nearly 50% reporting that NONE of the pitches contained any information about the obligation to disclose. One of the comments in “other” states that this information did come after the blogger had accepted the offer. Fair enough, but in my opinion, that isn’t soon enough. If we are offering free products or other compensation, we need to state the terms of the deal clearly and up front.

Moving on to Facebook. I asked how often the respondent used Facebook and if they had recently entered any contests.

There are a few interesting things here:

Most respondents would be classed as fairly or very active users of Facebook.
The majority of respondents hadn’t recently entered any contests. Is this because fewer contests are now held “on the wall,” they are being held somewhere else (Twitter?), the holidays or some other reason? Questions for a future survey.
37.1 % entered by becoming a fan of the page, which is a violation of the new rules.
Clearly some companies are beginning to implement the new rules, or at least holding their contests appropriately by accident, with 40 respondents indicating that they entered a contest in a way sanctioned by the new rules.

Demographics

Does this survey prove anything? Yes and no.

No, because it didn’t use a rigorous model. I’d like a more even representation of the blogosphere than “folks who know Susan, Blog with Integrity or Susan’s colleagues,” and I wish I had done a better job on the list of primary topics for the primary blog. If I do another survey, I’ll dig into what people replied for ‘Other’ to make sure I cover more categories.

On the other hand, nearly 200 responses isn’t too shabby. Bottom line, I think these results are a good place to start our exploration of how well — or not — companies are implementing these new rules.

Because like it or not, once the law shows up in town, you gotta live by the rules.