In the comments to my post about defining social media success, David Wescott pointed out, correctly, that we don’t know whether a program like the CBS blogger outreach for the program The New Adventures of Old Christine is really a success unless we know what the objectives were. We can guess, but the measure of success is whether the outreach accomplished what CBS hoped.
So I decided to find out. Last week, I spoke with Beth Feldman, the CBS communications VP who spearheaded the effort. Thanks, Liz, for making the connection.
Beth is a mom blogger herself, and recently co-wrote a book Peeing In Peace: Tales & Tips for Type A Moms. As a result, she has gotten to know a number of other parenting bloggers. The New Adventures of Old Christine was about to get a new day and time, and she thought outreach to parent bloggers was a perfect fit.
The goal was quite simply to get the word out about the show.
"We treated the bloggers just as we would reporters," she says. "There was a press conference with the entire cast including star Julia Louis-Dreyfus and series creator and executive producer Kari Lizer. Each blogger got to ask a question of the cast and they also observed part of a rehearsal. Afterwards, the bloggers went out for coffee with the show publicists and a programming exec."
"For me, the coffee was one of the best parts of the whole day. As Liz told you, we didn’t fly anyone out for it, but some did fly out at their own expense because they wanted to participate. Many of these bloggers had never had a chance to meet in person. Even though they knew each other through their blogs and email, this day gave them an opportunity to connect in person. It was great to be part of that."
Beth was quite clear. She says that this outreach was most definitely a success for CBS, and overall, a step in the right social media direction for the network. But she doesn’t feel she had to achieve "more" with this project.
"I’m a publicist. My goal was to reach out to bloggers just as we would entertainment reporters. We wanted them to have a fun positive experience, and hopefully write about the show and the visit. Which they did. If I were a development executive trying to make decisions about programming, my goals, and tactics, would have been different."
Ironically, Beth told me that usually CBS would provide a gift bag on a set visit. This time, Beth was too busy. The DVDs the moms received? CBS sent them a few episodes in advance so they’d be acquainted with the show. They’d do the same for a traditional reporter.
The network did create a custom package of video coverage of the visit for each blogger, with an intro and outro recorded by the blogger. Some of the bloggers used it on their sites. Others did not. Which was fine with Beth. They were going to film the visit anyway. It didn’t cost much to make the special DVDs for the moms. My opinion? What a nice and well targeted extra touch. You wouldn’t do this for a print reporter because they’d have no place to use it. And TV or radio would record their own stuff. But it’s perfect content for a blog: multimedia, exclusive to each blogger, featuring the blogger.
Beth also mentioned that CBS’s "narrowcast" outreach to the small group of mom bloggers was followed by a "broader" cast effort to reach the same core group. About a month after the set visit, and a bit closer to the actual change of time for the show, Lisa Stone of BlogHer hosted a live Webcast with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Kari Lizer that also was posted on CBS.com. They also fed an electronic press kit about the mom blogger set visit to CBS affiliates.
So, was the CBS blogger outreach for the New Adventures of Old Christine a success? The bloggers invited certainly thought, and said, so. Independent observers think so. The network says so.
And since we are still talking about it months after the fact, I don’t think there’s any question. How often does a blurb in Entertainment Weekly or TV Guide show a similar lifespan?
I for one certainly plan on watching New Adventures, at least once, when it returns in mid-season next year. Unless it is on at the same time as Battlestar Galactica….
Tags: blogger relations, CBS, New Adventures of Old Christine
Wait…we would have ordinarily gotten a gift bag but didn’t? That’s it. I’m going back to my blog to rip CBS apart.
Don’t worry Liz — someone would have probably given the bloggers grief for accepting gift bags.
Interesting that the goal was about creating buzz. It seems like a nice door opener. I wonder if they’ll focus on building more robust relationships with this key “opinion elite” audience.
That’s the irony. The WSJ article more or less implied that the women were bedazzled by all the goodies CBS gave them. As though merchandise would cause them to suspend critical judgment. The reality: CBS gave them a little exclusive access and a cup of coffee.
Certainly, this was a great first step in establishing robust relationships with bloggers, and I doubt that CBS misses that. But I think it’s important to have realistic, achievable objectives for each outreach. Starting with something simple, like creating a little buzz, is almost always better than having some huge, difficult goal.
A little success is way better than a big flop 🙂
Amen to that, Susan. To be honest I’m a little amused at the irony here — many companies that have built their fortunes on bold strategies and first-mover advantage are entering the blogosphere with a bit less speed than one might expect. One of the reasons I think it’s been slow going is actually because it really is hard to generate accurate and meaningful metrics right now. Possible, yes, but not as solid as neilsen ratings.
But I think it’s great – and smart – for companies to establish a comfort level working with the medium and progress. Kudos to CBS and I’ll look forward to their next move.
And kudos to you for reaching out to them.