Most online advertising is easy to spot. Skyscrapers or banners with blinking lights and flash animations. Text ads with the clear tag "XYZ Ad Network" or Google Adsense.
But what about blogs that are sponsored by a company. For example, Scratchings and Sniffings, a pet blog sponsored by Purina.
Or Pay Per Post? Or blogging networks like Parent Bloggers Network in which companies pay a consulting fee for review coordination and the bloggers keep the products?
Or blogger relations — where companies reach out directly to bloggers with products and exclusive stories and other blog-worthy material?.
Are the posts that result from these efforts advertising or editorial? It has to be one thing or another, right? After all, in the" good old days," it was black or white. It was advertising or it was editorial and never the twain shall meet. Right?
I mean, we’ve never had evaluation labs that did paid reviews of products and applied a seal of approval. Oh wait a minute. Yes we did.
Magazines and newspapers never sold editorial-like space for advertisers to write their own stories. Oh wait a minute. Yes we did. And do.
And it wasn’t really a problem. It just was.
And is. Readers have always been, and still are, able to apply their own judgment to the material they read, no matter how stupid advertisers seem to think we are. The Web is no different.
And all these approaches have their place in our informational ecosystem. So, let’s put a little definition around the issue.
What is advertising, what qualifies as "advertorial," and when can we expect that a blog, podcast or Web site is serving up "pure" editorial content?
Advertising. The advertiser has complete control over the ad content and landing pages. Paid or pro bono, using rate cards not that different from the old magazine CPM. Examples: site advertising, Google AdSense, BlogHer ad network, Blogads.
Advertorial. This is where I put things like Pay Per Post and blog networks like Parent Bloggers Network. In the print world, of course, the advertiser has complete content control and the magazine simply dictates a common format. Online, it is a bit different, but the end result isn’t. Online, the advertiser has control over the initial factors — what is to be reviewed or written about and who will be writing. But, after that, the blogger is more or less free to write what he pleases.
That said, we can certainly expect a certain cognitive dissonance effect; paid reviewers will be more likely to be positive about a product, regardless of their opinion, or lack thereof, before starting the review. While they aren’t being paid to voice a view contrary to their own opinons, as were the subjects in Leon Festinger’s original research in the 50s, the mere fact that they are being paid by an entity with a vested interest is bound to shape the review.
But so what. Readers can make up their own minds. And will. However, full disclosure of relationships is absolutely essential. If the service or network does not require full disclosure, I strongly advise both advertising companies and bloggers to stay away.
Sponsored blogs fit in the advertorial category. Even if the writer is totally independent, a certain sensibility is bound to affect the blog. The sponsor may not say "don’t trash me" but the writer isn’t going to. Unless there is such an egregious situation that the blogger wants to divorce the sponsor. Likewise, I consider review networks like Parent Bloggers to be advertorial because even though the writer is free to write whatever she wishes about the product or services, there is a prior agreement that there will be a post.
Caveat: Do not confuse pay-per-post type writing with freelance writing. Paid posts on a personal blog reflect the personal opinion and style of the blogger — some are short and breezy, some funny, some deep and introspective. The clients are not paying for the in-depth research, impartiality and writing skills that we might see on a sponsored blog or from a professional freelance writer.
This does not mean that bloggers cannot be freelance writers. They can. It just means that we need to understand that there is a real difference between pay-per-post writing and freelance writing, and the fees each type of writing should command.
Independent editorial. The blogger may take advertising, but the expectation is that the blog contents are 100% owned by the blogger, in all senses of the word. The blogger may be receptive to pitches from blogger relations, marketing and PR firms, but there is no quid pro quo. The company making the pitch had better tell a compelling, relevant story that offers something of value to the blogger. Or risk being ignored, or worse, ridiculed.
Companies that get this right can have long, mutually beneficial relationships with bloggers. Get it wrong? Just ask Wal*Mart.
Pay Per Post and other paid blogging services can supplement blogger relations, but in my opinion, do not replace it.
They can however coexist. Just as advertising, editorial and advertorial have been working together to tell us the story for years.
Tags: blogger relations, advertorial, pay per post, parent bloggers network, advertising
Susan, great post. I’ve spent some time discussing the difference between PPP and the Parent Bloggers Network (PBN) with blogging friends of mine, some of whom are part of the network and some of whom are not. While I agree that PBN is basically advertorial, there are some key differences between PBN and PPP (bear in mind my inherent bias in favor of PBN!):
– With PBN, the fit between the review post and the rest of the blogger’s content is more organic than with PPP. PBN bloggers tend to choose to review products that truly interest them and are therefore more likely to integrate better with their blogging topics and interests.
– With PBN, many bloggers get an opportunity to review products that they wouldn’t otherwise be offered. Some PBN bloggers receive individual PR pitches, but many of them do not.
– With PBN, the negotiating power of the network allows for better compensation (either via products or honoraria).
– With PBN, bloggers may post on their main blogs or on separate review blogs, allowing them to separate types of content without any adverse impact on their writing or their readership.
– With PBN, clients are truly interested in the bloggers’ opinions – not merely getting a product name or link on as many sites as possible. In turn, the bloggers feel valued beyond the worth of products or honoraria offered.
– With PBN, quality of writing is extremely important. Certainly, traffic and page rank are factors, but they are secondary to the entertainment value and attractiveness of a well thought-out, well-written personal review.
Thanks for the comment Julie.
I definitely agree that advertorial can be good, and personally like blogging networks like PBN over PPP because they are focused on a specific niche. In the case of PBN, parents.
But I do believe PayPerPost has its place in the whole ecosystem as well. Particularly for segments where networks like yours have not been established.
However, I would always advise a client to have a well-rounded approach — advertising and direct outreach to bloggers, supplemented by a network like PBN if they have a product or service that lends itself well to reviews.
Great post, Susan! The clarification of true freelancing and doing something like payperpost is important–it’s easy to confuse the two if you’re unfamiliar with the terrain of freelancing.
Your post is also timely in relation to some debate that’s gone on about Glam.com–is it a blog network? an ad network? are they really the #1 destination for women on the ‘net? (the latter question being bantered about with loads and loads of graphs and charts and figures coming form both sides of the debate.)
Sponsored blogs aren’t the worst–you know pretty much what you’re getting, and most of us should know that the posts are being filtered through the lens of a company. Transparency there. But it’s the desire to blur the line–for so many reasons–that can end up zapping lots of us.
I found this post to be highly informative. I’m still trying to absorb all the different ways in which companies are using blogs to reach their target audience.
Thanks for all these great comments. I hope to have more on this topic in the coming weeks, including longer conversations with the folks doing all these different sorts of blogs about their goals and challenges.
Hey Susan, a very comprehensive look at the differences in how blogs can be used for “advertising.” I have to disagree with Tish, who said, “Sponsored blogs aren’t the worst – you know pretty much what you’re getting, and most of us should know that the posts are being filtered through the lens of the company.” AT my petblog, my posts are not filtered. The company and I have agreed on guidelines, and I write what I want. In the purest sense of the meaning, the petblog is my blog… and Purina sponsors it because they are eager to learn from their customers.
They even gave me a vet to write about specific pet related issues – and he doesn’t mince words!
All in all, this is a post that more folks who are considering a blog (business folks) should read. Thanks for taking the lead on this.
Blog advertising is everything you said it is. Successful marketer blog activation is a wholly different game. Sponsorships are weak, advertising (in this game) is pathetic, paid messaging is borderline offensive. True activation is about empowerment, conversation, integration and interactivity. If you can nail those four pillars, you’re on the right path, if you’re missing even one of them, you’re working with one hand tied behind your back.