I am a self-designated brand enthusiast for Liquid Web. They do not pay me for my enthusiasm. But if you sign up with an affiliate link, they will pay me for that. Does this call into question my enthusiasm?
The latest trend in the commercialization of the mommy blogosphere is to hire bloggers to serve as “brand enthusiasts.” As far as I can tell, being a “brand enthusiast” involves product giveaways and throwing parties the brand, inviting local friends (ideally other bloggers) to local sponsored brand enthusiast events, and then covering these events on the blog as if it were just another day in your life on which you threw a corporate party. From the outside looking in, I have hypothesized that bloggers are selected according to several factors: an important one is geography, so there is generally one brand enthusiast in a large metropolitan area, depending upon wherever the company needs to do promotion. I am not sure, at present, how targeted these brand enthusiasm programs are by demographic, though I suppose it would depend upon which demographic the brand hopes to reach, but I am reluctant to give the PR people in charge of this kind of stuff credit for having done their homework to figure out the niceties of each blogger’s socioeconomics. The Gap, for example, has chosen brand enthusiasts from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds, and this would be in keeping with their branding, so perhaps there is more method to this madness than I thought.
I bring up the topic of professional brand enthusiasm because I have not yet decided how I feel about it. I do not completely understand it. I do not see how you can pay somebody to have enthusiasm for a brand. I suppose if someone paid me, this would make me more inclined to have enthusiasm for their brand, in theory. But there are some brands that I despise so much that even a payment from them would not make me enthusiastic about their brand. And the brand I already have enthusiasm for, well–payment would be nice, I suppose, but I’d have that enthusiasm anyway — I am not talking about the brands you feel wishy washy about, but the ones you really love here — so why would the brand bother to pay me for that? And this brings up another question: should I be keeping my enthusiasm for certain brands quiet, just in case they want to pay me someday to express it? And if I express enthusiasm for a brand, and am paid for it, does that then empty the enthusiasm of meaning, because of the monetary exchange involved?
This is something I am trying to work out at present because as my blog grows I get more and more offers for PR involved opportunities. So far, these opportunities have not been hard to turn down. Most of them are from people who aren’t familiar with my blog and don’t know the kind of people who read it, so they don’t know that their offers are not a good fit for me or my brand. But what if I were to get an offer that was a good fit? I wonder if I should take it or not, because I am not sure that the idea of brand enthusiasm can work if there is money involved. In my mind, the most valuable thing about my blog, other than the enjoyment it gives me to write it, is the trust and goodwill it promotes between me and my readers. If I start to get paid for things, will that trust evaporate, I wonder? Even if it is something I would have promoted even without money, does the exchange of money then make it seem suspect?
I suppose this is why there has been, traditionally, a separation between editorial content and advertising in media. The problem is, this interruption format of advertising does not appear to work well on the internet, and people are figuring out ways around it in other media as well (e.g. Tivo). So if I want this site to be supported by advertising, how might I work around a general reluctance to cloud the content of my blog with paid endorsements? Because ultimately, this is a small business, and I need to figure out what kinds of income streams are acceptable to me to include in its business model.
One way in which I am thinking about experimenting is the model that Daily Candy uses; if you are not familiar with Daily Candy, it is an email newsletter (also attached to a website) that tells you about new cool stuff (products, events, services, etc.) in your area and on the web. It involves some paid content and other just plain editorial content, as well as some “sponsored” links, etc. There is always transparency with the sponsored content–it will say that it is sponsored or that it was a “dedicated post,” so that you know this going in. And also, to get the newsletter int he first place, you have to sign up and give them your email address. This is called “permission marketing” because you are giving the permission to Daily Candy to market to you–you know that some of the content is paid and you are signing up the newsletter anyway.
As a subscriber, I like Daily Candy. I like it because I get something from it, even if I’m being marketed to. Sometimes there will be paid links that I just kind of ignore, and a lot of times there is stuff in there I really like and wouldn’t have found out about any other way. I think that maybe this is the way to go with this kind of thing, rather than hiring “brand enthusiasts,” paying people to produce content that appears alongside advertising, in a permission format that kind of guarantees that it will be read, this might be the only kind of advertising that is going to work in this New World Order, or it is as close to what a new advertising format is going to be.
When I think about what to do with my blog and my business, I try to think about my ideal reader and what they would like. I think my ideal reader could get on board with something like Daily Candy only for ABDPBT, but I’m not really sure. So now I’m asking: what do you guys think about that idea? This is of course something that is in the abstract now, I’m not doing anything like this any time soon, but I like to plan ahead to know how to deal with this kind of stuff. I don’t want to cross the line into sponsored content on this blog because I think it will ruin things for you, and because of that, for me. But what about a newsletter that could be signed up for, ahead of time, that will involve marketing but also give you a little something extra in exchange? Could you get on board with that?
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This is too deep to answer during WordWorld. I need to ponder and come back this afternoon.
Okay, I pondered.
Here’s the thing: I feel very differently about a post with an affiliate link and a sponsored post. I read that LiquidWeb post, and I was like, “Yay! This saves me work!” Because I knew you’d had the same problems with Dreamhost I had, and that you’d be looking for the same things in a new post, and that you’d done a thorough job of research it (because you take your blog seriously, whereas I take mine seriously only on odd numbered days of the month, provided the odd numbered day is not a Saturday, a national holiday, or a day when my allergies are really bad). So I bookmarked the post, and when I was ready to move, I came back and clicked through so you’d get whatever affiliate commission you’re supposed to get…because whatever it is, you deserve it, because that post saved me a lot of work.
But if you’d had a *sponsored* post for LiquidWeb (meaning they’d paid you for the post itself…not just for my decision to purchase it through your link), that would make me feel icky. I’m not sure why, and I’ve spent all morning pondering it, and I haven’t found the answer yet. I think part of it is that because with affiliate links, I make the decision as to whether to let you profit from my purchase. So far I’ve never not made the purchase through the affiliate link (here or on any other blog…in fact, I go out of my way to make sure I use the link). But I like knowing I could. With a sponsored link, though…well, how would I know how much of your enthusiasm was paid for? 10%? 90%? What if it’s a brand that you sorta like, but you’re not evangelical for…is that post going to read differently than the one where you’re a major fan? It has to, or you’re not going to have many takers. And if you’re a good enough faker to make it work…well, that just feels icky. It probably shouldn’t, because magazines do it all the time. But it does.
As for a newsletter…I think that might work, if you were saying this was how it would be right at the start. A newsletter isn’t a community; it’s people talking at you, so advertising is easier to take, and we’re used to taking it from magazines, etc. A blog is a community; people come every day and comment and follow the other commenters and generally feel invested. I think the rules are different in a community versus a more broadcast-y thing.
I’m going to subscribe to Daily Candy, so I’ll read it for a while and let you know whether I’m annoyed or not (because it’s all about me).
See, I was asking a lot of these questions of myself — take a brand I am already enthusiastic about, would recommend anyway, if they approached me, I still wouldn’t be able to accept a deal like that because how is the reader supposed to know this? And isn’t it just hairsplitting, anyway?
One additional thing I forgot to say:
I think bloggers are going to have a different feeling on this than non-bloggers. I have a strong desire to support the blogs I like, because I want them to keep going. Let’s face it—blogging is not going to pay off for most people who do it, and most of them will give up as a result…so retweeting, using affiliate links, etc. is a good way to encourage bloggers to keep plugging away.
Non-bloggers, though, don’t always understand the time and effort and expense involved in running a blog, so they seem to think you’re trying to screw them if you want to make money (even if it’s just enough to cover the hosting fees). So part of your approach has to depend on how many of your readers are sophisticated enough to understand how blogging works well enough to get that it’s a business.
Even bloggers don’t always get this—look at all the crap Dooce gets for being financially successful. I can think of lots of things about Dooce’s approach that are eyebrow-raising, but the fact that she’s built a financially successful business isn’t one of them. That’s what you’re supposed to do, but there sure are a lot of people out there who think she’s done something wrong by making money at this thing.
I think that to the extent I can keep display advertising as a revenue stream I’m OK with that. I see that like TV or any other thing that shows ads. I just don’ t know how that whole ad thing is going to pan out, because advertisers seem to be reluctant and don’t really believe in it. That may change, or not. It will be interesting to see.
And the people who have issues with Dooce making money — I always find that rich. They expect entertainment for free. I suppose because she didn’t start out with ads it might seem different, but it’s still providing entertainment — why should she not be paid?
Of course she should be paid. It’s ridiculous. Male bloggers never get this crap, but Dooce gets called out for making money instead of taking care of her kids (as if these two were mutually exclusive). It’s ridiculous.
Plus—how are display ads hurting you? They’re not. If you really hate them, get an ad blocker, and shut the hell up.
I can see people’s objection to paid posts, but I will NEVER get why people whine about display ads. Nobody is going to sit and write this stuff for you for free. All these “I write for myself, I write for the love of writing” people are nuts. If you have that kind of time and want to spend it like that…well, good for you. But please don’t annoy the rest of us with your martyr complex.
What I need to do, really, is study the history of television advertising. Because that is how it’s going to go, probably. There is technology to block ads now, but I think that there are still people who will end up seeing them, and let’s face it, the advertisers don’t have much other choice. How else are they going to get their word out? I mean, other than paying bloggers to write about them, of course.
I read a couple of blogs that have sponsored content, mostly because I want to see how it looks and how it “works,” if it works. And thusfar, it doesn’t work very well. It’s pretty stupid, in fact. The best versions of it are when the person gets a free product to try or something and then it’s sort of featured because of that, but it’s not necessarily one post that is specifically promoting the product. But even then, sometimes, it comes off as being very forced. I just wonder if this kind of stuff is showing to be more effective than display ads. Because I really tend to think display ads would work better.
Oh, and you make a really good point about community, Kerry — taking sponsored content is offensive because it fails to acknowledge the community’s contribution to the blog. It is like saying, people ONLY come here for me, and so ONLY I will be paid. And after a blog’s been around a while, that’s simply not true: commenters develop relationships with other commenters and the blogger, everybody goes around to other people’s sites, etc. Maybe that’s the answer — set up some kind community access space where advertisers can court the community, and everybody gets a cut? I don’t know — I’m just thinking out loud.
I am a relatively new reader of your blog and not a blogger myself; that said I agree the ads are okay. The blog you wrote about the tide product struck me as a great balance between disclosure of the fact it was a free product and your opinion. I understand that if they paid you to write the blog it might read a little different and I think the important question is how much different? How critical can you be (if necessary) of a product that you were paid to write about?
I read a lot of other blogs and like to hear others opinions about products; and I like hearing about them in this type of setting because as long as the readers can comment on them it opens the floor to other opinions and experiences.
I as a non blogger think you should be paid for the time and effort put into blogging because your time is just as valuable as mine and as Kerry pointed out you did the research and saved her the time.
I guess the bottom line of this very long comment is that it is all about striking the right balance between advertising and content.
Hi Jamelynne, thanks for weighing in. Yeah, the Tide post was a little unusual because I don’t usually get free products or review them. I basically decided it was something I should include when it worked on getting grape juice out of my duvet, but even then I felt like it was kind of sneaky because I really didn’t want to be promoting Tide on my blog. The thing is, if people send me free products, I won’t review them or recommend them unless I really believe in them, but that is a distinction that only is clear to me–as a reader, I’m not sure that everyone will have confidence in that. Also, those free products are not revenue stream, in my opinon, anyway — I’m more talking about somebody sends me a check to mention some brand. I don’t think I can do that with [cough] integrity here. One way I have seen it done is to say “XYZ brand is sponsoring the RSS feed this week” or a separate post that reads “Sponsored by XYZ brand.” That way you are clicking on the post with full knowledge that it’s an ad and not actual content. But still, this is mixing the content and ad space to a certain degree. I also don’t know how effective that type of advertising is to begin with.
One thing I saw BHJ do a few months back was a post that was clearly sponsored, demarcated as sponsored, but it was kind of a spoof about how he was doing a sponsored post. So it was really entertaining, and it was advertising, but it was obvious to everyone that’s what it was — worth reading because entertaining, but everyone knew what was up. I think that might be a the direction to go, too — provide content that is worth reading anyway, kind of like a superbowl ad, but make it clear that it’s an ad and not an earnest product recommendation. If you can pull it off, that is really good stuff. If his blog was still up I would link it because it was really funny.