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September 17, 2012 by sherrilynne 8 Comments

Top tips for bloggers and brands

Mark Twain once said, “Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated”.  This could be said of the blogging trend, because pronouncements of the death of blogging have been floating around for a few years now.  However, blogging is growing more popular than ever before. Bloggers too, are being taken seriously as true influencers by marketers and are being courted by brands and the PR agencies that represent them. Here are some tips for new bloggers to help get the best out of brand relationships:

Seattle-area Blogger Meetup Group Photo (2)
Seattle-area Blogger Meetup Group Photo (2) (Photo credit: Chris Pirillo)
  1. Write only about brands that you care about and believe in. This is the key to building credibility with readers and that, in turn, gives a blogger the influence that brands are looking for.  For brands, there is very little value in being covered on by a blogger who will write about anything for a fee. Also, brands are reluctant to invite bloggers to events or give them free products if there’s little chance of follow-through due to lack of interest or enthusiasm.
  2. Understand what’s expected.  This is very important in building long-term relationships with brands, and there is nothing rude about asking “what’s in it for me?”  The brand might have a budget to pay an editorial fee or cover expenses, so there is no harm in asking.  Alternatively, the brand might be investing significantly in hosting or sponsoring a blogger event and will have some expectations.  So it’s best to talk in advance to avoid disappointment on both sides.  Should the blogger tweet throughout the event? Should he or she write a blog post before or after the event?  Is there a specific hashtag or keyword that should be used?  Should the result be a detailed product review, or will a quick brand mention suffice?  Bloggers should not be shy about asking questions up front.
  3. Be honest, but be respectful.  Bloggers’ online communities respect them and trust them, so no brand worth its salt would ever expect a blogger to tell a lie. If he or she doesn’t like a product or didn’t enjoy an event, stating that is fair enough.  But being respectful and balanced in the report is important too. If a blogger didn’t like the service, he or she should be specific about which aspects were lacking and should include a mention of something positive too, if possible.  For example, in a restaurant review it would be fair to mention if the appetizer was served still frozen in the middle. To provide balance, the review could mention that the waiter was mortified, the chef came out and apologized, and the blogger was not charged for the starter.
  4. Have a blogger media kit. Brands and their public relations agencies need specific information about a social media influence to understand fully the return on their PR investment.  A useful media kit will have a short bio about the blogger including some personal information, contact details and the editorial focus.  Include also any relevant social media statistics: i.e. number of Facebook friends, Twitter followers, Google PageRank, number of blog subscribers etc. It’s also helpful to include the names of other the companies and brands the blogger has worked with.
  5. Think long-term.  It all goes back to having strong relationships. This is the key to building any business and is important in profitable blogging.  See point No. 1…writing about brands the blogger believes in.
  6. Disclose associations. To maintain integrity as a true social media influencer, bloggers should declare any commercial relationships or associations.  Not only is this best practice, in some countries (like the USA under the FTC), there are legal requirements to do so.
Related articles
  • Modifying the Rules of PR to Reach Bloggers
  • 58 Ways to Get Noticed as a New Blogger
  • An Open Letter to Brands
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Filed Under: Featured, Headline, Social Media Tagged With: blog, Blogging, Brand, Facebook, Mark Twain, Ottawa, public relations, Social Media, Twitter

January 16, 2011 by sherrilynne 2 Comments

Foursquare is open for business

Image representing Foursquare Solutions as dep...
Image via CrunchBase

Foursquare, the location-based social networking service, is targeting brands and local businesses by revamping its business pages; this step will help it face formidable competition from Facebook Places.

The New York-based social networking company, which launched in 2009, was a pioneer in location-based “checking-in” to receive rewards and deals, but lately it seems to have lost momentum, partly because of the Facebook location initative.

The idea is to make Foursquare a whole lot easier for businesses to understand and use.  The company has launched new Foursquare for Business pages which provide separate guidance for brands and venue owners. There is a step-by-step  “walk-through” guide for businesses to show how they can claim check-in venues.

The business pages explain the company’s merchant platform and how venue owners can run and track campaigns. It gives guidance on creating pages and using the badges-rewards system to drive consumer engagement.

The Foursquare for Business pages also include examples of successful brands’ pages, including  Louis Vuitton, Red Bull and Havaianas.

Related Posts:

  • Facebook Places, an exciting development
  • Loyalty built with Foursquare
  • Facebook Deals bridge location gap

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Filed Under: Featured, Foursquare, Social Media Tagged With: Brand, Business, Facebook, Facebook features, Foursquare Solutions, Louis Vuitton, Red Bull, Social network service

July 28, 2010 by sherrilynne 2 Comments

Facebook pages: 8 success criteria

Successful Facebook pages all have the same eight characteristics according to a study just released by the Altimeter Group, but about half  of the major brands on Facebook fail to make the most of all Facebook’s available social features to maximise their page’s impact.

The report is based on input from 34 vendors, agencies, brands and individual experts as well as published blog posts, case studies and examples.  The eight key criteria for brands to find success on Facebook include:

  1. Set community expectations: clearly articulate the ground rules for interaction on your page so individuals will know what to expect from the community.
  2. Provide cohesive branding: create a familiar experience that is distinct for fans using Facebook’s customisable features and augment this with customised applications and tabs that resonate with the brand’s values.
  3. Be up to date: add fresh, new content frequently. That’s what people like about using Facebook.  And keep to the 80/20 rule.  Eighty percent of the content should be educational or entertaining and only 20% should be product and sales information.
  4. Be authentic: people expect to socialise with people on Facebook.  Write in the first person and use a conversational tone within all content.  Let page administrators engage with users personabley.
  5. Participate in dialogue: Two-way dialogue spurs interaction, trust and the spread of information.
  6. Enable P2P interaction: Harnessing the energy of the community helps reduce costs and improves the experience for all individuals.
  7. Foster advocacy: people trust the opinions of customers more than they do those of the brand, so promoting advocacy is essential to Facebook success.
  8. Solicit a call to action: invite fans to ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ Facebook content.  Ask them to sign up to receive newsletters. Encourage them click on product related tabs. The use of a conversational tone is key here;  pushy or salesy messages could impact negatively.

Get all the details by reading the full report:

The 8 Success Criteria For Facebook Page Marketing

View more documents from Jeremiah Owyang.
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  • How To Create A Facebook Fan Page: Guide To The Best Strategies And Examples (masternewmedia.org)
  • Facebook Advertising: Brands Can’t Buy Enough (pamorama.net)
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Filed Under: Facebook, Featured, Social Media Tagged With: Brand, Facebook, Jeremiah Owyang, Marketing and Advertising, Online Communities, Social Media, Social Networking

March 10, 2009 by sherrilynne Leave a Comment

Facebook conditions controversy

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...
Image via CrunchBase
Branding, when done well, generates predictable attitudes and behaviours in people.

So people expect Virgin to provide quality, innovative products and services and when Ryan Air hinted that they’d consider charging for the use of the toilet on their aircraft, people might have laughed at the suggestion, but no one was surprised.

Branding problems start when the companies behind successful brands do something that goes against the grain.  So when British Airways’ launch of Heathrow Terminal Five was such a fiasco, people were surprised and lost confidence in a brand they’d previously trusted.

And when social network Facebook issued news terms and conditions there was an immediate outcry among users, a flood of negative media coverage and a somewhat embarrassing climbdown by the company which quickly reinstated the original terms of use. The problem for Facebook was that they’d greatly misjudged their community and indeed, this is surprising.

That Facebook’s fundamental mission is to empower individuals to communicate and build relationships, makes it difficult to understand why company executives tried to impose new rules of engagement without consultation of their key stakeholders, their millions of users.  Click here to read the rest of this Tech Talk column.

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Filed Under: public relations, Tech Talk Tagged With: Brand, British Airways, Facebook, Social network, Tech Talk

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