It’s the same in every market with high Internet penetration rates. Blogs are now a part of our media consumption. Every marketeer and PR agency and agency wants a part of the crowd but most can’t figure out what to do with them. Those of us who’ve tried have realise that our simple outreach and product reviews are ineffective when it comes to influence.
Did your sales really peak because a bunch of bloggers reviewed your product? If not, why are you paying for expensive social media outreach packages? At the end of the day, media is media (social or not) and effective influence is in giving them what they and their audiences want.
This is what I tell my clients, this is what I told Yahoo! today, and this is what I’m telling you now.
Best Practice 1: Add fast-moving topical blogs to your regular media list
It’s been argued that it is a must for startups to pitch their wares to TechCrunch to get noticed by the VC community. And although most people refer to Michael Arrington as a blogger, pitching to him is equivalent to pitching to Chris Anderson at WIRED. Like it or not, he is a journalist like any other. Pages (or posts rather) to fill, timeliness to keep. Give him what he wants.
Treat them as “traditional media” because even though they are blogs by design, they have journalists to attend your workday events and read your press releases. These blogs will end up having the same (if not more) impact as CNet, The Register, ZDnet and other online media.
Best Practice 2: Accredit the hobbyist blogger
The majority of blogs are personal/hobbyist blogs that have the potential to make an impact, but only with the right content. There is no point reading a couple of a blogger’s posts and going “I think he might be interested in my new product”. That’s shooting in the dark and of the 60 million blogs out there, you’re likely to miss.
What you need to do is open yourself up to all bloggers in your target area of influence and let them tell you what they want through accreditation programmes. Let them fill out an online form that declares what they like from your company/clients and how they want to be approached. If you command enough clout to warrant fans, you could even ask them for their traffic patterns so you pick your desired effect.
This is a powerful approach as you can quickly cultivate brand ambassadors over a simple lunch with show and tell.
Best Practice 3: Don’t waste time on 1 and 2, just focus on building kick-ass products and the bloggers will fly with it
Hey, Apple did it.
Filed under: Marketing, Social Media
Good post. I agree, especially with best practice 3
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Thanks Van. Yes, marketing starts at product product inception not after it rolls off the production floor. The other product to do an Apple is Grand Theft Auto IV that just launched.
GTA IV is currently sucking my life away. Good things sell themselves… heck, they even form cults of fans who’d jump in to protect their brands in the name of loyalty.
Haha I love number 3 the most! Back to the basics of business I guess
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