While media outlets crumble and collapse because their conventional business model is broken beyond repair (due to a weak economy, changing consumer habits and online competition), mom bloggers across the nation are debating the demand to become better marketers, generate revenue, and question how to maintain editorial integrity while accepting advertising, free products and sponsorship.Simultaneously, as Ted Murphy details on
Bloggers are the influencers that traditional media outlets once were. The problem is that unlike their conventional counterparts, bloggers have to do everything – write and edit the content, SEO, solicit and listen to PR pitches, generate interesting promotions to increase and engage with readers, decide how to work with an advertiser – which has some mom bloggers questioning their role and how the competitive online marketplace could perhaps push the non-aggressive-marketing-mom-bloggers into obscurity. Most are adamant that they are writers first-and-foremost and the focus on how to make their blog bigger and better is a distraction from their true focus – to share information and offer insight in a well-written manner.
For those of us who want to work with mom bloggers in order to increase brand awareness and develop a stronger online presence, we must contemplate how the evolution of online content and influencers will push our conventional marketing approaches into uncharted territory; while also taking into consideration how marketers can support bloggers to remain true to their original intentions so that their readership doesn’t dwindle beneath the demand for a bigger and better approach.
Mabel’s Labels recently conducted contest for a blogger to win a trip to BlogHer’s annual conference. They asked bloggers to answer the question – What have been the rewards and benefits of participating in the blogging community?, which generated over 100 blog posts across North America. Ten finalists were chosen and then an online poll (where bloggers solicited readers via their blog, twitter, facebook to vote for them) determined the winner. This is a fantastic example of how to support (mom) bloggers in their writing pursuit while creating a buzz for your own company online; taking a traditional sponsorship activity to a whole new level.
I question whether sponsored conversations will be accepted by bloggers and readers alike – perhaps seen as a transparent yet obtrusive advertising method. Will readers simply ‘tivo’ past these conversations as they have with their cable channel ads, does this develop a pay-per-placement system and those with the biggest budgets win, will bloggers and marketers who adopt this system lose credibility with their readers?
