the vast wilderness that is the blogospheremy friends and i have been chatting about reciprocity lately, particularly pertaining to the blogosphere and our 'lives' online, and i've realised that perhaps there are some things that need to be said. this conversation was sparked by a comment directed at me recently when i offered to blog about a friend of a friend's product. being such an exuberant person, i probably get a little carried away sometimes, wanting everyone to 'get online' and get a little exposure. i suggested an idea that would require next to no effort to execute, and the aforementioned person's response was, "all you bloggers just want free stuff" - the product costs R45. now, i don't know about you, but i found that pretty insulting and in bad taste. he actually looked a little embarrassed after, sheepish perhaps, upon the realisation that he'd suggested i would go to all the effort of photographing and blogging his R45 product, losing hours of my life, just so i could get it for free. i am currently working on two freelance projects which take up 7 days of my week, leaving little time to waste on cooking up grand plans of scoring free R45 products, i can assure you. i mentioned it to a blogger friend and he remarked that he'd been experiencing a similar attitude lately. it's clear that a few brands have been 'burnt' by some bloggers.
brands totalz being burnt by bloggersnow here's where i'm going to bring up reciprocity. if people find your product/shop/restaurant/business/service via a blogger, it's courteous to thank them at some point. if you google your product/shop/restaurant/business/service and find that bloggers mentions of it are amongst the first results, perhaps even spanning pages on google, it's courteous to thank those bloggers. you won't believe how far an invitation for a cup of coffee or a reciprocal mention on your blog or twitter feed goes. now i know the problem arises when people expect things for mentioning your brand but nothing can be done about that. bloggers that lie about their stats in an attempt to make money from their blogs will all soon be shown up by a new system - but if you have an agreement with a blogger, honour it.
blog posts take between 1 and 5 hours to complete, sometimes even longer. social media raises your brand profile, creates brand awareness and leads to sales. recently, a local business owner thanked all his brand fans by personally delivering a gift pack of hot chocolate to them, during the first cold spate this winter. this was an overture of grand proportions, and incredibly generous, but was a gesture that cannot possibly be emulated by small businesses due to the expense of such reciprocity! it was also a well executed marketing plan that delivered a delicious product into the hands of bloggers, with personal notes and attention to detail. gift bags are customary at launches, only in this case, the gift bags were delivered to people who market goods via a new medium. perhaps we could all do with a little reminder about the cost of advertising: the smallest spots in magazines and newspapers start at roughly R1000 in a community paper and slightly bigger magazine ads cost as much as R250 000 a year. yes, a quarter of a million rand. i'm not even going to get into the expense of radio and television spots. some local blogs pull thousands of people per day, who actively choose to read that specific blog, so if you're investing in sponsoring bloggers (within reason), you've made a wise and cost effective choice. like a blogger friend of mine once said: "i don't expect anything. i do it because i love it. if someone wants to thank me, that's wonderful, but i don't expect anything." i like his vibe.
28 comments:
although i'm not a blogger, i experience something similar but from the other side of the coin. sometimes people just don't think things through!
Really enjoyed this post and think this is a really important issue to bring up.
I could write an essay reply to this...but I wont right now ;)
I tots agree with you. I think the problem now is that blogging is no longer "original" and there are all sorts of people jumping on to the bandwagon per se, and they're quite possibly not aware of "blogging etiquette" ... but like being brazen says, it's a whole essay worth of reply, and I won't :-)
Great post!
Its sad that in this day and age people still do not understand the very simple rule that governs most things in life "what you give, you get".
Being a massage therapist I have to know when to give a little more, and a little more "freely" then usual, the universe responds to this and more times than not bestows wonderful gifts...whether its exposure, new clients, a bit of pr or just one more person knowing what you do.
Its also sad that because of maybe pride, or ego, some people just can't open their hearts to a little help from a friend. or a friend of a friend.
I could go on forever and a day.
But I'll stop here and say thank you, this post will give a lot of people a lot to think about, and that's what this world is lacking, a little thought.
Clients need to be educated on new mediums of advertising. Blogging is the new 'word of mouth' that reaches masses!
Great post
Wow. Really well written, and sadly true!
Great post!
I expected a shit storm in my comments section today but once again, I'm surprised by our little online community. Thank you for taking the time to read the post. I just needed to get it all off my chest.
@Brazen and @Liza - I'd love to hear what you have to say!
@anonymous therapist - I really enjoyed your comments, thank you.
'Being a massage therapist I have to know when to give a little more, and a little more "freely" then usual, the universe responds to this and more times than not bestows wonderful gifts..' Lovely.
hi,
I totally love your blog & to be honest, I get what you’re saying and yes.. Bloggers are doing a lot of marketing for people & their products for free...
but as your friend said - don’t you do it for the love of it.. And not expect anything in return? it seems like you do expect something in return... even if it is a pat on the back and some gratitude..
it seems like bloggers are the new "super stars" and expect to be treated like that... like they made the products they are writing about or like they made anything at all.. and what bloggers are doing, is writing about their thoughts and opinions, and sharing cool stuff they like - thats all.
in fact they need content, so of course they gonna wanna write about the stuff other people are doing... cos that’s what they do. I read allot of blogs and love how this media has given people everywhere a voice and a platform to be unique.
So if you gonna do it for the love of it.. Then do it for just that... that’s awesome.. Don’t let ego's get in the way of awesomeness being shared..
Hi Anon, I like what you've said but I think it's all a bit blurred as I tried to make a few points in my post, although perhaps I am a bit of a sucker for a 'thank you'. It was about reciprocity. I have a brand myself, and may also have been a bit lax in thanking everyone who supports it, although I do try. I don't blog so I can score stuff, but it doesn't need to be thankless. I was disgruntled about the comment which in turn got me thinking about reciprocity, because of this person's perceptions of bloggers 'getting free stuff'- I felt I needed to 'qualify' that. Like the therapist who commented earlier said, 'What you give, is what you get." For instance, a little acknowledgement from a brand you've mentioned for YEARS does wonders for your enthusiasm.
Hiya. I do agree with most of what you are saying here, bloggers can be very helpful to producers and what I really like about blogging is the person/product you are blogging about has an opportunity to respond. It is a very relevant article and I’m pretty sure I am one of the main reasons for you writing it so there’ll be a few points mentioned here, all of which will be my personal opinion and not that of Honest Chocolate.
After bumping into you after working at the Good Food Wine Show we got talking about blogging and our chocolate, you suggested we deliver a few box of chocolates to your offices and then you could write an article about us on your blog, something I was happy to have and jokingly mentioned that some bloggers get a lot of free stuff. You mentioned that of course you would pay the R45 for them. In my opinion at the time the money was never an issue and I thought the whole exchange of ideas was very light hearted, we were in a bar after all.
Now I have to admit, I messed up. You DM’d (if that’s the term) me the next day, asking for my bank details so you could pay for the chocolates to be delivered. I messaged you back saying we were super busy (we were busy moving kitchens) and that we’d do it soon. Then I forgot. I’m pretty new to Twitter, I use email to check back on things I still need to do. So unfortunately I totally forgot about your delivery of chocolates. This is a mistake on my side from a producer to a consumer. Please don’t mistake this with a producer not wanting to give a blogger free stuff or having a belief that bloggers are only in it for the free stuff. We do rely on bloggers to spread the message of our product and are only to thankful to have someone who has tasted our chocolate and enjoys it, make the effort to write about it. We appreciate this.
Our company ethos is that we are open about what we are doing and producing and we welcome feedback, whether it be good or bad. We spend a lot a time and care making what we believe to be a very good product, something that people and bloggers will hopefully recognise and comment on or refer to friends. This I would consider is organic marketing and where bloggers fit in, a means to get our message out. Visit us, chat to us, question us about what we are doing. Please don’t judge us by our little mistakes.
Well said Thaya, an open discussion that has got everyone chatting. And well done Honest Choc for entering the debate too. On the second point you made - I couldn't agree with you more Thaya- we don't expect thank you's but they really do make you feel swell. Nice to see you tonight Miss T.
Bloggers aren't super stars. They are enthusiasts. Enthusiasm for anything is in its own way a sort of gift and surely it's just good manners to say 'Thanks' when you get anything.
So (ahem) 'Thanks' for a very sweet 'nod' Thaya which much like everything else, is never expected but always appreciated. We feel very lucky to be able to interact with creative, enthusiastic people who in turn help to provide us with inspiration, originality and passion.
Interaction with Bloggers is also symbiotic and actually often far more creatively rewarding (and instructive) that working with traditional media where product is supplied on a much more 'hit and (usually) miss' basis.
Oh well, that's our two cents anyway...
The 'Silver Fox' (cough)
What an amazing post! Thanks for saying what many want to but are to scared to!
I love that you said blogger's don't expect anything but it does take A LOT of time to do blog posts and if we get something for free from it, then great!
And how often do bloggers get press releases from companies expecting us to write about their products or launches for free, without an invite or a taste of the product.
Just like the bloggers who want stuff for free, these companies want free publicity. For some I'm willing to write about it if I believe in the product but it helps to have at least tasted/experienced the product so that your review can be honest.
Thanks again! x
I always blog about what I love and never expect money, gifts or even a thank you. On my blog I have a button which states that mine is a "ad free blog".
This is very important to me, as it shows that I have integrity and have not been swayed by (as we journalists refer to it) a kick-back.
My blog is purely for enjoyment and to supplement my writing (I don't get write about a lot of things at my day job).
However, I once was thanked by a business that I blogged about. They gave me a free meal, that was really cool!
I sometimes wish I could get a free something or another - like a ghd. But that soon passes.
I find that passion and judgement goes out the door when money steps in.
I agree fully with what you said. For instance, last year we had a fabulous Steri stumpi drop and I blogged about it - the kids, me and Steri stumpi loved it - they emailed me a thanks. They did not ask me to blog it, but I did, because we loved they way they did it and had heaps of fun. Go check here if you want to see how we did it: http://juggelingactoflife.blogspot.com/2010/09/just-look-what-flying-hoola-monkeys.html
I is a question of mutual plusses - not the few rands the (for instance) Steri Stumpi might cost.
I think you nailed it on the head with:
"i don't expect anything. i do it because i love it. if someone wants to thank me, that's wonderful, but i don't expect anything."
I don't think any of us, at least in our circle of Bloggers have delusions of grandeur and I'm sure none of us started our blogs with the first thought that it would make us rich or famous.
We do it for the love of it, it's time consuming and when a thank you or gift comes along it's a breath of fresh air.
I'm often invited to events, most of the time the PR company is looking to get mileage out of X or Y product for their client but I'm always firm up front stating that my acceptance of an invite is not contingent on any kind of promotion or blog post or tweet, if they are unhappy with it, I turn down the invite.
One of 2 I've attended have been so bad I've chosen not to say anything at all other than to organizers and given them feedback with my issues and how they can improve on either their product or service.
Others I love and I dedicate a post or tweets to them, but I always start off by saying 'I was invited to' as to indicate that it was an invitational and at the request of the company or their PR firm, I think this kind of thing calls for transparency.
Since my blog revolves around food I've also set a personal limit of saying to myself that I'll never order anything off a menu I'd not be willing to pay for, it keeps myself in check and adds credibility to the way I live my own life as I try to be the same person on and off-line.
There are companies like Paul's that blow me away and I continue to tweet/post about their goods.
Though in one particular case I was asked, seemingly jokingly, if my mention of them was a paid tweet... WHAT!
I came clean and said, like you I received a Hot Chocolate and recently some Fonds, but I've bought WAY more than I've been given and am VERY happy to give Paul and NoMu my hard earned money. I guess some Bloggers/Twits feel differently and think I'm on his bank roll... I'm not.
It's never easy when your ethics come into question or your motivation and of late it's something that seems to be floating around the blogosphere.
Ultimately you have to live with any choices you make and who cares about what others think? It's YOUR blog right?
People vote with their mice and if X or Y blog turns into some marketing campaign and the content gets boring there are tons of other blogs to visit.
@Matt "i don't expect anything. i do it because i love it. if someone wants to thank me, that's wonderful, but i don't expect anything." I was quoting you!
What a great post - definitely useful food for thought for many bloggers (and PR people too.) Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I enjoyed reading them and all the comments too. Well done on raising this issue in such a tactful way - it's probably something that needs to be raised continuously.
Thanks Kathryn. I think PR people in SA deserve another post dedicated to them entirely. Thanks for the idea - watch this space ;)
I'm one of the owners at El Burro and I for some reason have become the "online face" of the business.
When we got into this I had no social network or online experience, save for the personal facebooking and emails one does.
My initial view of bloggers was of a similar nature to what you explained. "Bloggers just want free S*^t."
I was was put into my place extremely quickly by the online community and I have grown to respect the world of bloggers and the immense GOOD they do for brands/businesses etc.
Save for one or two awkward moments where people have expected free meals without prior arrangement, or have simply left without paying and then taken 4 months to post; we have nothing but an amazing relationship with bloggers.
I would even go so far as to say that without the insane amount of online content and support we get from people we have never met, I doubt we would be where we are today.
As far as gratuity goes for bloggers I feel that bloggers often don't get the gratitude they deserve. However on the same token, I feel that a blogger who only writes for "free meals" lacks integrity. Our approach is simple: come, have a meal, pay, then give us feedback. We'll thank you online regardless of content with our twitter and FB and will most likely buy you a tequila or maybe even a meal when we see you again.
I will say one thing, I have been overwhelmed and continue to be overwhelmed by the support of the blog community. I can only thank them and often hand out a big hug to bloggers when I see them!
Cheers
N
Really great article - and pretty eye opening!
I want to chime in from a brand point of view - I will never say no to free publicity, but will always thank profusely for it!
I'm happy to supply products for giveaways, and have done a few times. However, I was once contacted and asked to supply new products, for free every month (bearing in mind the blogger was in a different province, so it involved posting!) so they could photograph and blog about them.. I'm a micro business - just me, & honestly don't see how anyone could have the gall to ask that! (I have to say I ignored the email)
So - for now, I'm happy to blog about my own stuff, and if anyone feels like mentioning me - it's a big plus, and many thank yous!! :)
Hey Thaya,
I am totally with you on this one.
I think it is as much up to brands as it is to bloggers to work together to promote this integrity. Don't partner with brands that have little or nothing to do with your product/your blog - it looks bad, and perpetuates the impression that all bloggers want is freebies, and that brands think that anyone with 500 Twitter followers is the next big thing. Very untrue.
I routinely tweet and blog about brands I love - if they thank me, it is purely bonus. I would recommend Woodlands Eatery, for instance, to anyone. I would continue to do so, regardless of a thank you or a so-called 'pat on the back' simply because I love what they are doing.
By the same token, I, like anyone else (blogger or not!) am not averse to the idea of a freebie here or there. People can't hold it against bloggers if they are given free stuff, so long as integrity is maintained and the arrangement is valuable to both parties.
I make no bones about the fact that if a brand wants to loan me a leather dress or something else fabulous, I will wear it. To me, it is an exact reflection of what you said - mutual reciprocity that is all about an appreciation of something, rather than money. It's a transparent and uncomplicated process.
I'm not an active blogger, but I do write for an online women's magazine and so have a few thoughts on this issue: I love freebies and gift bags as much as the next girl, and while I don't go writing about products just to get free stuff, I know how difficult it is sometimes to refrain from writing about something that isn't really worth mentioning, simply because you got something for free out of it. There is often a sense of obligation when you have been invited to a fancy event, plied with free drinks and goodies, that you must give it coverage on your site. Because I write for a website rather than a blog, sometimes I am prevented from giving in to this as we have rules about what constitutes free advertising and I have also learned to tell PR folks politely that I would rather simply not review their product than have to slate it. I do, however, get the sense sometimes that PR people might target bloggers because they are not beholden to a grumpy advertising department, and *appear* to write about anything that gets sent their way. Sometimes I will open my Google Reader to find four, five, sometimes even more reviews of the same product, because obviously someone has done a major gift bagging campaign! Even if each of those bloggers was genuinely impressed with the product, it smacks of a lack of integrity. I know that you may all be throwing out loads of freebies without ever writing about them because they do not deserve it, and you may all stick to your own strict code if you choose to, but that is my perception, even as someone is not immune to the lure of the goodie bag herself! So if I can have that perception, it does not surprise me that other people might think that way as well.
Cool article, and I think it's definitely something worth talking about!
However, since there are few 'flip arguments' I just wanted to add a couple, which sprang to my mind as I read the article. Note, I am not a blogger!
The problem, as I see it, is that everyone seems to be a blogger these days. If you do it for love, then great, if you do it for free things, I don't have a huge problem with that either, given the amount of time and effort you put in.
But ultimately, bloggers want to blog about the small guys because they are the most interesting and worthy of a story (and would it therefore be fair to say, good for your blog?!). However, these are also the guys who are putting every spare cent and waking hour into getting their business off the ground. Yes, it would probably make economic sense in the long term to give stuff away in exchange for the coverage, but with so many bloggers out there, they have to draw the line somewhere. They've probably already paid a photographer to take awesome pics..but I'm guessing most bloggers don't want to use them because they want their post to be unique.
Maybe it is worth considering a middle line: paying cost price to cover the costs?
Finally, I think being offered something is quite different to expecting something, but perhaps there is so much of the former happening from the big guns,that the latter becomes habit?
Just sayin'!
I agree with everything you've said, Liz. Thank you for the great comment.
Excellent post Thaya! Very well put and so true! Only those who blog know how much time it takes to prepare and publish a single blog post and I'm really pleased someone has put this info out there!
As for the guy and his R45 product - let him find advertising anywhere as powerful as social media at the cost of a sample!
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