All those “your mom” jokes just got serious. AdAge recently reported Procter & Gamble Co.'s plans to pamper top “mommy bloggers” in an effort to tap into these online influencers and inform them of Pampers diaper products. The company may bring in as many as 15 top bloggers in this category to their Cincinnati headquarters for all-expense-paid trips not to buy their loyalty, but instead let these bloggers get to know what the company is about which will hopefully bring a positive light to their product.
Tapping into blogger "influencers" is a very sensitive initiative. They can’t be treated as paid employees sitting behind desks receiving mass amounts of PR blasts nor do they want to be treated this way. Because they have the liberty to write at their own free will, there is no hindrance to what they can and will write. Typos included. It is this raw thinking process in which marketers crave and should be paying attention to.
Cision Media Research recently conducted research on the mention of blogs in 20 major print media publications clearly indicating the growing influence of bloggers. Cision discovered that the top 20 national magazines and newspapers mentioned blogs and bloggers 13,066 times in the one-year period ending June 30, 2008. That compares to only 795 times in 2004 and 2,179 times in 2005.
“This stunning growth in blogger influence magnifies the importance of employing common sense when contacting bloggers,” said Peter Granat, Cision Executive Vice President. “Knowing the blogger and his/her focus is the critical element in a successful blog relations campaign. While many blogs are highly visible in their own right, the growing influence with the mainstream media elevates their importance.”
How can we as marketers connect with bloggers? You may not have the status of P&G to offer all-expense-paid trips but the simple gesture of being sincere and getting to know the blogger whom you are trying to form a relation with is just as good. Notice I said blogger and not bloggers because generic PR blasts to a list without any customization will not do. It takes time to get to know someone so make the effort to do so and your initiatives will more likely yield positive results.
