About blogging..........

Navigating the blogosphere
31 May, 2012 Claudine Capel

Brands in Australia are sleepily opening their eyes and starting to wake up to the proliferation of homegrown bloggers that are popping up all over Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest - and just about anywhere else they can go to get people's attention. The level of blog chatter out there is steadily increasing its volume, and is soon set to become deafening. While these authentic, truthful voices - speaking directly to highly engaged, and often large, audiences - are not ideal for every brand out there, it would take a foolish marketer to dismiss their power. Yet, through ignorance, this is often what happens, with brands who are happy to throw everything they've got at their

digital and social media campaigns failing to see the value of bloggers, or simply putting the research required to find the right ones into the 'too hard' basket. Rennie Freer, acting general manager of marketing at Target Australia is certainly not one of these marketers. "Bloggers are becoming an increasingly important way to reach our customers, respond to valuable feedback about our products and services and capture new audiences who are utilising this medium," she says. Duncan Arthur, general manager for Say Media - a global ad network and publisher that specialises in commercialising bloggers or "passion based media" - explains: "Bloggers are less restricted than mainstream media about what they can and can't say, which frees them to share raw, authentic opinions. Consumers recognise and trust this authenticity, which makes them incredibly powerful for brands to work with. With bloggers in almost every category, including food, fashion, beauty, cars, sport, business and, of course, the ubiquitous parenting or "mummy bloggers", almost every brand would be sure to find a good fit should they go looking. But Christina Butcher, a blogger who has recently become one of the lucky few that has been able to give up their day job in favour of full-time blogging - due to the success of her site Hair Romance - explains that ill-informed brands are also causing problems in the space. "Brands need to consider bloggers as part of their marketing strategy, not just as a way of getting free coverage in social media," she says. "Bloggers seem to be an afterthought for brands, or they are jumping

on the bandwagon by sending out free products and expecting glowing reviews." Why get involved? The logistics of becoming involved in the blogging space are understandably daunting to the inexperienced, as the sheer variety of bloggers out there talking about every topic under the sun makes it hard to know where to begin. But the benefits, as those brands that successfully played the space, are myriad.

"Bloggers have a deep and engaging relationship with their audience," says Alex Brooks, executive editor of online parenting community Kidspot, who recently oversaw the Kidspot Top 50 Bloggers campaign sponsored by Ford. "The readers are dedicated and come back every day, so if you want to understand how to make people do stuff after reading something online, get a blogger to help you. They are experts at making sure someone comments, engages or shares something." Karen Marshall, marketing innovations project manager of McCormick Foods is one of those marketers who has realised the potential of the blogosphere and is now venturing into the space, targeting the omnipresent mummy bloggers. "We just feel it's time," she says. "There's been a massive leap in the number of mums using social networking, so we're starting to look at how that's going to impact our marketing strategy. We know that

mums trust the opinions of other mums even if they don't know them." With large brands such as Ford, Coles, Seek and Huggies having successfully leveraged the blogging community, smaller brands are also starting to pay attention. "Often blogs can be a way for smaller, new brands to make rapid headway into a category," says Jo North, environmental scientist and founder of Greenbeings blog, who was recently inundated with requests from brands wanting to engage with her audience after running a post on eco-nappies. "Top bloggers are often the alpha spokesperson in their category and instigate or influence major category trends," says Say Media's Arthur. "If a blogger like Richard MacManus of ReadWriteWeb genuinely endorses your new tech gadget as the latest word in cool, then that can boost your sales and establish your product's brand positioning faster than any traditional advertising can." Getting it right There are a few simple tricks for brands to bear in mind when making their way into the Australian blogosphere. We have learned through social media over the years that good manners and a level of respect are key in the online space. But the next step for brands wishing to show good manners and successfully leverage blogs, is to return the favour and also let that blogger leverage you. Darren Rowse, online expert and founder of premier bloggers' destination site ProBlogger, plus the Digital Photography School blog, advises: "Get to know the bloggers and attempt to find win-win-win opportunities.

By this I mean that not only should the brand get something out of the interaction, but so should the blogger and so should their readers." Lizzy Ryan, digital director at Mindshare, is passionate about the value of giving something back to the bloggers having seen the success of the Ford sponsored Kidspot Top 50 Bloggers contest in which bloggers can win the use of a Ford Territory for a year and a trip to the prestigious BlogHer conference in New York.

"We want to be synonymous with the blogging community. If we didn't care about that we wouldn't give them the conference, we'd just give the car. But we really do feel passionately about giving something back to the community. This is the way brands need to think in future. It's not just about you." Louisa Claire, founder of blogging consultancy Brand Meets Blog, wholeheartedly agrees: "The blogger needs to win in that they get a great experience or access to something unique, and then the brand gets a win because they get exposure on the blog, and the readers of the blog win because they receive value as well - whether that's some new information or the opportunity to get a product that's of interest to them." With the win-win-win model in mind, the next step is to figure out exactly how your brand-blogger relationship ought to work. It's not easy, as there are a proliferation of different models currently being used in Australia, and every blogger and brand in question are free to negotiate any terms which happen to suit

both of their needs. One of the more common models is sponsored posts or reviews - in which a blogger writes a product- related post in exchange for money or a free product. Other models include: brands running advertising across a blogger's site; bloggers writing for brands' own corporate websites; bloggers being sponsored to blog at a brand's conference or exhibition; and brand ambassadorship programs in which a brand and blogger develop a longer-term relationship involving a regular output of content. "I'm paid to review products," says Laney Galligan who blogs under the name Crash Test Mummy. "I am currently accepting products to review which will get a free listing on my new community review site. If brands want more exposure, I offer packages which include product sampling by the Crash Test Community and exposure on the main blog." Lori Dwyer, writer of the Random Ramblings of a Stay at Home Mum (RRSAHM) blog, says: "Sponsorship is huge at the moment with brands and companies funding a blogger to attend a certain event under their name. There is a focus on building relationships between blogs and brands, which leads to a relationships between the brand and the consumer - that gap of trust is bridged by the involvement of a blogger the consumer feels they already 'know'." Proceed with caution While opportunities to work together abound, Jenny Dickson, marketing manager at Seek Learning, advises brands new to the space not to throw themselves in at the deep end and solicit bloggers

themselves. "The blogosphere is such a fragmented and unregulated market and when you are dealing with the credibility of your brand it needs to be approached with caution," she says. "I would suggest initially using a blogger agency that can guarantee the credibility and quality of their blogger networks."

Also, something brands must comes to terms with before they begin, is the fact that the blogger simply may not like their brand or product. Yutong Ding, marketing strategy and communications specialist at Ford says: "We are prepared that people might say negative things. From a brand perspective you don't want to see a lot of negative comments, so you need to be confident with your product first. You need to know you are offering a great product so you aren't afraid of anything." Arthur of Say Media, adds: "Brands that have something to hide or who are underperforming should avoid blogs and stick with traditional advertising. If a brand or product is no good, bloggers will never hesitate to say so."

Blogger agents For a brand dipping its toe in the water, blogging agents provide a certain degree of safety, not to mention taking a lot of the leg work out of the research process. Perhaps the most well-known bloggers network operating in this market is the mighty Nuffnang, which started five years ago and now has headquarters in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, China and Hong Kong. "Brands know that Nuffnang will take care of everything - finding the right bloggers and guaranteeing posts are written that they are going to love," says David Krupp, country manager for Nuffnang Australia. With over one million bloggers on its books, Nuffnang is an attractive proposition for a brand as the service can provide sponsored posts, serve ads across Nuffnang bloggers sites and provide them with a detailed analysis after the post goes live. "From our perspective we have a thorough process when it comes to getting bloggers to create posts. Before a post goes live the client gets to view it and approve it. If there is anything in there that they aren't happy with - and it's very, very rare that a blogger lampoons a product - then we endeavour to find middle ground with the blogger," explains Krupp. The good thing about Nuffnang from a brand perspective is that it does have the power of censorship, with Krupp admitting "ultimately if the brand is not happy with the blog post it won't go live."

For this reason bloggers themselves may prefer to work with a smaller agency or remain independent, but they have to weigh this up against the ability to leverage the size of audience they can get by working with the kind of clients using Nuffnang. Brand Meets Blog is a Melbourne-based bloggers consultancy, which specialises in holding events at which brand representatives and bloggers can meet each other, and also manages blogger brand relationships; and comms agency Kids Business performs a similar function with its Bloggers Brunch and

Bloggers BBQ events. "We've run events in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, and worked with bloggers nationally," says Brand Meets Blog founder Louisa Claire, a blogger herself, who has over 1,000 bloggers on her books. "We charge a fee to the brand depending on what campaigns they want to do, and it depends on the type of campaign as to whether we pay bloggers or not. I'm an advocate of paying bloggers, but there are also times when the payment is simply involvement in the campaign." Ex-ACP group publishing director and sales director, Lynette Phillips is another player who has recently entered the blogosphere as a facilitator of relationships. Her site Max Connectors is a premium bloggers

network specialising in areas such as fashion, beauty, lifestyle and interiors. "The hardest thing for bloggers is launching their own site as they lack investment. So they love Max Connectors because we support them with SEO, marketing and a network," she explains. "And some bloggers don't even know what SEO is. They know they want to start a blog but they don't know about Google Analytics or heat maps or how to measure it daily and watch it. Also we have editors and journalists. So you might have a great style blogger who knows all about style but isn't great at editing. That's why they come to us." One of Phillips' bloggers is Renya Xydis (Valonz.com.au) who says: "It's a great way to increase our blog readership and it's a getting an audience that may not have known about us." Natalie Birt who blogs under the name MummySmiles says: "I find that I would rather be a part of a smaller and defined database that really knows me and understands my blog readership. It means that I get pitched only products or ideas that are relevant to my readers." Hair Romance's Butcher, who has achieved success without the use of an agency, mainly through selling her ebook 30 Days of Twist and Pin Hairstyles online, feels agencies are a good thing. "I haven't joined these services but I love to see brands and bloggers working together in a mutually beneficial way. Bloggers are a unique talent that brands aren't sure how to deal with so services that help build relationships are great in my opinion."

Successful blogging Understanding the traits a budding blogger needs to become a success, either in terms of engagement or cold hard cash, is vital for the marketer looking to forge a relationship. Sorting the wheat from the chaff is no mean feat, especially when bloggers bring such a variety of elements into their work. Some, such as Rowse's Digital Photography School, narrowly focus on their specialist subject, but most write around a multitude of things and may include everything from food to transport to arts to travel, plus many also talk about their personal lives.

"The good bloggers are skilled writers, great community builders and dedicated to their craft," says Kidspot's Brooks. "A good blogger can take years to develop." Aden Hepburn, MD of VML Australia whose blog Digital Buzz is well known in the marketing industry, adds: "Content is the lifeblood of bloggers. Content generates traffic and ultimately subscribers who become repeat visitors." Brand Meets Blog 's Claire explains that to be a good blogger, the writer must first know their audience. "You can write about a wide variety of topics if you've got your audience in mind. For example, if your blog audience is young mums then you can talk about parenting, lifestyle, fashion and all those things - you just talk about them all in a way that will interest young mums."

The bloggers that shine through and build a following are also masters of the digital space, using all available avenues to increase audience and raise awareness of their work. Galligan of Crash Test Mummy gives her tips for success, listing "commenting on lots of blogs, participating in memes and blog carnivals, joining communities and joining the conversation, getting on Twitter and Facebook and collaborating with other bloggers" as her must-dos. Monetising blogging While there are many bloggers working with brands, most in Australia today are not making a living via their blogs. And while this is also true of bloggers worldwide, greater numbers are financially successful in overseas markets particularly the States. "Australian bloggers targeting Australians can grab cult followings really quickly here, but tend to hit a growth ceiling soon after and that can prove quite limiting in terms of revenue growth where a blogger might be looking to trade their day job for full time blogging," says Digital Buzz's Hepburn. "I also think brands have yet to embrace outreach enough to really drive the revenue push towards bloggers, and I'd love to see media agencies suggesting more specifically targeted blogger inventory." A blogger's individual audience is rarely big enough to be of interest to brands on its own, but when a larger online community such as Kidspot or Shespot steps in the whole proposition becomes much more financially attractive. "We can amplify blogger posts because we reach three million women a month,

whereas a blogger would be lucky to have 200,000," says Kidspot's Brooks. As well as the Kidspot and Ford sponsored Top 50 Bloggers campaign, Shespot has recently worked with Seek Learning on a digital campaign that required a blogger outreach component, which was powered by Nuffnang. Kidspot has also set up Village Voices a portal which currently has 15 specially selected bloggers creating content for the greater Kidspot audience. Programs like this are increasing the reach and therefore the influence of bloggers.

Blogger Beth MacDonald, (Baby Mac) feels the best results when bloggers to work with brands come when the blogger genuinely loves the brand. "I have been both approached by brands and I have approached companies directly. Without a doubt the most successful outcomes for myself and my readers has been when I find someone I love, contact them and then get something to give away. It's a perfect match without being forced," she explains. RRSAHM's Dwyer prefers to work with smaller brands, saying: "A lot of my advertisers and brands I work with are smaller companies and online stores, and I deliberately keep ad rates down so space is available to them." PR and blogging

Public relations consultants have been putting their brands in touch with bloggers for a long time, and the good ones know that the each relationship must be managed individually and the editorial ethos of each blogger must be respected. "For most consumer clients we will consider blogs and bloggers in our PR outreach strategies. Like any media, if the client is open to forming a closer relationship with bloggers via meet-ups or events, that will generally help," says Victoria Tulloch, managing director for Stellar Concepts. "We recognise that bloggers like exclusive content and we try to tailor our blogger relations programs to suit this. There is always an opportunity to create unique experiences for bloggers such as hosting them at events, offering 'behind-the- scenes' content, one-on-one sessions with brand experts, product trialling and reviews." Brand Meets Blog 's Claire points out: "Bloggers don't want to write about the same thing everybody else is writing about. I heard recently of a PR company blanket emailing hundreds of bloggers at the same time asking them to write about something which is a huge mistake. Most will be okay with five or ten bloggers working on the same topic, but they like to have their own angle just like a journalist." Brooks of Kidspot feels that PR agencies often aren't the best way for brands to reach out to the bloggers that can help them, and that the more forward-thinking brands are managing the relationship on their own. "Plenty of brands are playing the PR space around bloggers, but I think that's limited and selling bloggers short. The best brands are taking a gamble and saying 'I'd like to see what his does'. And the ones that

have done it well do it again because they know it works," she says. MummySmiles' Birt, adds: "There are still some brands and PR agencies who undervalue the work that bloggers do. We get pitches from PR agencies on a very regular basis that expect us to write about and review their products for free, or they may send a sample of hand cream and think this is a fair exchange. Bloggers work incredibly hard to establish a friendly and trusted relationship with their readers, so if brands want a slice of that pie, then that they have to realise that it will cost."

Regulations and measurement The chaotic and play-it-by-ear nature of the blogger-brand relationships in Australia would suggest a need for some industry rules or guidelines to be set in place to make sure both parties are protected. But, because the whole concept of using bloggers is something that most brands are only just cottoning onto, the space is still developing too fast to be locked down, and those working in the space seem unsure how it would actually work. "It's inevitable, with the demand for bloggers, that there will need to be more transparency on the information," says Phillips of Max Connectors. "Everyone wants bloggers and they're investing but they still want to know the reach and how successful it was. The US already has these regulations in place for bloggers, and they share the information with their readers so I would imagine that will also happen here in

Australia." Problogger's Rowse says: "I'm unsure how a body overseeing bloggers would really work. There are many thousands of us and it's hard to draw a line around what a blogger actually is these days with so many new types of social media being used. Some people 'blog' on sites like Tumblr, Google+ or even Facebook - where do they draw the line?" Digital Buzz's Hepburn is not convinced there is a need for a body to step in and oversee the space - and doesn't see the benefits for the bloggers. "I can't really see how an industry body for bloggers would add value¬ I'm sure they can standardise measurement for the advertisers benefit, but that's about the only quick win I can think of," he says. What's next? Despite its higgledy piggledy nature, those working in the Australian blogosphere know they are on the edge of something big. They are following in the footsteps of the US players which now has large networks of bloggers, and has seen many great success stories such as blogging legend Dooce who found fame when she was fired for talking about her colleagues online in 2002. Kidspot's Brooks says: "There will be more maturity coming to our market soon. Certainly in the US there are large sums of campaign money flying around behind bloggers, and therefore, American bloggers are in a different position." Problogger's Rowse adds: "In the last year or two the Australian blogosphere has started to self organise

on levels that it had not done previously. We're now seeing blogging events and conferences, digital agencies focusing specifically on blogs and even bloggers banding together to form networks, alliances and agencies." While slower off the mark than the US, Australia has now realised the potential gains for both bloggers and brands, and is taking learnings from its overseas counterparts in its race to catch up.

"Brands are just starting to catch on to the influence we have, and the smart ones are getting in early," says RRSAHM's Dwyer.
With the rise of blogging agencies demystifying the space for brands and PR agencies becoming more savvy about how to negotiate successful relationships, the potential for bloggers to push their posts out to larger audiences in more lucrative ways is growing rapidly. And the blog chatter of authentic and connected voices that is rising and filtering through screens into the greater public consciousness, is being appreciated for the powerful medium it is.
"Brands are starting to understand the impact that bloggers and social media can have on their sales and brand reputation," says MummySmiles' Birt. "I feel like we are on the brink of something pretty amazing."

ABC Media Watch Transcript