BlogHer '08: Networking, Brand Building and Cookies
I’ve been having Web 2.0/blogging conference fatigue of late. There are so many conferences where we discuss community, monetization and business models but in the end I don’t feel as though most panels go beyond the obvious to break new ground. In that regard I was both pleased and disappointed at BlogHer ‘08 held in San Francisco last week.
Many of the panels offered the same advice: build a community, monetize that community and keep them engaged. We talked about ad models, social media tools and tips on how to start blogging and stay blogging, but what I found most informative were the smaller break-out sessions where we dove deep into the nitty gritty of what makes bloggers and their audiences tick.
Lesson one: Bloggers blog mainly out of a passion for the topic for which they write. Of course! While obvious to part of my brain, that’s why I’ve been blogging for ten years, it’s not always the first thing we as PR professionals think about when we try to engage bloggers. Personal bloggers, whether they focus on parenting, high tech or gardening, do what they do because they want to. They don’t absolutely need to file a story a day like most journalists. PR and marketing need to understand this difference and approach personal bloggers with highly compelling and targeted information and visuals they can and want to use to tell a personalized version of the story.
Lesson two: A small blog is not an inconsequential blog. Large consumer brands packed small focus group rooms vying for the chance to talk about their products and new media strategies to bloggers with even modest audiences. The brands that get it understand that blogging is the new word of mouth way to reach loyal consumers. And the brands that do this best are willing to provide personal bloggers with press kits, news releases, photos & video as well as the opportunity to interview executives and others at the company that once only spoke to the “established” press.
And finally the cookies: while Sesame Street, one of many sponsors of BlogHer ‘08, isn’t a brand one associates with new media, they understand their audience and demonstrate a strategy that is open to social media. The Sesame Street room at the conference was constructed to resemble the show — both Grover and Abby Cadabby (and their puppeteers) greeted kids and adults, provided professional photo ops and encouraged random photo snapping and blogging and referred parents back to the site and podcast. What about the cookies? At 33 and without children I had no intention of visiting Sesame Street, but once I — and everyone else — saw others with cookies, we all made a beeline to the room and enjoyed the show: a perfect use of online and offline social networking.
Posted by Kristin Amico on July 22, 2008 at 9:48 PM
