Earlier this week, I received some great news that I was selected to be a brand ambassador for “The View”. As brand ambassadors, a group of us were selected to discuss the show topics as well as provide feedback to the marketing execs… which is what I love most about working with brands- cause I always have a mouthful about hot topics, which is exactly why I love The View so much.
So as A View Brand Ambassador, I wanted to talk about a hot topic of my own. Nothing that was featured on The View, not even a blip on their hot topic radar… however its a frustrating topic for me and possibly many of you who blog as well.
I’m talking about the Blogging stereotypes. They need to end.
After 2 days of Toy Fair meeting company after company, I started to think certain company’s should have just posted a large sign in the front of their booth stating “BLOGGERS NOT WELCOME”. Of course, they would never… because well- we’d blog about it, tweet about it– and well they know that they would probably be the next Motrin Mom example. Resulting in a PR nightmare. However, with the look they sported on their faces- their monotone demonstrations ending with “Well, I don’t know what you want to see”- they might as well have had a sign.
It was very discouraging and frustrating .
What did I want to see? I wanted to see cool new stuff that I thought my kids and others their age might be able to look forward to this year- and actually, truth be told much more importantly I was looking for cool things to add to a project I was working on for an industry client!
Yet, they still looked at me with skeptical eyes thinking “Yea she just wants free stuff”. In fact more than one brand told me to my face “Bloggers have expressed interest, but they just want the free stuff. We’ve seen nothing come out of it”.
As a blogger who doesn’t want nor need a boat load of random “free widgets” cluttering up her home -this burned me up! One – because I have no idea who these bad-apple-bloggers are- but I do know I would like to shake them & revoke their bloggy-license- which is not existent right now but perhaps it should be- and Two- because some reps clearly don’t get it but are feeling the pressure by their clients or the industry to get involved- and end up making bad choices and blackened statements resulting in a social media fail.
Team Mom Media had a great panel that discussed the importance of being IN the space in order to understand it and identifying those who are a best fit for your brand. You can’t just hand out freebies to anyone who asks and expect that to be a successful “social media plan”. That is not a plan at all.
If you are a company who manufactures tutu’s, you wouldn’t send freebies to Popular Mechanics writers and then get pissy when you didn’t find a review in their next issue would you? Likewise, if you were a PR rep with a cosmetics client, you wouldn’t send their product to Redbook and then hound their editors for a guaranteed review. It’s not how it works. No one loves everything they receive and no one is going to cover something outside of their niche. So why would you handle your blogger relations any different?
When blind decisions like that are made its not just the company that pays for the bad choices- its the blogging community as a whole- because just as there are some companies that don’t get it- there are also some bloggers who don’t get it either and agree to review an item they have no intention of writing about.
I know Social Media sounds “so easy” (its just a bunch of average people looking to socialize right?) but when done right, it is actually work. LOTS of it. LOTS of effective, time consuming work! Which is why many brands have hired people designated to just that!
On the flip side, as much as I want to chalk up my Toy Fair experience as 2 days of rude toy manufacturers, I’m above stereotypingBecause if I wrote off working with brands, the way some brands write off working with bloggers because of negative experiences- I would never have had the opportunity to work with wonderful companies such as BeanStalk Express, The Goldberger Company and Hasbro– Who were nothing short of amazing with their blogger out reach for Toy Fair. They made us feel instrumental to their company’s success, understood as both a consumer and blogger and most of all WELCOME.
It’s just a shame that some companies don’t see the value of sorting through some bad apples to reach their core audience.
Have you experienced this stereotype?
Are you a brand that has a different view?
Let me know- What are your thoughts?
