As you'll recall from my previous posts, my friend Farrah gave me her free ticket for Saturday's Brands & Bloggers Summit in downtown Chicago. As you'll also recall, if you have a really long attention span and got through this post, I was having a really hard time finding the right outfit to wear to accommodate the weather, the train commute, and the conference's business casual dress code. I worked tirelessly (slight exaggeration) to put together an acceptable outfit, down to purse and water bottle.
And the first thing my husband says to me Saturday morning is, "That's business casual?!"
In his defense, we were standing in a darkened room, so he was probably confusing my brand-new frilly purple tank top made of rayon and my slightly-dressier-cut black capris with my old casual cotton frilly purple tank top and more-casually-cut black capris. Like there isn't a world of difference.
Anyway, yadda yadda yadda husband woes, blah blah blah train commute, something something blog conference.
No seriously, the conference began with a really interesting panel. Half the panelists were fairly successful heavy hitters in the Chicago mom blogosphere, and the other half were brand reps charged with doing blogger relations for their respective companies. The topic: how to find common ground and bridge the gap between bloggers who are so passionate about their work and PR reps who are so focused on the cold, hard, bottom line spreadsheet results.
The panel was two hours long and a lot was said, but the gist of it was that bloggers need to be picky and only form partnerships with companies who are a good fit for them. An analogy was made to a dance; sometimes you find the right partner right off the bat, and sometimes you have to look around a little to find the perfect match. You should not just go and be a shill for any company willing to hand you free stuff. That will make you come across as inauthentic, and nobody will listen to you. Not to mention you're sort of compromising your integrity.
The panel also discussed more practical issues like whether bloggers or brands should take the first step (answer: it depends). Many of the panelists stressed the importance of finding your blogging niche, so that there are logical brand connections with your blog. (For example, if you write a cat blog, a natural brand partnership might be with Purina.)
The brand reps specifically pointed out that brands aren't necessarily looking for the blog with the most hits or the person with the most Twitter followers when they look for blog partners. They'd rather partner with somebody who has a very loyal following and a lot of influence on his/her readers. Unfortunately, loyalty and influence are difficult to quantify, and since brands are so focused on numbers and results, many companies find blogger relations to be a confusing nightmare. It kind of remains to be seen whether more and more companies will jump on the blogger relations bandwagon, or move on to another form of advertising that's a little easier to measure.
So, that was the first panel. Next we had networking time, where you were supposed to go around to the different sponsor tables and get a sticker on your badge from each one. (You could only enter the raffle at the end if you had all the stickers.) I got some cool free swag, like some Flat-Out Flatbread, a Nintendo DS game from Ubisoft, and a bluetooth.
After the networking time we had lunch, which was a sandwich bar with the Flat-Out Flatbreads. And then Sara Evans, a PR expert, talked about FTC regulations for disclosure when you get free stuff or money from a company you're writing about on your blog. Then local news personality Nancy Loo talked about how you could get yourself and your blog featured in traditional media, you know like if you are an expert on something and the news could interview you. (One of her tips was to have a professional-looking profile picture on Twitter, and she specifically said not to use a cat picture. Shit.) Finally children's singer Miss Lori talked about how to make yourself look good on camera when you're interviewed.
I went out for tapas with some of the other bloggers after the conference, because we had to (a) eat and (b) kill time before the after-party at the John Hancock Observatory.
The afterparty had a great view and some fun blue drinks, but I only stayed for a short while because I had to catch the train home. I was absolutely exhausted.
Part of my exhaustion was due to the fact that it had been a long day and I was walking around in uncomfortable shoes. And part of it was the overstimulation of conversing with eight bazillion networky people, which is not my strong suit. But mostly I think I was tired because the talks at the conference really got me (over)thinking about where I am in life and where I want to be.
Now, the conference was called the Brands & Bloggers Summit, and so naturally the panels and talks were going to be about building brand-blogger relationships. It would be really disappointing if the panels and talks weren't about building brand-blogger relationships. And I am fascinated by the evolving technology and the way that various sociological phenomena evolve with it. I'm curious about how the whole brand-blogger relations thing will play out in the future.
BUT ... I guess I'm just not sure how much the issue of brand-blogger relations applies to me. And when I say "I'm not sure," I really mean I'm not sure. What are my goals for this blog? Do I want to put in the effort to hustle and network my way into possibly getting money or free stuff? Or am I just creating this blog for the love of writing?
And I want to say that I'm just doing this for the love of writing, because mostly I am. Except, obviously if I were just writing for the sake of writing, I could write in a journal and not put my thoughts on the Internet. I obviously put my thoughts on the Internet because I want people to read my writing. And if I want as many people as possible to read my writing, I have to put in the effort and go out and schmooze and make connections.
Now, that doesn't mean I necessarily need to form an alliance with a brand in exchange for compensation. But, let's face it, it would be nice to make a little money or at least get some free products in exchange for the hours I spend writing this blog every week. There isn't a blogger in the world who wouldn't want to be approached by some PR rep and be told, "Hey, we'd like to pay you for all that drivel you pull out of your ass on your blog every day."
But, unless that PR rep just flat-out came to me and made me an offer I couldn't refuse, I don't know if I'm willing to work to generate ad revenue or promote my brand. Some of the people at the conference just seemed so desperate to get that big blogging break, and they were throwing out their names and rapid-fire tweeting the whole time. @this. #that. At one point the click-click-click of everybody's keyboards became unnerving.
Obnoxious keyboarding issues aside, I don't knock anybody for hustling to make a living or promote their business (and in a lot of cases, these blogs are people's businesses). I just don't know if I care that I personally won't make a fortune off of blogging. I know this sounds naive and hippyish, but I kind of feel like I'm more interested in the human connections than the business connections. I've met some interesting friends through blogging, people who really seem genuine and authentic. And I know I'm not the first to say this, but I miss the days when mom blogs were raw, emotional confessions about motherhood, and not just contests for who can out-perfect each other's lives, alternated with advertisements for products.
The funny thing is, I think the people on the panel and I are sort of on the same page here. They agree with me that bloggers really need to safeguard against coming across as inauthentic corporate shills with no integrity. However, although the big-time bloggers and I have the same viewpoint, we've arrived at it from different angles. Those people can put the integrity of their blogs before the almighty dollar because they've already made it and can afford to be choosy about their brand alliances. I also don't place a high priority on brand alliances, but it's because I'm at the bottom and don't care if I stay there. It's the people in the middle who are hustling to form any alliance, and are in the most danger of compromising their integrity. It's also these people in the middle who are probably the least happy about where their blogs are right now.
Well, I want to be happy. The last thing I need bringing me down is a dumb old blog. I recognize that with blogs, like in Hollywood, there is only room for a few A-listers, and the rest of us are left to toil somewhere along the continuum between anonymous and famous. And since I have such a small chance of ever being huge, I'd rather relax and enjoy my time at the bottom. To continue with my Hollywood analogy: Since I'll never win an Oscar, I'd rather just act in community theater for the fun of it. I'd rather make my money editing textbooks. Don't quit your day job and all that.
Overall, I thought the conference was interesting and thought-provoking. I enjoyed meeting new people and getting some fun swag. And, as I said, it will be interesting to see how this whole brand-blogger trend plays out. I could end up eating my words.
I'm also a little nervous about the fact that if this one day conference led me to question myself to my very core, I might drop dead by the end of BlogHer. But at least at BlogHer I have my own fancy hotel room and a beach to retreat to.
No comments:
Post a Comment