Paid Communicators - PR Reps Okay. Blog Reps Not?
Throughout the Public Relations Blogosphere, and the blogosphere in general, there has been a lot of criticism for the concept of paid blogging. I’m not sure the criticism is entirely fair. After all, many companies hire outside representation or consultants to help with all forms of corporate communication. Why not hire people to help with a blog?
In this case, there are two kinds of paid bloggers. The first, and generally acceptable kind are bloggers who are paid to post a positive message about a company’s products or services. This has been done for years in other forms of media: in the 1950’s stars of live television programs would actually do the commercials for show sponsors; in radio, disc jockeys often record paid endorsements for companies. Marketing professionals understand that having trusted spokespeople can have an impact.
In the blogosphere, a number of companies have sprung up that pay bloggers to post about their companies, including PayPerPost, ReviewMe, Blogsvertise, CREAMaid, SponsoredReviews, and LoudLaunch.
While some bloggers have issues with this kind of paid blogging, it is growing in acceptance.
However, there seems to be an unwritten rule that hiring a “blogging consultant” to work with a corporate blog is virtually taboo. This second form of paid blogging is drawing some harsher criticism. For example, when a company called Forgetablogit started recently, the PR blog from PRWorks a satirical approach:
Introducing Blogco’s Blog-O-Matic: you tell us, we blog it for ya.
That’s right. Why bother with all that pesky thinking? Who needs all that painful typing? With Blogco’s Blog-O-Matic you simply let our team of bloggers do all the work for you, in half the time with a fraction of the credibility.
However, a more pointed discussion took place on the Social Media Group blog:
I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade - but the whole notion of ghostwriting a blog pretty much completely destroys the purpose of creating a company blog in the first place (which is, mostly, to open up an authentic dialogue with your consumers for various reasons, with extreme emphasis on the word authentic).
Maybe because I work for a PR firm my view is tainted, but why is it perfectly acceptable to outsource every other form of corporate communication - but when outsourcing a blog, it’s a bad idea? Draft a press release = ok; draft a blog post = not ok. Create advertising copy = ok; create blog copy = not ok. Hire an outside spokesman = ok; hire an outside blogger = not ok.
I’m not quite sure I follow that logic. To be sure, any form of communication is better when coming from an actual employee of the company. But if the communications world has accepted the outsourcing of traditional communications, it will have to accept the outsourcing of new media communications.
What do you think?
March 26th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
I think you’ve indirectly hit the nail on the head - the difference is that social media is not a traditional communications channel, so traditional and accepted norms do not apply.
If you want someone to craft your message and deliver it, buy a broadcast or newspaper ad, hire a publicist. Engaging with your marketplace via social media is about relationship building, so hiring a ghostwriter is akin to sending a proxy to lunch with a client - it completely defeats the purpose.
Don’t get caught up in the buzz - much like getting a puppy, a corporate blog is a committment. If you’re not prepared for what’s required, find another way to distribute your message, because you will surely fail.