Choosing The Right Social Media Partnership
Previously, I wrote about a very important aspect of social media which is transparency. We know many businesses are still apprehensive about revealing themselves to the public. Their reasons are not unheard of, and not unreasonable too. Especially in an environment that things can quickly turn against businesses, all the more they should be careful with where they’re treading and working with.
I am going to expand a little more on transparency, harnessing on the trust aspect of social media. Chris Brogan once used the term “Snake Oil in Social Media”. As some companies would have experienced by now, getting led by a blind is not exactly a pleasant experience. Therefore, as much as parties like bloggers choose the brands they would like to be associated with, marketers should also scrutinize the parties they are intending to partner up for any social media initiatives.
While most people referred social media as publicity or relationship building, I am looking at social media more closely related to experiential marketing than anything else. Some time back, I was just sharing how social media can be applied across various corporate functions and also shared three examples of how they’re being used. Now, what are readers factually digesting from bloggers who talk about the various brands? Their experiences! What else can it be, other than to gather the fundamental impression of a certain product or service. So before anything else, businesses should ask themselves if they’re embarking on another social media stunt or truly getting involved with the community.
If your answer is the latter, then these will be some points you may want to explore when determining if a certain partnership is worth the investment.
1. Is the blogger/group harnessing on your brand to raise his/her own profile, without realistic contribution to the community you are hoping to build? (It’s all about getting the target audience, not whack-all-and-wait.)
2. Is the blogger/group transparent with their agenda, as much as you’re being expected to do so? (You don’t want to be short-changed on transparency.)
3. Have you followed the blogger/group long enough to establish the true values behind the party? (You want to distant yourself from those who advocates social media but not practising it for real, surely.)
4. Have you tracked the blogger’s participation in other blogs? (The kind of comments they leave in other blogs give you a clear hint if someone’s talking social media, or doing social media.)
5. Metrics are just figures, without clear understanding. Is the blogger/group boasting about their numerical advantage too much? (Quantitative readership isn’t everything, qualitative is.)
6. Given the extremely small scene we have in Singapore, it is easily manipulated by just a small group of bloggers. Are you mentally prepared to allow your brand to be “controlled” by just a small group, sacrificing the bigger consumer community at large? (Be mindful of what’s a community, and what’s a mob. It will happen.)
What frustrate many of us, is being fully aware of such facades being promoted by individuals and driven by bloggers. With a reality check, there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop them in their tracks before more businesses are “tricked” into their methodology.
As a blogger and social media junkie, it’s a sad truth to stomach. We see various products being published in blogs, lasting nothing more than one single post looking like a cheap advertising space. Which is why, I refused to do sponsored posts unless I have “tested” the products myself. Ask Daryl of BLOG2u or Paddy of BAK2u (sister companies), this point was communicated clearly to them. To up their social media efforts by two notches, they do not invite me to events unless it is relevant to me. Something, that I appreciate many times more than the invitation itself.
What’s worse, than having a bunch of bloggers or companies coming together to form the “Circle of Elites”. That certainly killed all the “social” in social media. What social media truly thrive on is a real voice, and not one that is laiden with hidden benefits & motives while still talking about transparency. Think of that as the voices of real customers and product enthusiasts, blog-traffic leechers not. (We just cannot forget the Microsoft-Edelman scandal, can we?) And the time comes when businesses have to convince a blogger/group why they should grant “entry” to them, alarm bells should start ringing. Remember, it works two-ways. If they’re sitting in their chairs waiting for you to come to them instead of them reaching out to you, the social media methodology is questionable and how much can they help you improve your strategies?
The other much untouched arena is how some of these bloggers begin to throw their focus on the personal benefits they can rip. When bloggers start to align themselves with some A-lister, it makes the job all the more easier. That’s for businesses to ring their second alarm bell when they are being taken for a ride in the name of social media. Trust me, even reputable PR agencies are working underground and getting caught red-handed like Walmart-Edelman in a much neglected Singapore is close to unthinkable.
Think - pause - think - stop - think - assess, they’re only interested in the freebies, NOT your brand. Again, it’s a two-way traffic so scrutinize and pick your cherries carefully.
Like what I shared with countless people in my private chats, don’t talk social media, do social media. At least for the handful of “gurus” we know of in Singapore, we still have not seen a concrete success in their forms of social media other than creating a mob.
For one thing that I’m sure, social media isn’t about mobbing.
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6 Responses to “Choosing The Right Social Media Partnership”
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EDISON ROWAN LEE
Ed savors the building of conversations and always prospecting the inception of values beyond the usual puffery.
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Let us know if we can do better also.
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Hey Paddy, hope everything’s going well for you.
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Been away quite frequently due to BAK2u and other stuffs. The boys been very very helpful in BLOG2u.
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Great to finally meet up again today.
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Sometimes when I look at some blogger related PR events, I really wonder how much can the brandnames gain from it. Firstly, not all bloggers will blog about it. Secondly, even if they blog about it, what are they going to say? Are they going to post photos of them camwhoring? Then what about the product itself? When consumers search on search engine, are they going to find indepth reviews, or will they feel stupid that the price they pay for the product, part of it is to fund events for dunno-who-they-are bloggers to attend? It surely seems stupid to be funding someone’s weekly gathering among friends.
If I know I have nothing to contribute, I rather turn down the invitation.
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Compared to buying media space, it is definitely cheaper to use bloggers since most of them do free coverages so long as they’re invited.
It’s always my wish to see social media engagement here mature a little more but unfortunately, it’s not. Now if you do a fair comparison between bloggers’ coverage here and elsewhere, the most distinctive difference is the quality. Many bloggers you see elsewhere talk about the products and their experiences with them. Some of them discusses in depth. This is the most valuable coverage any companies can derive from bloggers. Typically when consumers search for product reviews, they want to know about the products and not who attended the events. Why should they care?
Product reviews is another tricky area to tackle. Are bloggers giving out product specs? Or are bloggers sharing their experiences? Think experiential marketing, that’s what social media truly harness on. But too much of it, will also pose the problem of hard-selling, which can turn off readers equally much.
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