I don’t normally post items about this kind of thing but with this one I feel I have to because it illustrates clearly how not to engage a blogger audience and get them to talk about your campaign, IMHO at least.
We at AdventuresDM receive these kind of emails all the time – requesting that we blog about, or check out, or generally get involved with campaigns to spread the word – and more of the time we’re happy to do so – we’ve even road-tested new pieces of hardware for people like Nokia in order to take part – so we get it and we like it when it’s done correctly.
And we of course understand, as agency-types ourselves, why you’d want to do this and involve them as brand advocates etc. – it’s stuff we suggest often to our own clients.
But I just got this email from an agency asking me to get involved, and it so clearly shows how not to do things that I really wanted to highlight it. To give the agency, brand and person (real person??) a bit of privacy, i’ve starred out their name and details, but you’ll get the drift I am sure…
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Have you seen the latest cool ******** ads?? Of course no, it’s super new!!
This week sees the culmination of ****** ******** campaign. The ad features the song ‘********’, written and performed by ********* and set up using only ******** free texts and internet *********.
In fact, **************** were involved in the recording of the song and each one is featured on the track. What’s more, the song was released as a single by Universal Records on Monday.
The ad was air on Friday, 15th January during Channel 4’s Celebrity Big Brother, running for the entire ad break. And while this marks the end of the ‘******* campaign, it also marks the one year anniversary of **************, which aired in the same week and during the same show in 2009.
Check it out http://***.*******.com/***************
And tell me what you think!
If you like it why don’t you embed it on your site and let your readers know about it?
G******
G****** F******
B** Q******
0207xxxxxxxx
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Now, I am sure some would argue there is nothing wrong with the following, but for me it’s so impersonal, so badly written (i wonder if the spelling mistakes are intentional to give it realism?) and so obviously a “one size fits all” blanket bomb of an email sent to a load of bloggers that it isn’t worth the time of day following the campaign itself.
To put it bluntly, it’s a bit insulting to the audience for whom it is intended.
But this email, this impersonal way it opens (the phrase “super new!!), in fact the whole way it’s structured to do nothing just push the content out, regardless of who they’re writing to, and get them to embed the video shows a complete lack of understand for the blogger audience, disregard for them as people with value to add and treats us, bloggers who are passionate about what we write as nothing more than a cheap win for them – they’re playing a numbers game on this one. Send it to X number of bloggers and hope that 10% of them post the link and video – bingo!
It’s like the worst kind of old-style marketing, Direct mail state of mind, that we’ve been trying to change for so long now – that we’re not numbers and hit-and-hope anymore – but engagement and interaction and dialogue and conversation.
This is trying to do things right but it’s doing it so wrong it makes me truly sad. What makes me even more sad is that in some way this probably will achieve what they want an a certain number of desperate bloggers will go right out there and post the link and embed the video just to get themselves in as part of a campaign and a few links into their own blog. But this isn’t how to do things.
This is how NOT to engage a blogger audience!
We are not numbers out there to get your in-bound links up and extend your reach. We’re advocates and enthusiasts who add true value to your products, services or campaigns.
As both a blogger and an agency employee I cannot emphasise this strongly enough.
Treat us with respect people! it’s one of the golden rules of social-media engagment.
Howard
FOLLOW UP: I have since received an email directly from the person involved (what do you know, they are real!) which was really very nice and well written – a human face on things – so a shame that wasn’t done in the first instance. It did make me feel a little guilty, but it’s not like I was being personal (honest!) but the person involved has said they will learn from their mistake. So, perhaps I did some good and got my point across. The person in question is on twitter as well, but rather than get them into direct trouble at work I won’t publish their twitter name here unless they want me to (email me if you do). Cheers for emailing me though – that really is the way to do things! Be human, be yourself.
March 14th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
I found this post very useful and engaging. I am a student learning the ropes of digital marketing. This post has expressed a clear message that the key to engaging bloggers is through building relationships and treating them like human beings. This is an important piece of advice for anyone conversing with bloggers.
March 15th, 2010 at 4:33 am
I am also a student learning about digital marketing. I thought this post was very insightful and showed that it is important to respect the audience and their intelligence when it comes to promoting a brand on blogging sites.