Advocates, Enthusiasts and Advertising: Bloggers on the Brandwagon

Not a week goes by without a blogger proudly proclaiming that she is the latest (Cheese Brand) mom, (Store Name) ista, (Clothing Line) ambassador or (Game Co.) evangelist. We’re all aware of the awesome power of bloggers to spread the buzz about brands. Bloggers, like celebrities, have the ability to reach a large audience. In some cases their audience is even more coveted than that of a celebrity because it is associated with a highly specific demographic, is trackable, and is vitally engaged.

It’s an exciting new trend in marketing, and one that many brands and bloggers are eager to participate in. The question is, how should brands and bloggers work together?  What can a brand expect (or ask for) from a blogger representative? What about remuneration?  Is it reasonable for bloggers to demand pay in return for advocating a brand? At what rate? At the end of the day, what’s the difference between advocacy and advertising?

History:

We can thank Walmart for kicking off the current trend of brands using bloggers as advocates and spokespeople. But we cannot thank them for establishing a market standard for such programs. In the groundbreaking Walmart blogger program, participants were not paid by the company for their participation. Instead they received perks and opportunities that could be attributed to their association with the brand, including traffic bumps, travel and education opportunities, product samples and the certain cache of being “chosen” and identified as an expert of sorts. The Walmart program was unique, and copycat programs have abounded. These programs have varied wildly in their implementation practices and their blogger compensation policies.

As brands continue to seek out and label bloggers as their own, and bloggers continue to vie for the privilege of being associated with a brand, things are bound to get confusing.  Savvy bloggers are starting to put a significant price on their advocacy while others seem all too willing to simply “give it away” to the first brand that asks. Certain brands are finding themselves caught in the midst of bidding wars for  the “best” bloggers, while others fail to see the need to compensate bloggers at all. It’s a jungle out there, for both bloggers and brands. More discussion and transparency is needed to clarify roles and rewards. We’re all desperately in need of some guidelines.

Ambassadors, Advocates, Enthusiasts, Brand name”istas” - Roses by any name?

Without getting too bogged down in semantics, it’s important for bloggers and brands to understand the not so subtle difference between an enthusiast and an advocate. Too often these roles are confused. Further obfuscation occurs when we layer on cute terms ending in “ista”, or “diva” and use attention diverting labels like “ambassador” and “evangelist”. Call your crew what you will, all of these important sounding titles boil down to either advocate or enthusiast. These two roles are not the same and are not to be confused.

What’s the difference?

Enthusiasts are identified. These are bloggers who are fans of a product or service and who already use the product or service in their daily lives. They have blogged or written about the product or service in the past, without any reward or motivation other than their own wish to share information about a favorite product or service. They likely recommend the product to their friends “in real life” too. Enthusiasts are assumed to be unpaid, but when recognized by a brand, may receive perks and benefits associated with their long standing loyalty. A good enthusiast is very influential to their readers but should not be expected to speak publicly on behalf of the brand, conduct contests for, or post materials supplied by the brand as these activities would only cast suspicion on them as true (uncompensated) enthusiasts. It can be tricky to identify enthusiasts, as not many bloggers readily identify themselves with products. But it’s not impossible to create programs that help brand enthusiasts self identify, and I have outlined an example of such a program at the end of this post.

Advocates are created. They may in fact begin as  enthusiasts but the very fact of their advocacy implies education, training and authority on behalf of the brand. An advocate can be likened to a spokesperson, but perhaps with slightly less training in public speaking. Nevertheless,  a good advocate should be able to answer questions about and speak knowledgeably about a brand. Advocates, are generally assumed to be paid for their spokesmanship, in a similar fashion to a salesperson or public speaker who performs a service on behalf of a brand. Advocates for a brand may perform specific functions such as tweeting, posting (this may be original or brand supplied content), attending events, guest posting on other sites, submitting video and hosting contests. A good advocate is already an enthusiast or other natural fit for the brand, has a loyal following that is influenced by their decisions and recommendations, including those that are of a (disclosed) paid nature. It should be obvious to all reading this, but advocating for multiple brands decreases a blogger’s credibility as an advocate, and thus decreases the desirability of the brand on that blogger’s following.  It is therefore in the best interest of bloggers to be picky about advocacy programs, and brands to be picky about bloggers.

What Brands Can Do When Creating Blogger Representative Programs:

• Decide early on whether you want to start an advocacy or enthusiast program. Try not to confuse the two.
• Decide how participants will be rewarded or remunerated. Be realistic about your expectations and consider the amount of time, education and commitment required for the blogger to perform their role for you successfully.
• Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of all participants in the program and provide support materials, guidelines and necessary tools for all participants. Make it clear who participants should go to with questions or concerns.
• Select your candidates carefully, looking for natural matches who are not overly affilliated with multiple brands and programs.
• In cases where your needs are unclear, and/or you lack funds and resources to identify and train advocates or enthusiasts, consider purchasing an ad or running sponsored posts on relevant blogs and sites.

What Bloggers Can Do

• Ascertain whether you have been asked to participate in a program as an enthusiast or an advocate.  Are you ready and willing to align yourself with this brand. How will this affect your own brand?
• If  Enthusiast: Ask yourself if you are in fact an enthusiast of this product. Have you spoken, written about it in the past? Will your readers view your enthusiast content as a sign of “selling out” or will they see your recognition as a brand enthusiast as natural, given your long standing enthusiasm for the product?
• If Advocate: Ask yourself how much time and effort you are willing to lend towards advocacy, and at what price. Be realistic. Do not devalue your time and efforts.
• Consider the impact of your participation in this program on any other programs you currently participate in, or wish to participate in.
• Evaluate the amount of time involved vs. rewards offered. Rewards may include non paid benefits such as additional opportunities, travel, product, conference sponsorship, traffic to your site and “bragging rights”.
• Get a list of the specific actions required of you as an advocate/enthusiast: These should including all tweets, posts, contests, videos, speaking appearances, education requirements, pitching on behalf of the brand, and making contributions to other sites, if required.
• Speak frankly with the brand about what is expected (and also what is not desired) from you as an advocate/enthusiast. Make sure you understand the boundaries of your role fully.

How a Blogger Enthusiast Program might work:

1. Bloggers are invited to participate in a competition showing their enthusiasm for a brand
2. “Winners” are recognized and rewarded with product and traffic linking back to their site, recognition in print and other media, being invited to contribute to a brand’s site.
3. Brand might follow up with advertising on the Enthusiast’s site, other rewards or recognition.

How a Blogger Advocacy Program might work:

1. Brand identifies advocates based on their influence, demographic, topical relevance, notoriety  and/or status as an enthusiast
2. Advocate receives education and training about the brand and their role in promoting.
3. Advocate recieves specific guidelines and information about the program they will be participating in.
4. Brand creates a detailed contract for advocate’s services which may include any of the following:  brand advertising on advocates site, sponsored/dedicated posts, videos, contests posted on the advocate’s site, posts to twitter, facebook or other social media sites.  Additional advocate duties may include appearances at live events, trade shows and conferences on behalf of the brand, and the advocate’s general goodwill efforts to spread buzz about the brand by using their own network of connections both offline and on.
5. Brand creates a start/end date for the program and clear payment guidelines for duties performed.

Are you a marketer or a blogger? Do you have thoughts and/or suggestions about how Brand/Blogger programs could be better administered? Please leave a comment!

Tagged as: Blogger programs, brand advocates, brand ambassadors, brand enthusiasts, brands working with bloggers, Brandwagon