Point Oh!

Another one of the really interesting sessions at the WPP Stream unconference in Greece was a session that examined “mommy bloggers” and was facilitated by the premiere women’s blogging network, BlogHer.  Among the topics discussed were “why do mommy bloggers get more comments than other bloggers?” and “is reaching out to mommy bloggers an ethical way to market products and services geared towards children?”

While those questions remained largely unanswered, another wrinkle emerged without resolution.  While you could say BlogHer’s primary purpose for existence is to connect a large body of the blogging population and help them promote their content, it is also a business that pairs sponsors with bloggers.  Of course, Jory Des Jardins, who helped lead the session, and the rest of the crew at BlogHer, are as acutely aware of blogger ethics as anyone in the business but yet I can’t help but wonder what effect a major sponsor could really have on a network of small bloggers.

For instance, we recently finished an event with a major automotive manufacturer where active women bloggers were one of the key groups we targeted.  Keeping in line with our guidelines, we didn’t ask the bloggers to commit to writing anything about the brand or the experience but we focused on making it as engaging as possible and giving the bloggers access to everything they needed to cover the trip.  Since the client was new to blogging, they wanted to focus on bloggers with smaller niche audiences instead of someone big who could make a stink.  As it turns out, just about all the bloggers we invited out to LA for three days of activities gladly agreed to come and averaged just over 7 posts each without any prodding from the flack.

Now what if a few of those bloggers were sponsored by a competing auto manufacturer?  Would the blogger feel comfortable writing about a competing product while they were getting paid well beyond their CPM value by a major brand?  Also, how would the brand feel if they saw 7 gushing posts about one of their competitors on a site that they were supporting?  It brings up some interesting issues about marketing with influentials.

Obviously bloggers should be able to monetize their content, just like any publisher, and BlogHer is a great service that amplifies the voice of a very important segment of bloggers but I’m still a little torn over what is the best, and most ethical way, for these publishers to work with brands.