Nope, It’s Still Wrong For PRs To Pay Bloggers

Triggered by Lolly’s blog post about getting approached by an agency looking to pay her to write about their product, and the resulting debate that took place because of this, PR Week commissioned a poll.

It asked if PRs should pay bloggers, and astoundingly, 43% said it was acceptable to do so.

Now, granted this won’t have seen every registered PR take part, but to say that just under half the people in our industry think that it is totally fine to pay a blogger to write a blog post about their product, is a sad indictment of the state of the PR industry at the moment.

Robin Grant, the MD of We Are Social, hits the nail on the head when he says: “Bloggers are their own people and should write what they want. The results of the PRWeek poll only show the naivety towards social media in the PR industry; they haven’t got their heads round it and aren’t set up for it.”

And, pertinently, Lolly makes this point in the PRWeek comment section:

“As a blogger and a PR I am on both sides of the fence. Yes it is hard to get coverage these days, and it is tempting to throw a few pounds at someone in exchange for a few kind words. Bloggers who get paid to write blog posts might as well hand out their WordPress login details to PR agencies. Would PRs agencies pay bloggers if coverage was negative? Unlikely.”

Of which I agree wholeheartedly. There was another comment in the piece that had quite a reaction on Twitter, but i’ll let you figure that one out for yourself.

So I was dismayed/unsurprised when I saw Douglas Blyde tweeting about Douwe Egberts, who have offered to pay bloggers £50 to post a series of videos. What alarms me is that some of the bloggers have not disclosed that they have been paid to feature these videos, as Jamie Goode explains.

I have no qualms about a blogger being sponsored by a company, or getting them to advertise (I will ignore the post or advert), but a disregard for their readers by not letting them know if their blog post has been sponsored? Outrageous.

As a PR I will never recommend to a client that they should pay a blogger, and I would find it very awkward to continue working for any employer, current or future, who insisted on doing so.

As a blogger I will reject and approach by an agency who are offering to pay me, it damages my integrity, neutrality and relationship with my readers.

The Eight Stages of Listening

@hrouda shared a presentation by Jeremiah Owyang on Twitter, about the different stages of listening.

I spend alot of time doing exactly this and thought it worth sharing as it is short, simple, and gets to the point!

A Bunch Of Young UK Social Media People You’ve Probably Not Heard Of, But Probably Should Have Done

So I was reading, for the millionth time, a best social media pros list, and it struck me that all of these types of lists always feature the same names. There’s nothing wrong with that, the likes of Drew Benvie, Chris Garrett and Neville Hobson have worked long and hard to get to build up their experience and are rightly considered among the best in the business.

But what struck me was the shortage in youngsters on these lists. Raw talent and an understanding of the space is just as important as experience, and in social media, can make up for not having been a pro for many years.

So, in a controversial move (who’da thought it), here’s a group of people who I think are making waves, without having been in the industry for that long. What’s my criteria? I know they are doing a great job, they understand the space and they are full of a fire that only youthful exuberance can bring!

Anna Carlson
Blog: Anna Carlson
Twitter: @Carlsonator

Dan Lazarides
Blog: digitisedculture.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DJLazarides

Ben Ayres
Blog: Ben Ayers
Twitter: @benayers

Jed Hallam
Blog: rock-star-pr.com
Twitter: @jedhallam

Ben Cotton
Blog: ben cotton.com
Twitter: @BenCotton

Gerel Orgil
Blog: smelevation
Twitter: @Gerel

Jim Wolff
Blog: jimwolffman.com/
Twitter: @jimwolffman

Jordan Stone
Blog: digitalprescriptions.co.uk/
Twitter: @jordanstone

Mike Phillips
Blog: eatsleepsocial.com
Twitter: @imjustmike

Laura Scott
Blog: popjunkietv.com/
Twitter: @Laura_Scott

Michael Litman
Blog: litmanlive.co.uk
Twitter: @litmanlive

Rachel Steed
Blog: quotesfromthestreet.com
Twitter: @Monsty

James Poulter
Blog: jamespoulter
Twitter: @jamespoulter

Adam Lewis
Blog: Flawless Buzz
Twitter: @FlawlessBuzz

So….who have I missed?

Who wants to be a social media guru?

I just received this through LinkedIn:

Subject: Social Media Guru

Hi,

Due to rapid growth, I am looking for social media gurus for fascinating social media consultancy projects with high impact individuals, brands, businesses, public sector and third sector organisations. Projects range from one off dashboard analysis and training right through to strategic consultancy secondment to client offices. These are all creme de la creme clients demonstrating a real commitment to social media.

The work I do is on the very cutting edge of social media strategy and implementation so I am seeking individuals currently at the top of their game, with demonstrable superior intellectual horsepower, ingenuity in thinking and a pragmatic approach to delivery.

If you are a social media analyst with extensive experience of deriving actionable insight from social media monitoring dashboards, I would be especially interested to hear from you.

To be considered, please submit a CV or credentials document to me via email. Please include case studies of past projects you have worked on directly and an outline of your fees structure in your application.

No recruitment agencies please.

Kind Regards

[name omitted]

I don’t mind people getting in touch a job opportunities, it is of course, very flattering (I’m quite happy where I am thanks for asking) and shows that someone has added your name to a database somewhere for some reason.

However, if you’re going to invite me to be considered to be a part of your organisation I’d recommend a couple of things:

1) Include my name in the e-mail
2) Don’t say “If you are a social media analyst” – the whole reason you’re getting in touch is because I am a social media analyst
3) Don’t add “No recruitment agencies please” at the end
4) Make your e-mail look as less spammy as possible

Anyway, if the above opportunity sounds exactly like the sort of thing you’re looking for, you’re bound to be disappointed with this blog post.

If it’s the sort of opportunity that makes you react how I did, check out The Social Media Guru.

UPDATE:Looks like Rachel Clarke had exactly the same message, nice non-use of social media to recruit for social media then…

UK Mummy Bloggers Cumbria Fundraiser

I was delighted to get an e-mail from Tasha Goddard on Monday, telling me about some fundraising she will be taking part in to raise money for the residents of Cumbria, so devestated by the recent floods.

Tasha, along with Bambino Goodies, Kat of Housewife Confidential fame and some other British Mummy Bloggers, will be running an auction the week of Monday November 30th – Sunday December 6th for various donated items.

If you want to get involved or donate something for auction, send an e-mail to cumbriafloodauction(@)googlemail(.)com and for more information you download the document prepared by Kat.

This is for a great cause and is yet another example of how online can work for the benefit of offline.

4% of consumers use Twitter or Facebook for Customer Service

According to a survey released last week by Corizon, only 4% of British consumers use social media platforms to contact a company.

According to the poll of 2,127 consumers, asked what contact method they preferred:

Phone 75%
E-mail 70%
Web Self Service 43%
Letter 31%
Twitter/Facebook 4%
Fax 3%
SMS 3%

And when contact centre managers were asked what chennels they supported:

Phone 100%
E-mail 96%
Web Self Service 65%
SMS 27%
Twitter/Facebook 20%
IM 11%

This just goes to continue demonstrating that social media, however important it is as a customer service channel, is still the exception, rather than the norm for the majority of people in the UK.

It is important to remember Auntie Agnes on the end of the phone needs just as much support as young Matt who uses Twitter to communicate his brand related woes.

Spotify Available on Symbian – Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung Users Rejoice!

Spotify is now available on Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung handsets through Symbian, it was confirmed on the Swedish startup’s blog this morning.

Today’s release means that Spotify Mobile is now available on millions more phones, such as the Nokia 6220 Classic, E71 and 5800 XpressMusic models. The application will also run on some of the more popular Sony Ericsson and Samsung smartphones, such as the Samsung GT-I8910 Omnia HD and Sony Ericsson Satio. Symbian is our third launch for Spotify Mobile, along with previously released iPhone and Android versions.

To find out if your handset is supported, go to m.spotify.com from your mobile’s browser, or enter your mobile number on the Spotify Mobile page, or check on the Spotify Symbian page. As with the Android and iPhone apps, you’ll need to become a premium member to use it, at £9.99 a month.

Spotify has, with this release, officially hit the mainstream. The majority of handsets out there use Symbian, so this presents a masive leap forward in terms of potential users, and of course, revenue.

The UK Digital Economy Bill is a mistake

The UK Digital Economy Bill was unveiled on Friday and with it comes the promise of Internet disconnection if a user is found guilty of downloading lots of copyrighted material. Despite this not being a criminal offence, file-sharers would find their rights to have access to the Internet curtailed and civil proceedings heading their way.

Stephen Timms, The minister for Digital Britain, said:

“When a content rights holder identifies that somebody is doing things they shouldn’t be doing, their ISP will send them a letter telling them they shouldn’t be doing it. If that process proves to be insufficient, then we have the ability to put in place these technical measures. Among the technical measures, temporary account suspension is a possible temporary measure.”

The UK Pirate Party’s leader, Andrew Robinson, said (according to the Telegraph): “This is a major attack on free speech and human rights. All the benefits of filesharing have been ignored for the benefit of the record labels. Not only is it free advertising for the artist, but it is good for the cultural wealth of the country. No one is excluded from culture if it’s freely available.”

And this to me is the point, it is free culture, no-one should be denied that.

All this will do is force file-sharers to find other means of getting hold of content and drive them even further out of daylight under ground.

There will also be bandwidth capping and a daily download limit. Cracking.

I can’t help but feel that this won’t make it through parliament before the election however, and may indeed be swept under the carpet by the Tories should they come to power.

What the government want to do is to empower people and give them a public service, making broadband Internet a utility in the same vein as electricity or water. However, if I use too much electricity or water, do I get a letter telling me to stop and threatening disconnection? No.

What Labour could propose is a state run broadband provider with these terms, offering competitive rates against other Internet providers, and then see how many people sign up.

Stuff I’ve Shared On Twitter This Week 22.11.09

Here’s my favourite articles from the last 7 days i’ve RT’d on Twitter:

Hey, Twitter, is that a RT or a like?
How to sink pirates
Arguments And Tips For Enterprise Social Networking Use
Measuring Social Media ROI: Why it fails
A capital debacle
Social Media Challenges Social Rules
PR, bloggers and the dirty dollar
Should bloggers get paid to write blog posts?
PCC to regulate UK bloggers?
TIME Magazine Launches Its Own Tech Blog

Social media makes the traditional PR hierarchy obsolete

PR is a very hierarchical industry. There is set chain of command where the role you do changes according to your position, which is the same in pretty much all jobs.

At the bottom end you have the Account Executives who do the majority of the outreach and engagement, stamp licking and envelope posting, and day to day odd jobs that make an account run smoothy.

You then have varying degress of Account Manager. They do a small proportion of the outreach and engagement, and tend to focus their time on making sure the tactics that are getting the account to run well, are work effectively.

There will then be an Account Director who is responsible for developing the right strategy which will lead into choosing the most appropriate tactics. Likelihood is that they will do very little outreach at all. [UPDATE: thanks for the typo spot Mike!]

It goes on, but in essence, the higher up the food chain you go, the less actual PR you do, and the more time you spend writing documents about how PR should be done and looking to bring in new business.

To me, social media makes this way of working, unworkable. Social media is more skills based.

I might only be an Account Executive, but I have a fundamental understanding of the way that Twitter works, for example, and I will have a good idea of what the right tactics will be to make a Twitter campaign effective.

Or, I might be an Account Director who’s built up a credibility within the blogosphere , yet now in my new role I find that I can’t connect with these people in the same way as I used to.

I think we need to shift away from this approach to a specialist-led way of working, and the more conversations I have with my peers and colleagues about this, the more I think we should act upon it.

If you have an individual within a team who is a natural networker, and knows how the community they’re about to interact with works, let them get involved with planning the tactical approach and then handle that engagement.

If you have someone who is great with numbers, but not so good with people, get them involved with the management side of things and help them to develop their strategic thinking.

There may be a member of the team who’s into all the new tools and technologies – get them playing around with them, learning how they work and become a vital part of the entire planning process.

I see job titles as a way of categorising people into how much they’re getting paid and how important they are. To me, it doesn’t matter how important you are if you don’t understand how micro-communities on Twitter come together and then disappear in a matter of hours. It also doesn’t matter to me if you’re the finest networker in the land but you couldn’t plan a 6 month campaign for toffee.

Each person is an individual and has their own individual strengths. The current system of controlling what level PR pros is at is false and doesn’t truly reflect their worth to their team. By all means, a structure should be in place, but a structure where individuals with different skills are utilised and brought in to add expertise or experience.

The current model isn’t getting the best out of the people within it.