Inside the Mind of a Blogger

Since Peter Merholz coined the term Blog in 1999, individuals around the world have flocked to this easy tool for content creation, production and distribution. Blog readers have also increased dramatically, and there are a number of documented cases where a company’s success or failure has been determined by what bloggers’ write.

Unfortunately many companies and individuals just don’t understand this form of communication and attempt to deal with bloggers in the same way they would with traditional PR channels – with force– which ultimately causes all sorts of trouble. Here’s why I think this is the case:

Bloggers are, at their highest level, impacted by similar things to the rest of us (but respond in a much more public forum). Bloggers strive to be:

• Heard
• Seen as human
• Unimpeded by regulators

These objectives are rather different to traditional PR, because of the content producers emotional investment in their content and personal brand. These kinds of elements are greatly reduced due when considering newspaper content, for example, because of strict sub-editing and stringent content selection.

These points can be useful in understanding how to engage with a blogger:

Bloggers aim to be heard

Blogger are creating content (in a large part) because they want people to read what they write. As a corporate commenting on a blog post about your brand, you are acknowledging that you’ve taken notice of what the blogger has written. As a company you should look to honestly and publicly engage bloggers as often as possible. This results in the creation of an online presence which bloggers and consumers can trust.

Bloggers need to be seen as human

Believe it or not, bloggers are human too. Corporate’s all too often forget this fact when engaging with them and try to talk on behalf of the company they represent rather than as individuals within that company. The difference is subtle but fundamental.

When commenting on a blog post or engaging with a blogger, always remember that it’s two individuals communicating; not a “powerful company” and a “measly blogger”. Always approach a blogger on even ground to avoid finding yourself in hot water – as was the case with 2OceansVibe vs Idols.

Bloggers need to be unimpeded by regulators

One of the biggest problems which corporates run into when engaging with bloggers is that they play the condescending parent figure wanting to put controls in place to regulate the blogger. This often results in a rebellion which results in more negative coverage - and so the cycle continues. This point is critical when engaging with bloggers. Companies need to realize that, as a commenter, they are merely one of many many stakeholders in the blog itself. They do not have any more ownership over it than anybody else and therefore need to ensure they respect the platform and its community.