About bloggers and brands

Most bloggers are not journalists. They maintain their own publishing style, their own crowd, their own channels and their own methods. The following are three good articles written in Indonesian about how corporations and brands should deal with bloggers. 

Bloggers are rarely in it for the news, they post things that matter to them. If they don’t have a personal interest in the subject, they’l likely not attend a press conference or attend just to meet people, often to catch up with friends who happen to be invited as well.

There is no central command for bloggers. Unlike the press, bloggers do not have an association, they do not have  an office representing bloggers. They are individuals out for their own interest and no one else’s. To approach bloggers for your campaign, you need a different method. 

You need to get personal, you need to get into the conversation and discussions. Let them tell their own stories, do not editorialize their work. The more you try to control how bloggers express their views, the worse the publicity you will get, that is if they care to complain at all. At worst, your brand will be left out of the conversation, it will be ignored to oblivion. Bad publicity at least will get other people curious. Lack of publicity will be your worst nightmare.

Of course, these guidelines don’t all apply when the blog you’re approaching is more similar in style and purpose to TechCrunch, or Engadget than personal blogs. Those are the kind of blogs you should go after but keep in mind that in Indonesia, personal blogs still rule the blogosphere.

Navinot