How to Earn a Sustainable Social Media Relationship

Can you be transparent? It's difficult to do especially if you built your business by ducking and weaving around the competition. Keeping the kimono open leaves some business leaders, well, cold.

I just returned from BlogHer 08, a national conference of women bloggers. It was my 5th BlogHer conference in 3 years and it was remarkably different from the others. Blogging has gone mainstream and companies who "get it" willingly opened up their ad budgets to these highly influential women bloggers.

What was so different about BlogHer this time?

• PR agencies were everywhere.
• Corporate sponsorships were way up from prior years. 
• Guy Kawasaki, the darling of modern evangelistic marketing, threw a party for members and friends of his All Top Blog site (In Women We Trust and SMaRT are part of the All Top group.)
• Twitter was the norm, not the weird. (Kawasaki has over 16,000 people following him)
• Michelle Obama submitted a blog post.
• The New York Times sent a photographer.
• NBC Universal put $5 million of venture capital into BlogHer and is linking them up with Bravo TV, iVillage and Oxygen networks.
• BlogHer now has 2200 bloggers in their blog ad network. [Compare this to a media group with 2200 publications.]

It's safe to say, this women's blogging thing has legs (and heads & hearts). Like Sustainability, it's not a trend, it's a direction.

So how can you earn a relationship? Start by being real, authentic and transparent plus have products that are the same.

If you pay a PR person to go make friends with bloggers, then hire someone who understands the nuance of friendship building and support their efforts to connect via lunches, cards, flowers, blogs, tweets, gifts, etc. Give them the time and space to be helpful and reciprocal.

What not to do

Can you imagine going to a business function and saying, "Sorry, I don't carry cards." Followed by, "I never give out my email address." Not only is it snobby, it's social media suicide. You need bloggers more than they need you.  How can that blogger trust you if you aren't willing to extend openness in her direction?

When I spoke with one PR person, she said just that, "I don't have any cards, but I'll take yours..." Oh pah-leese. She was there representing one of the sponsoring companies and she didn't carry cards during a green networking event where the point was to exchange cards? It was the biz card equivalent of don't call me, I'll call you. Not only should she have a stack of cards, but a stack of  very personal reasons why she is supporting the company. And the reasons shouldn't be "talking points," either, they should be from-the-gut reasons that she doesn't have to think twice about to say. 

If you want to earn a blogger's trust and friendship, be real and operate like a blogger. If you're afraid of being spammed or pummeled with email, then create a special email address and even a special phone just for public appearances. Bloggers put their heart and soul in print everyday. Think of the mixed message that's being received when they are putting it all out there and your company isn't even willing to expose an email address, let alone what your product's life cycle assessment looks like.

Speaking of corporate blogging - I met several women who were sent there by their corporations to learn what this women's blogging thing was all about. Each one said the same thing, that PR must oversee everything they say. That's not blogging, that's PR. Imagine a sales rep trying to talk to a customer with a PR person standing behind him. It's stifling and it's not real. If a company can train up a sales rep and turn them loose on customers and tradeshows, it can turn a company blogger loose who has to put everything in writing. Who do you think will be more careful, the shoot-from-the-hip sales rep or the person who has it in writing for everyone to link to? To think like a blogger, you have to have a blog. 

Transparency is the new green to put you back in the black.

In the July 21 edition of Ad Age, Jonathan Salem Baskin addresses a similar issue in his piece, "Corporation's duty is transparency, not charity." First he argues that, "There's no morality inherent in corporate functions. That's why we have laws, regulations and framed, inspirational posters. In spite of mission statements that can soar to the stars, the reality of capitalism keeps us focused on driving our competitors into the ground." On the positive side he then notes that, "It's the creatively destructive game that gave civilization indoor plumbing..."

That's true, competition is a very good thing. Baskin mentions laws and regulations, but he left out standards. Standards are what builds buildings, keeps the lights lit and that pumping working. They are also something that will keep our business and consumer conversations, transparent. If we are all following the same rules, there is nothing to hide and only competitive advantages to flag, like batting 350 instead of 200.

Where transparency in social media relations and sustainable products meet

Baskin comments, "In case you haven't noticed, consumers keep score... they don't want charity or better marketing. They want the truth."

As someone listening in on women's conversations daily, I can hardily agree. Women know greenwash when they see it. You should have heard the conversations going on about the water product served in corn-based plastic bottles. The green crowd wasn't happy.

Do you want to earn a Sustainable Social Media Relationship? Be sure to bring your truth and proof on what makes your product sustainable to the next networking event. Oh, and be sure to bring lots of cards with a personality as honest as those who you'll be meeting.   

Write Mary at Mary@InWomenWeTrust.com

We welcome your comments

Comments

[Business Journal]

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