If there is any lingering doubt about the power of blogging—especially in regards to marketing—this should put any skepticism to rest: paid blogging.
So paid blogging isn’t quite “jumping the shark,” but it does reflect an undesirable trend in online marketing.
No, “paid blogging” isn’t like what I do as part of my job, such as with writing blogs like the one you are reading right now. Instead, it’s a service provided by companies—like the one that paid bloggers to praise a payday loan lender—that has reportedly prompted the FTC to consider establishing guidelines for these kinds of “testimonials.”
Sleazy.com
The only positive thing to say about paid blogging is that it validates much of what’s been said about blogging and monitoring: Most simply, it’s an effective way to harness the benefits of Web 2.0’s two-way communications.
But other than that, paid blogging is not only sleazy—because it takes advantage of the populist discourse that blog comments enabled—but it also makes life harder for marketers and consumers.
There’s always been a comfortable “grain of salt” level of hesitation with anything one reads online, but the rise of paid blogging has amplified what was once a marginal level of mistrust. Both savvy consumers and marketers that use blogs to learn about each other now have to more finely dial their filters when digesting online content.
Needless to say, if you are considering a blog, Twitter or any other kind of social media campaign to express support or criticism for a product, service, concept, etc., be sure that your motives and identity are transparent. Otherwise, being caught for exploiting the blog/marketing relationship could result in quite an embarrassing situation.
Does your hospital have a blog site or need a trusted partner to develop content and strategy? AVID Design specializes in online healthcare marketing and is an ideal partner for building an efficient and effective blog strategy. Our free Web 2.0 assessment is a quick and easy way to get started.
Derek Rudnak | Communications Specialist | AVID Design
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on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 8:29 am and is filed under Blogs + Blogging, Brand Monitoring, Industry Trends, Marketing, Social Media, Web 2.0.
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