Panelists:
Bonin Bough, PepsiCo – the moderator
Chris Brogan, New Marketing Labs … and has a dad blog
Brad Powell, IFC/Dadlabs, Inc.
Jory Des Jardins, BlogHer, LLC
Ann-Marie Nichols, This Mama Cooks
Introductions …
Powell – they post reviews – if it’s good or bad. They’ve gotten flack about that. They’ve actually had to say they’re not doing an infomercial
Chris says he gets a lot of mom readers instead of dad readers
Question – is blogging changing you as a parent?
They have to self-censor, make sure to not share some stuff without making it too personal
Powell – says blogging did change him. He’s now more reflective. Because he’s getting sort of a crowd-sourced conversation going about parenting ideas ie., he’ll throw something out, someone else will add to it and make him think.
Hee – Des Jardins said “momosphere” – just sounds funny to me …
Chris thinks brands want human reviewers who are honest.
Q&A has started
Is it bad to make money blogging? Of course not. You have to work hard, though…
It’s what you make of it…
Where do you draw the line between personal and business? So far, they’re not answering the question. Instead, they are talking about getting sponsorships ??? Uhm. Not. The. Question. Dude.
Thank you – someone actually brought the discussion back to the actual question! Yay!
She uses pseudonyms … someone wanted a sponsorship with a big photo of them and their kids – she talked to her husband, and they went ahead and did it – they figured they were already sorta out there anyway, and it would be ok.
Chris mentioned content marketing – instead of writing about a product, write about the type of people who would use the product
Q: A GM dude with a question – he’s had some bloggers come to him asking for a car for a year – when he turns them down, they say “well, I can go to a competitor …” what to do?
A: the cream of the crop rises …
[my answer. Sheesh. Both the company shelling out cars AND the famous bloggers need to get over themselves. At that point, the original focus of the blog has been lost. Probably the focus of the company, too]
[aside – guy asking a question has a Flip on a clip … on his belt. Cool. And it rthymes, too]