BlogHer Boston: ‘Content is Queen’
It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg question: Which comes first, content or community? No contest, according to Teresa Hanafin, director of community publishing for Boston.com. “Content is queen,” Hanafin told a room full of bloggers and PR people at BlogHer Boston over the weekend.
Turnout was huge for the first-ever BlogHer event held in Boston - more than 200 bloggers from Boston, New England and well beyond attended the event. The New England region is fast-becoming a hotbed of activity for bloggers. Established bloggers like Erin Kane and Kristin Brandt of Manic Mommies, Christine Koh of BostonMamas, Merideth O’Brien of WickedLocal and Lydia Walshin of The Perfect Pantry were there talking about building their following (all already have a strong following).
As you can imagine, with 200+ women in the room, all who have something to say but don’t always get to say it in-person, the place was buzzing! Bloggers I spoke with are keen to monetize their sites and open to ideas – an opportunity for brands to partner with bloggers to talk to a blog’s readers. The reach may not come close to old school media, but blogs give brands an opportunity to pinpoint, engage and dialogue with consumers in a way traditional media can’t.
Immediacy is another benefit of the blogosphere. Our Crock-Pot team just partnered with a food blog and received 5,000 contest entries in less than one week – with no FSI or other advertising support. “Women trust the blogs they read every day,” said Elisa Camahort, BlogHer co-founder, viewing bloggers as an extension to their friends, their inner circle. “In a world where we don’t trust institutions, we trust each other.”
Blogs are in many ways a PR person’s dream, with their frequency, sheer numbers of blogs, lengthy posts, and passability. But brands doing blogger relations right don’t view blogs in isolation. They view them as part of a broader, integrated communications strategy that starts with a brand’s content (or key messages) and matches the brand to the blog, or blog to brand. It’s about making meaningful connections, not “blasting.” If content is queen, delivery is king.
Laura, it was great to meet you and the crew from 360 Public Relations at BlogHer. Many bloggers are interested in working with — or at least hearing from — clients like yours, as monetization becomes a more popular path for bloggers. Thanks for bringing your message to the conference.
Thanks for the comment Lydia. It’s great to have a blogger’s perspective. I enjoyed learning about your holiday cookie events to benefit food banks, shelters and other deserving organizations. What a great idea! If readers want to learn about how they can join Lydia and other food bloggers and friends or host their own cookie event, Lydia has more information on http://www.dropinanddecorate.org.