Feb07
24
Leveraging The Blogosphere
I got an email from Eric Edelstein, entrepreneur and Web guru, the other day. In it he highlighted one of his many online ventures, Mobile Q and A, a forum for all things cell phone in South Africa.
He encouraged me to check out the site and post on it. First I was a bit irritated, because I like to blog about what I like to blog about and don’t like being ‘leveraged’, but then I visited the site and realised the only thing Eric had omitted in his mail was that this is part of a bigger viral campaign aimed at SA bloggers. The idea is simple - Eric is asking bloggers to give an honest take on his site on their blogs, in return for exposure in his ‘blogger’ hall of fame, regardless of whether the feedback is negative or positive.
He says, “Email us at ask@MobileQandA.com and let us know where you commented on MobileQandA, and we’ll add you to the MobileQandA Blog Hall of Fame. (the dates and times are when i get the link live, as i’m sometimes - but not often - away from the Internet).”
My initial irritation turned to admiration as I realised that Eric is really showing his faith in and respect for the SA blogosphere with this move - something bigger, more traditional companies could learn for. As Dave says, this could be a model for engaging the blogosphere in a constructive way…
This got me thinking about the most basic and easily replicatable viral formula for online social media:
* Offer a prize in return for people linking to you from their blog or social-networking page.
* Set criteria - e.g. “Valid for first 100 mentions only”
* Tell the blogger to notify you when it’s up.
* Follow through on your promise of reward.You can really get creative with this structure - for example, by asking people to create their own banner ads as links for the promotion/competition.
We (Dave and I - we work together) know just how powerful this kind of campaign can be. Our 27 Dinner meme (27 is a geek dinner born out of the SA Geek Dinner movement that tries to bring together geeks and non-geeks in a funky, progressive environment) has spread like wildfire because the online community buys into the idea and sees personal value being derived from it.
Now I haven’t had much to say about Mobile Q and A itself, predominantly because I am not a forum type person - never have been. However, after being ‘forced’ to check this one out, I’m blown away at the amount of effort Eric and his partner have put into it - it’s a slick outfit. The reviews especially appealed to me - their detail unprecedented even when compared to the providers themselves.
I might just go back 
While this idea has a lot of merit, one has to be careful how it is done. You can’t buy a reputation in the social network space. That’s why it is a “social network” - by definition it is based on person to person communication outside of the sphere of corporate influence.
This danger of rewarding bloggers was proven when payperpost.com launched their service, allowing companies to pay bloggers for reviews of their products. The fallout in the blogosphere was huge with the “A-list” hammering the service. It led to payperpost revising the service so that reviews that were paid for including notification to the reader that it was a paid review.
Of course, this does not stop any site or service from contacting bloggers and asking for their opinion - good or bad - there’s little wrong with that and its a great way to leverage the blogosphere to get valuable feedback on your product.
The key to this approach is to make the bloggers feel heard, irrespective of what they say. Jonga.co.za did this with me and it felt great to know my input was being considered. Listening to what the bloggers say and using their feedback will go a long way towards improving your reputation as a company in a more consumer-transparent way.
Mike, as far as I am concerned this is blatant spam and a scam.
Vince, you referring to my post or the concept? Either way it might be an idea to qualify…
Here are my reasons:
1. The email was unsolicited
2. The email was soliciting links to a site
3. The direct link provided did not take me anywhere specific. In other words I must surf around and increase page impressions, looking for the page I’m supposed to be on.
4. The same email arrived in a colleague’s mailbox at roughly the same time (dead giveaway)
5. Eric then emailed my colleague explaining that part of this “experiment” is to up his own Google Pagerank.
6. Eric then called me last night to prove that he is a real person
So if you call this brilliant marketing then er…
I mean seriously, it’s like a tupperware pyramid scheme, even if its clever it smells like a rat and is that honestly a marketing strategy that yields quality returns?