Turn on any talk radio station you’re likely to hear one of the on air personalities giving a testimony for an advertiser. Bloggers, in my mind, are very similar to talk show hosts; they share their opinion, have a dedicated following, usually focus on one subject area and always seem to go off point. But how do you handle bloggers posting sponsored messages?
Today Forrester released a research brief that advises marketers to pay bloggers to post about their products. They do note that there should always be transparency.
Sponsored posts are something a company here in Orlando called IZEA has been navigating the icy waters of sponsored posts for a couple of years now. They have had some backlash from the blogging community but it seems to be catching on and everyone (bloggers and advertisers) is quite happy.
Sponsored posts have implications for newsrooms. If you haven’t already, at some point you will have a company ask you about pay-per-post. It’s very easy for us, as journalists, to scoff and turn away. But I think some newsroom bloggers are like talk radio hosts and they can bring in extra revenue by starting up sponsored conversations. By no means am I suggesting that a city council blog write a sponsored post about a mayoral candidate but the entertainment or gossip blogger talking about a new restaurant that opened up might not hurt anyone. It might help us bring in a little bit more money and keep our doors open a little longer.