This is in response to Noemi’s latest post about what Marketing/PR Executives should expect from bloggers. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now, and I think I have enough examples and put enough thought into this to publish it on this blog. Companies who want to tap bloggers should be aware of the different kinds of bloggers. Not all bloggers can influence your target market, and not all of them can have the same level of interaction with their readers.
I’ve generally defined the types of bloggers into these 4 categories: Value, Hobby, Journal, and Google. There’s a fifth type which I’ll share at the end of the post. Note that these categories can overlap, and in fact some of the best bloggers have stricken a balance on how to be all 4. However, these are rare bloggers. Most of the bloggers right now just fall to either 1 or 2 of these categories.
1. HOBBY BLOGGERS
Hobby bloggers generate content from the things or activities that interest them the most. The best example here would be Food Blogs. There are so many already in the Philippines! What’s amazing is that only a few restaurants are tapping the potential of driving more traffic to their stores by partnering with the top food bloggers in the Philippines. Other topics that Hobby bloggers talk about can be: anime, movie reviews, fashion, general merchandise, photography, etc.
Hobby Bloggers have good potential to grow communities and with that – authority and influence. This happens more if the blogger is actually good at what he’s doing. If a Hobby Blogger is also a Value Blogger, then you have one of the most influential types of online personalities (more on Value Bloggers below).
2. JOURNAL BLOGGERS
Journal Bloggers usually post about life experiences. Their topics can be really random and can be anything under the sun. A lot of Journal Bloggers can be found on social networks – especially on Multiply. Favorite topics of Journal Bloggers would be current events especially topics that are being discussed by media outfits and online communities.
The problem with Journal Bloggers is that their readership is usually confined to their circle of friends. This is because the people interested in finding out with what happened to Juan Cruz on Tuesday for example, would be the people who actually know and are close to Juan Cruz. The reach is not there. However, since Journal Bloggers are very credible (because they know each other personally) to their readers you can expect that they can easily convince their readers about something.
3. GOOGLE BLOGGERS
Bloggers who focus on Search Engine Optimization with no or little regard to relevant content, personal branding, and influence. Bloggers like this are really in it for advertising and the money. They prioritize building key words so that search engines like Google and Yahoo will point towards them, thus giving them a substantial amount of traffic.
The problem with Google Bloggers is that they may have really high readership, but you don’t know where it’s coming from and the level of influence and interaction is very low. Google Bloggers will have a hard time building communities and a loyal following.
4. VALUE BLOGGERS
Value Bloggers are writers who put content, personal branding, and service as their top priorities. Value Bloggers focus on delivering posts that add value to their readers by giving them insights, tips, tactic, and advice on how to improve one’s craft, hobby, or whatever. In other words, people go to Value Bloggers because what they write is relevant, makes sense, and something that they can actually learn from. Value Bloggers will rarely sell out content and advertising because they care about their personal brand and believe that their audience deserves more than paid PR releases.
Value Bloggers are the most influential types, because they have the strongest potential of building communities around their blog. They can easily get a following because what they offer is practical sound advice and insights on their particular niche. In fact, agencies and marketers may have problems with closing deals with Value Bloggers though because they will usually not compromise the integrity of their content with a few thousand bucks.
OVERLAPPING TYPES
Personally, I find Value Bloggers crossed with anything (especially Google) will be the most effective Blogger in terms of reach, interaction, and influence. What’s important here is that in order to build trust with a blogger’s readership and community, they must focus on a niche and deliver quality content that can actually offer something to their readers. They shouldn’t settle for copy-paste material from other bloggers or online news information networks. Bloggers are not just grapevines for information – they can generate good content.
FIFTH TYPE OF BLOGGER
EDIT: In light of recent events, I’ve decided to remove the 5th label since it has offended people in the blogging community. I could have used a better word to communicate what I was trying to say, and for that I humbly apologize to anyone who was slighted, insulted, or felt like that they were looked down on.
FOR MARKETERS: LET YOUR ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY DO THEIR JOB
If you hired a consultant or an agency to handle your blogger events, make sure they screen the invites well. The worst mistake you can do as a Product Manager is to just say “Get me as much bloggers as possible”. What if 90% of the bloggers that attend are PGB? Then you’re just wasting your money, effort, and time. Make sure that your consultant or agency does the following:
1. Don’t do open invites – tell them to show you the list of bloggers that they plan on inviting
2. List of bloggers should show URL, niche, blogger type
3. Ask for their stats as well – Unique Visitors is an indicator of traffic (reach), while Bounce Rate and a high ratio between Unique Visitors and Page Hits can e good tools to measure influence.
Don’t do blogger events just because it’s the “in” thing. Do it because you know that it is really a cost-effective way to get your communication across to your target market. However, make sure that what your offering is really good lest your PR event turn into a nightmare when your product disappoints the bloggers.
To Bloggers: What kind of blogger are you? Are you really giving value to your readers? Are you building an online community with your content? Are you blogging just for the heck of it or do you want it to become a tool for you to advance your career, profession, and business?
Here are some posts related to blogging that might also interest you guys:
Blog Marketing Will Overtake Online Ad Placements
Personal Branding Case Studies
New Media Philippines Blogger Features
Hi Gabby, here’s a quick article I wrote about why SME’s should invest in online marketing (including blogs):
http://www.newmedia.com.ph/3-reasons-why-your-smes-should-invest-in-online-marketing/
I’ll make sure to write the beginner’s guide in the coming days. My next project is a Philippines Digital Marketing Primer with all the info you need to start in online marketing from blog marketing, social network marketing, with some case studies.
I’m a google blogger hehehe.
Nice post! Now I know what types I belong to.
Sir, you have a great layout !
Thanks for the insights. Being both a marketer and a newbie blogger, I gained a lot of guidance from your post.
Hoping I become a real Value Blogger.
Nice post! I would want to be all 4 but I absolutely fail in Google thing lol. Aiming for value may be a tedious job as well. I have had grabbed some authority on photography, gadgets, F1 and travel and people often mail me asking for more details! People buy stuff that I genuinely promot(ed) because of my consumer business but I’m losing my readers now bit by bit because I am getting busier with my day job. Anyway, nice read.. Bookmarked this page!
Love the article
I seem to fail in blogging hahaha
I’m glad you guys appreciate the post. Thank you so much for visiting the blog. I hope you do come back again and read the other articles.
All the best,
Carlo
I seem to be a combination of 1, 2, and 4.
Very interesting — I’ll be keeping this in mind!
Thanks for posting!
you sir, what kind of blogger are you? just asking.
what can i say? despite the giving of apologies and explanations, the damage has been done bro. i think that is the important point.
your post on the blogger types was basically coming from a marketing perspecitve…from a business, cash perspective. and it is no wonder why there is the fifth type
now you are reaping the rewards of such a big bang article, though this maybe is unforeseen…
i think lesson learned here is, if we cannot find the right words to describe something, then maybe let us not just speak of it, or else it will only result to some catastrophic ill
hahaha. Journal and Google blogger here.
year 2003, other Filipino bloggers called me IDIOT BLOGGER.
Now, I learned that I belong to the fifth… PGB?
thank you! I really liked this post!
I don’t agree with your characterization of the Google blogger. This could work years before by keyword stuffing, and you could get away with rubbish content.
But with all the Google slaps, almost all Google bloggers are forces to become value bloggers as well.
Very useful. This may come in handy.
yo! i’m a value and journal blogger.. =)