FABlogCon 2013 - The Sessions - The Company Your Keep

OK! I have the Live Updates, which you can still look at to keep up with #FABlogCon-related feeds and I posted my FABlogCon City write-up, about the general flow of the conference, and now it's time to cover the sessions!

Look familiar? That's because I made the brochures! ;)

"The Company You Keep"

Panel Members: 

Tess Masters (The Blender Girl), Joel Warady (Enjoy Life Foods CMO), and Annelies Zijderveld (Attune Foods)

The first session I attended was "The Company You Keep", which covered forming partnerships and interacting with brands/companies.  Though it was an interactive panel, with each panelist taking turns back and forth, it might be best to address each speaker's wisdom, separately.  The panelists were very open and I was riveted, throughout the presentation.  I can't remember who made this starting point, but it was said that this new social media realm is still very new and free-form.  It's like "The Wild West", with opportunities for definition.

Tess Masters discussed seeing yourself as a "brand".  She discussed considering things for the long term and seeing short-term choices as serving long-term goals.  One of the many great pieces of advice was to consider what your "currency" is and noted that getting paid is a pretty short-term strategy.  You also have to be careful when getting paid for something.  She compared working with brands to dating and gave a colorful analogy about not coming across too eager.

She advised that one should play to their strengths and not try to be everything to everyone.  Within 30 seconds, your blog content and visuals should give a strong impression of who you are and your purpose.  Tess encouraged collaboration with other bloggers and said that, "social media is about celebrating others", as opposed to relentless self-promotion.

Tess, being on the blogging/individual brand side of the aisle, discussed some of the campaigns in which she participates and/or organizes.  She does giveaways very sparingly, as they require a great deal of effort, with little reward.  She does product launches, recipe development, etc.  She has written books that have included other blenders aside from the Vitamix, over the years, so you need not be exclusive to one brand, though you may eventually reach Brand Ambassador status with them, as evidenced by the fact that she is now the "The Face" of Vitamix's recipe and technique videos.

My overall takeaway message from Tess Masters was to always keep your eye on the long-term and focusing on getting paid can often be short-sighted.

Joel Warady discussed how they look for professionalism in those they seek to do business with - noting, "we want to do business with business people".  He said they review bloggers and look for comments on their blog.  He wants to see how engaged your audience is, because even though a blogger may have a smaller following, they might be very active.  They're not looking for bloggers to only provide positive reviews - they're looking for transparency and genuineness.  He goes straight to LinkedIn to search for a profile and even consults other bloggers to inquire about the blogger under review.  He searches Instagram, as well.  When discussing bloggers being "a brand", he pointed to Keeley McGuire's picture of her and her daughter, sticking their tongues out and how that was funny, memorable and recognizable.  ("She made sticking out your tongue famous before Miley!")

He counseled bloggers not to bombard a company with pitches when they are at a trade show or conference - they are there for the customers and it's not the right time or place.  If you have a well-thought-out idea for an awesome campaign, they'd be interested, if presented at an appropriate time.  As much as he understands that many of us are mothers and they very much love their customer base, he did note that they are not particularly interested in videos of young children trying and enjoying their products. (*putting away my video camera*)  However, they are very interested in "digital first" and would love new ideas involving Vine, Instagram, etc.  He reminded the audience that they are in the advertising industry.  They are always looking for the next big thing.  He suggested an article by Tom Peters titled, "The Brand Called You".

As far as payment goes, Joel stated that they do not typically pay, but there are certainly times that they have paid for campaigns.  Sometimes bloggers get perks, in lieu of payment, such as being the first to receive a new product before it is available on store shelves.  As previously stated, they are always open to new, creative ideas.  During the discussion on "Brand Ambassadors", Joel noted that they don't collaborate with bloggers in that capacity.

My overall takeaway message from Joel Warady was to be professional and consistent, if you want to work with other professionals.

Annelies Zijderveld stated that they are looking to raise brand awareness.  One should ask themselves -  What does my brand stand for, and does my blog design align with that?  She asked that bloggers ensure that their private personas match with that of their blog.  Annelies suggested that your email address be easy to find on your site.  Brands cannot contact you without an easy-to-find contact email.  

She said that they provide samples, but never with the expectation of a review.  Annelies said that they usually do pay bloggers for campaigns and there was discussion about the determination of budgets, which are typically set a year in advance.  She related that there have been cases where a blogger has approached her with an idea, and it just so happened to be the same one that was about to be launched.  Even though they couldn't work with that blogger on that particular project, they are certainly kept in mind for future projects.  Another piece of advice was to be very specific when approaching a brand with an idea.  These specifics pertain to the concept for the promotion or campaign, but she counsels bloggers to shy away from submitting lists of "sponsorship opportunities" with prices listed, which may be seen as too "forward".

When Attune works with Brand Ambassadors, it is usually a seasoned blogger.  While Joel is not so much interested in demographics, Annelies is very interested, which points to the need for bloggers to get to know the companies with whom they want to collaborate.  It seemed pretty universal, though, that unsolicited Media Kits, end up in the circular filing cabinet.

My overall takeaway message from Annelies Zijderveld was to find your voice, be true to yourself and approach companies with a friendly, yet detailed and organized approach.

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During Q&A time, Erica Dermer of Celiac and the Beast asked a question about whether being "edgy" was detrimental to her work as a blogger/brand.  Tess Masters was pretty emphatic that it was not.  She said there was no need to change who she was and that being different is OK.  Annelies added that finding their voice can be hard for many bloggers, so just be true to yourself.  Tess added that you won't be right for everybody and that's OK.

I asked the question about those who are "in the middle", who aren't completely dedicated to being a "brand" (even though we already are, from the moment we hit "Publish" on that first blog post).  I explained how sometimes I have more ideas than time, and was curious if they'd be interested in hearing ideas that we, perhaps, wouldn't be available to execute.  They were polite about it and said, "sure", but I think I knew by this point in the session that there would come a time when each blogger, myself included, would need to make a concerted effort to decide on your overall vision.

I know, personally, I just sat down, one day, frustrated with the lack of information provided after diagnosis, along with the unnecessarily lengthy road to diagnosis and started writing to put out information as I received it, hoping to shorten the learning curve for others.  Next thing I know, two years have passed!  Soon, I will have to take a moment and ponder the future...

Well, this single session has taken up an entire blog post, so I will have to make this a series! Until next time...