Sponsored conversation absolves everyone of responsibility
By Molly FlattThe issue of sponsored conversations (otherwise known as paid content, pay per post and so on) is an intransigent old chestnut - I’ve already posted at length about our own stance here - but that’s because it is central to the integrity, effectiveness and longevity of word of mouth marketing.
Last week, Mark Penn produced some startling statistics in the Wall Street Journal calculating that in America alone 1.7 million bloggers are profiting from their work, with 452,000 of those using it as their primary source of income. Although questioned by some, his numbers carry the worrying implication that the ‘independent consumer’ is disappearing under a mountain of advocates-for-hire.
There are still some vocal supporters of the practice - well known blogger Chris Brogan recently claimed that it was the future of WOM - but his assertion that ‘disclosure is all’ ignores the huge implications involved if brands (and consumers) start retreating from the model of collaboration that has started to really change how corporations and their customers interact, to one of old-school financial power play.
Thankfully many others, including WOMMA, hold to the ethics of independent WOM - and it was heartening to hear the first episode of blogtalkradio’s new podcast series Socializing Media, in which author of The Anatomy of Buzz Emanuel Rosen and social media bigwigs Jonathan Salem Baskin, Blake Cahill, Steve Hershberger and Sean Driscoll agreed that the best and most effective work is ‘the antithesis of sponsored conversation’. The panel asserted that by trading in the currency of appreciation and community empowerment, companies acknowledge that their adovcates must and should have the freedom to be critics as well as fans, but also contract themselves to visibly change in accordance to the resulting feedback rather than simply throwing more money into the space. Listen below.
