Comments on: Brands working with bloggers: money for nothing or PR for free?

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I totally agree. These big companies used to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes millions, for a tv commercial. Bloggers are their new commercial, yet for some reason they think that we should do this for free. They think we have nothing better to do than to sit around blogging about their products while receiving no compensation. Who do they think is going to pay the rent and electric? I can assure you they are not working for free, so why should they expect us to?

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Most of the time the issue is the PR firm and not understand social media. However, the PR people’s hand are tied a lot of the time too (I’ve done some PR work), and they have to get the brand out with little or no money directed towards social media. I can’t tell you how many twitter accounts I’ve set up and then wasn’t allowed to tweet from or how many times I heard “well, why won’t they blog about it for free”. As a blogger and a tweeter, I just wanted to bang my head against the wall.

By: melissa from girlymama

melissa from girlymama — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Fantastic post, Jill! And I don’t feel you are beating a dead horse here — I’ve had loads of terrible pitches, lots of offers to review things that really were not worth my time, but I’m just starting to get ‘loaner’ pitches. I’m glad I’m not the only one who isn’t interested in doing all that work for getting to borrow something for a week

By: Jill

Jill — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@Karen – I can’t imagine why ANY blogger would like to spend time blogging about a loaner with no other stipend or “thank-you” from the brand… Though I definitely see it happening, and it’s really unfortunate.

By: Jill

Jill — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@Lisa – Brands who do not understand social media should either hire an agency who specializes in executing social media strategies or STAY AWAY FROM IT. There’s no way to sorta do SM, doing it badly is worse than not doing it at all.

@Melissa – Glad we’re on the same page!

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I agree – definitely not worth FREE! I think most blogs that have a lot of traffic are aware of the issue and will not work for free, but it is unfortunate that some blogs are still hit up to be taken advantage of!

By: Facebook

Facebook — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Fabulous post and I definitely agree! There are times that I will review a ‘loaner’ item, but it’s because I have a strong relationship with that firm/company and they appreciate what I do, or it may be that I have a relationship with them AND I am in the market for something for my family that I’d love to try before I buy it. It’s a working relationship. I do not blog ‘to get free stuff’… I work for my blog, my blog works for PR – we work together. There are a lot of PR pitches out there that I read and think to myself ‘What in the world is this PR person thinking?’ It’s sad to see that some companies are still taking advantage of bloggers. Bloggers help get the name of the companies and products out – some companies just need to stop using bloggers; plain and simple.