360DigitalInfluence

I had the privilege of attending BlogHer ‘09 this year in Chicago where 1200 women bloggers (okay, men too!) came together to “celebrate the fact that our blogging, whether personal, professional or political, has brought us real work, real friends, real satisfaction and is most definitely a significant part of our real life!”

While it’s impossible to spend significant time at BlogHer without feeling a renewed sense of pride about new media and inspiration for your own blogging, the implications of social media for marketers and the effect of social media on traditional media took center stage at the keynote.

On Saturday, BlogHer co-founder, Lisa Stone, led a keynote panel discussion with Tina Brown, founder of The Daily Beast, Donna Byrd, publisher of The Root, and Ilene Chaiken, creator of “The L Word,” on how the rise of social media has challenged traditional media.  The entire conversation was fascinating, but I’ve shared some of my favorite moments here.  While Tina Brown’s name is virtually synonymous with print publications like Vanity Fair, she readily admitted “I wouldn’t want to go back to print now… What I love [about The Daily Beast] is being able to have an idea and develop it so quickly.”  Donna Byrd compared her experiences with The Root now to working on a past web property in 2001: “[then], conversation was two-way, but it was still slow.  Now you have people using social media to really spread the word.”

All three detailed how how social media has changed the relationship between the public and content creators.  For example, rather than sending comments to writers through the post office or even email, conversations now happen on the same sites where these writers post, in forums, on individual blogs, and more.  Public conversation about content inevitably finds its way to the content creator.  As Ilene Chaiken said: “I couldn’t but be affected by [the conversation in the new media space].  I took it all in and admit to having been moved by the community of fans of The L Word and there’s no question that the stories we chose to tell were very much influenced by what fans said.”

Just as the the relationship between the public and content creators has shifted, so has the relationship between advertisers and content creators.  All three panelists affirmed that advertisers don’t just want to know who the viewing/reading demographic is, but how involved they are with the content and its site or brand.  While The Daily Beast is just now starting to focus on advertising dollars, they’re attempting to find appropriate and subtle ways to get sponsors who don’t distract from the experience.  Brown said, “We’re being very collaborative with advertisers.  It really is about creating a brand and then growing things around it — website, television, eventing, etc.”  Byrd says:

“[Advertisers are] looking for places that can truly provide a relationship with their readers.  In 2001, it was a world of display ads.  Advertisers are looking at pay-per-click ads and models that include conversion.  Now it’s a much more exciting world and a much more challengeing world.  You have to prove that you understand your audience and you have a relationship with them.  And that you know them so well that you already have a hunch that they’d be interested in Brand X or Brand Y.”

The quest for this sort of relationship explains why so many brands are turning to bloggers and forums like BlogHer to reach them.  Social media allows for the open dialogue and more personal experience that consumers and advertisers alike are seeking.