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from Theresa Quintanilla

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Advantage to Independent Blogs

0510242 Although many companies are now sponsoring blogs about their products, an article in the New York Times points out that companies and consumers may find independent blogs more advantageous as unbiased resources.

NY Times: Brand Blogs Capture the Attention of Some Companies by Tania Ralli

Robert V. Kozinets, an associate professor of marketing at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, said he thought consumers would be wary of bloggers sponsored by a company. "Consumers are skeptical of things told to them by companies," Mr. Kozinets said. Most consumers are searching for unbiased opinions, a niche that blogs can fill. A testimonial from one blogger can speak directly to readers in a way advertising does not.

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One response to “Advantage to Independent Blogs”

  1. Scott Allen Avatar
    Scott Allen

    This was a major topic of conversation at The Blogging Enterprise conference last week – particularly the matter of character blogs.
    The problem, of course, is that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell what’s sponsored and what isn’t. I think any new blog that has anything to do with a particular product will have a challenge establishing credibility. It’s almost as if people will HAVE to be critical of a product in some way in order to build that credibility. Of course, that could end up becoming a strategy for establishing trust — a company-sponsored blog could expose minor problems that the company is willing to acknowledge. Yikes! I can’t even believe I’m suggesting that!
    Anyway, my point is that all blogs are suspect and will have to build trust over time. Of course, the traditional media and marketing channels are suspect too, having lost a lot of consumer trust in recent years, so I don’t see that blogs are really facing any different issues than other media.

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