Ask Not What Women Bloggers Can Do for You … Getting Things Done in the Blogosphere - Jory Des Jardins - MediaBizBlogger

Recently a departing employee gave my partners and me framed prints of this iconic image of Rosie the Riveter with a new subtitle 39BlogHer Inc Founded 200539 The image is incredibly meaningful to me I see it as an illustration of what my partners and I did when we got tired of hearing the question quotwhere are the women bloggersquot In response we established a business around this community Rosie reminds me of a shared trait among women who blog about everything from parenting to politics We have a compulsion to make things happen especially when times are toughNell Merlino founder of the women39s entrepreneurial organization Count Me In for Women39s Economic Independence recently wroteDuring World War II FDR asked us to join Rosie the Riveter and 20 million women responded by going to work in factories across the country In the 196039s President Kennedy asked us all to join the Peace Corps During the last recession in 2001 President Bush told women to keep shopping Now President Obama please ask women business owners to grow their businesses and create jobs because they can and they willPerhaps the President should ask us to just keep blogging The Rosie the Riveter image is fitting today when so many women bloggers are in essence rolling up our sleeves and getting things done for ourselves our communities and each other In this economy social media specifically social networks and conversational tools like blogs are a powerful way to distinguish one39s brand I don39t mean only via display advertising Some brands have achieved a third dimension of engagement beyond the click because they used these tools to tap into preexisting currents of passionWitnessing the ingenuity of women bloggers at this time I see opportunities for brands to make unprecedented connections with these influencers But here39s the catch It39s no longer about convincing these women to try or buy your product it39s about partnering with them convincing them to take up our causes which range from the whimsical to the weighty and earning their advocacyJust today I chanced upon MommyBlogger Gayla McCord passing the word on Twitter about Job Angels a grassroots effort created just over three weeks ago by a consultant who wanted to provide support for people trying to find work After two weeks the project generated 1500 quotangelsquot or volunteers and over 10000 messages from groups formed on Twitter Facebook and LinkedIn Members donated resources such as introductions to their networks free coaching and job leadsIn a previous column I mentioned Tyson39s multicity campaign for feeding the hungry by partnering with a prominent food blogger who was championing a cause on her blog and Twitter In San Francisco alone the campaign yielded 200000 pounds of donated protein to food banks and a wordofmouth glow around the brand But even if Twitterese isn39t your second language or your third and you don39t have 200000 of anything to spend on your outreach you don39t have to look too hard to find what the bloggers are talking about and taking on and where you can make a differenceHow do you leverage these examples for your brand I would ask this question How can you mobilize customers as quickly and with as much passion around your product without giving it away Most likely you can39t just as you probably can39t find jobs for thousands of people But you can help influencers like the Job Angels who are making a difference if you just pay attention to what your target market is passionate about And by helping Job Angels you could net new customers who want to support brands they believe inThis information isn39t hard to find Since we announced the dates of the BlogHer Conference I39ve seen blog posts every day from women who are struggling with finances and fundraising for themselves and for each other to cover travel and lodging costs There are dozens of sites such as this one that have added a section where sponsors may contribute Or read posts like this one by a conference veteran who is fundraising to send a fellow blogger in needThis opportunity has been scooped up by large sponsors who have noticed and are sending women to the conference as prizes in larger campaigns But it39s a targeted opportunity even for smaller brands who have gotten in on the excitement Before January many online moms hadn39t heard of Mabel39s Labels a Canadian business founded by four women who sell custom labels for kids39 stuff But then the niche business put itself into the wordofmouth stratosphere by announcing a contest requiring bloggers to write about quotthe rewards and benefits of participating in the blogging communityquot And of course mentioning the name of the company is a plus amp8211 entries would not show up in a Google search otherwise The prize is an allexpenses paid trip to BlogHerThe winner of the Mabel39s contest was the blogger who earned the most reader votes for her post which further encouraged entrants to beseech their readers to vote for them That gave the campaign a second life and then a third life when the winner was announced and Tweeted everywhere For an estimated 1200 the company attracted well over 150 Tweets among its target amp8211 MomBloggers who shared the announcement with their audiences and blogging buddies Mabel39s also earned 2355 mentions on blogs and according to site tracker Alexa more than tripled its page views from the best month the corporate site had the previous yearYes monetary incentives can be nice to offer your customers in tough times but when your offer aligns with something important to them the incentive doesn39t have to be extravagant In 2008 the most trafficked offer on BlogHercom was a simple one from Kraft for a 100 gift card to a randomly selected blogger that shared a quotfeel goodquot meal idea The offer hit at a time when just as much as the community craved food savings they craved nesting better meals at home and family timeNell Merlino offers up a modernized Rosie the Riveter called Elaine the Entrepreneur I offer up Beth the Blogger Felicia the Facebooker Tara the Twitterer and about 36 million women in the US who when armed with a decent Web connection can make things happen and get your word out You just need to help us get out oursAs cofounder and President of Strategic Alliances for BlogHer Jory Des Jardins is an innovator in online advertising women39s media and Internet entrepreneurship Jory can be contacted at jorybloghercomRead all Joryamp8217s MediaBizBlogger commentaries at Jory Des Jardin MediaBizBlogger

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Ask Not What Women Bloggers Can Do for You … Getting Things Done in the Blogosphere - Jory Des Jardins - MediaBizBlogger

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