Following Scoble's link blog, I ended up in this excellent post by Tris Hussey, "Is Pay-Per-Post better than having your own blog?" After discussing the pros and cons of having your own product blog v/s paying others to write a review (PPP, B4H, ReviewMe), Tris concludes:
Why not have your own blog and pay for reviews? Sure you might get flack for the PPP and ReviewMe stuff, but you can talk about why you chose to go that route on your blog.
Ahh, Tris! You hit the nail on the head! But, not hard enough. You missed a small, yet important aspect of the process. Something that Brian over at Copyblogger has drilled into his readers, time and again:
Make it Viral.
First, reviews are better because, someone else is talking about your product. Paid reviews might come at a price, but that's still better: Low cost, high ROI.
Second, a product company with smart marketing departments have its OWN blog, PAID reviews, and independent VIRAL reviews, generated as a result of the other two.
Third, when it comes to 'endorsements,' we have a mental block that seems to tell us:
Only celebrities endorse, normal people share reviews.
So we share our reviews. And if someone is willing to pay for it, it becomes an added bonus. That's how a normal blogger might look at the financial aspect.
We share a weird sense of morality, when it comes to blogs and such content. As long as there are no explicit financial motives involved, we happily assume that the content is 'true' and 'unbiased'.
Oh, really?
Technorati Tags: Paid Content, PPP, B4H, ReviewMe, Tris Hussey, Controversy
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Shrikant, Thanks for the
Shrikant, Thanks for the link and mention. You're absolutely right! Being viral is key to online marketing success. Tricky to pull off, of course, but when it works ... golden!
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