ROI on engaging bloggers
It’s seriously hard to get good ROI figures on engaging bloggers in helping with marketing. Dunno why, I guess companies either can’t measure it, or are so happy, they don’t want to tip off the opposition. 😛 But here’s some (from WOMMA): Toyota Greece Takes Bloggers for a Test-Drive Word of mouth marketing isn’t just…
It’s seriously hard to get good ROI figures on engaging bloggers in helping with marketing. Dunno why, I guess companies either can’t measure it, or are so happy, they don’t want to tip off the opposition. 😛 But here’s some (from WOMMA):
Toyota Greece Takes Bloggers for a Test-Drive
Word of mouth marketing isn’t just an American trend. It’s a global phenomenon. As proof, one need only glance across the Atlantic to Greece, where Toyota recently completed a campaign in which it engaged a team of Greek bloggers to spread the word about its new hatchback model, the Auris.
Toyota wanted three things from its Greek Auris campaign. One, it needed to be digital. Two, it needed to put the car’s interior — its “cockpit” — front and center. And three, it needed to inspire test-drives and get consumers into the driver’s seat.
To achieve its goals, Toyota decided to let its customers market the Auris for it. It invited 15 Greek bloggers to test-drive the car for a week, and encouraged them to post their findings to an official Auris Blog as well as to their own blogs. The results:
* Bloggers wrote 55 posts about the Auris.
* Readers posted 175 comments to the bloggers’ posts.
* The Auris Blog received 52,000 visits from 41,000 unique visitors.
* The campaign generated 2,000 test-drive requests — 50% of all test-drive requests.
So, if you could talk with 15 bloggers and generate 2,000 quality leads as a result, and it didn’t cost you a sausage, why wouldn’t you? Anyway, what is the cost of letting 15 people test drive a car for a week?
Actually, I guess one area of concern is that traditional media know what side of their bread has got the organic butter on: bloggers only allegiance is to their passion and their conscience. So if your car (product/service) sucks, a magazine might be ‘even handed’ in their review. After all, you also pay for advertising, and they want to be invited to press events again. Bloggers will simply say it sucks and lists the reasons why. And that is the crux of the matter – why people trust social media and complete strangers to ‘expert testimony’ and ‘trained journalism’. Have fun translating the Auris blog, boys.
OOOH – tooo creeepy.
Wash your hands immediately.
Fang – Mike Seyfang
nah. business reality. And I prefer this sort of open courting of bloggers than simply ripping them off by sending an email saying “hey, post this press release to your blog, willya” or the sneaky “i’ll give you a few bucks but shhh.”
Besides marketing and advertising were always supposed to be about providing relevant timely information so that people can make relevant, timely and informed decisions, no? Well, now marketers have to focus on that, not just shouting at us. 🙂
I agree: business reality. When I was a journalist, I couldn’t possibly have filled the space I had to fill without the story ideas PR firms gave me. Lots of the ideas were garbage of course but I’d rather have had them than been scrabbling around for stories. I also went on paid-for trips that enabled me to bring back stories I couldn’t otherwise have written, including some negative ones.
Bloggers who write in certain areas should be grateful that they’re being taken seriously enough for business to court them. It’s a compliment, not something invidious. Being well-informed requires you to know what a company has to say. We may live in an opinion-driven world but it’s nice when those opinions are based on some information!
I have a funny feeling Mike might’ve meant to comment on the other post – about me crawling around the seedy underbelly of flipping sites and splogs.
One thing I continually look out for, and challenge, is the opinion that blogs are only negative publicity. Good companies, with great products would be shocked at the support they have out there. Not just Apple I mean. 🙂
And Steve, I’m a big believer in both peer reviews (user gen) AND expert testimony (journos). I just think they should be clear on the site which is which. Colours are good. Red for paid-for opinions, green for user generated content. Or whatevs. Then no one feels ripped off or that anyone is hiding anything.
Thanks for sharing the Toyota example – I’m constantly looking for good ROI case studies for blogging to share with clients who are still hesitant on sticking their toes in the blogging water. With more major brands like Toyota doing this that should help others follow their lead.