Moms who blog have gotten a bad name in the media in 2009. There are some bloggers who need to act more professional, in my humble opinion. Some amazing women started an initiative called Blog with Integrity. Blog with Integrity is an attempt to try to move the mom blogging community to a more positive place and I am all for it!
This week, I wrote about some of the common sense rules of business that I learned from my parents. I think some of the people who are involved in the blogging community (bloggers AND sponsors) could benefit from reading a few of the rules . Today I’ll review the Grandma Rule and the Secretary Rule.
The Grandma Rule – Act like your grandmother is in the room with you. If you wouldn’t say it in front of her, don’t say it in a business setting.
The Grandma Rule of Business
This rule is pretty easy to understand. If you wouldn’t say something in front of your grandma, don’t say it in a business setting. For example, one of my fellow mom bloggers literally threatened to blog about a sponsor’s competitor if he didn’t give her free product! Is that REALLY polite behavior? Would this blogger say that to someone if her grandma was standing next to her? I don’t think so. At Blogher 2009, I saw women pushing fellow bloggers out of the way…so they could get a swag bag! I’ll be a million dollars these women wouldn’t act that way if their grandmother was next to them.
The Secretary Rule – Be nice to everyone. Show every person respect. It’s the right thing to do and it’s good business. People are always nice to the CEO—-but not that many people treat his/her assistant well. But the fact is, much of the real work is done by the the CEO’s assistant.
The Secretary Rule of Business
At BlogHer 2009, I watched as bloggers ignored new members of our tribe, while falling over themselves to gush at some of the “popular girls”. I’ve been part of the blogging community since 2005 and one of the best parts of being a blogger is the people I’ve met! I found myself talking to many new bloggers at this conference, trying to explain that not all mom bloggers are like this!
Something else really disturbed me about BlogHer 2009, regarding some of the sponsored events. There were so many off-site parties and gatherings for a few, select bloggers.
Some of the sponsored events were bad for the community, in my opinion. There was one sponsored party that was particularly divisive. It was a large invite only, celebrity event. There were enough people invited to this event—every person attending the conference knew about the party. The sponsor may have showed some important bloggers a great time—-but they made the other 1200 women feel lousy.
I understand that sponsors can’t invite 1500 women to every event. But this year there were so many high dollar, very fancy events for a select few “influential”bloggers.
Hello? Don’t these sponsors realize that blogging and online media can change overnight? The hot blogger of today could have no audience this time next year! Some of the “unknown” writers at Blogher 2009 will have the hottest blogs of 2010. It’s a fact of life and the sponsors should remember this fact of business. The “lowly” secretary will be a CEO someday.
Tide and Devries PR – How To Do Sponsored Events
One sponsor who did it right at BlogHer 2009, was Tide and Devries PR. They brought Project Runway host Tim Gunn to BlogHer. But Tide and Devries had an event on Saturday afternoon, giving anyone who wanted to meet Tim Gunn an opportunity to get a picture and an autograph. They also had a small, very low-key gathering at the hotel for about 25 bloggers who regularly write about Tide. I thought Tide and Devries handled the situation in a very classy manner.
Monday I’ll review some other simple rules for business.
(Grandma Photo by ThemeParkReview.com)
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It makes me a bit sad that these basic tenets have to be explained to people.
Thanks so much for the DeVries/Tide shout-out. I’m president of DeVries but take no credit for what happened at BlogHer — it was entirely the hard work of my team and our P&G fabric care clients. With all the negative buzz about PR people blundering and alienating people in the social media space, an acknowledgement like yours is much appreciated. And we’re not alone — there are plenty of PR people out there getting it right. It’s just easier to write about the ones getting it wrong.
Stephanie,
I totally meant every word I said in my post. Y’all know how to do things the right way.