Blogging is one of the earliest forms of reaching out to potential consumers by the brands. There are two types of bloggers namely:
1. Personal Bloggers and
2. Commercial Bloggers.
From the above, you would have got some hints as to what their blog content would be. I would elaborate it for the benefit of newbies.
A Personal Blogger is a person who writes about his personal experience most of the time and rarely, he writes about other experiences - read it as Commercial.
A Commercial Blogger mostly writes about products and services related to brands for which he or she is paid. This is a broader concept and in this, you cannot include a journalist since it comes under the purview of "Job" wherein they need to write about products and services on the blog(of the company they work for).
Is there a difference between the two??
Yes. There certainly is a difference. With regards to the former, the content is more personal in nature and is unbiased since there are no commercials involved but on the latter, you cannot say it with 100% confidence. There is nothing wrong with that. All we need to do is to exercise due diligence before zeroing in on anything going by just the online reviews.
There is also a disturbing trend that I have noticed in recent days. This has been voiced every now and then by the veteran and real bloggers. Yes. Instagrammers are calling themselves "Bloggers" and they are backed by a few brands who don't know the difference between the real and the fake ones.
Yes! These Instagrammers open up an account and become a celebrity overnight.
How?
They buy the followers either in one go or month on month in bulk and within a year, they stand pretty at 30-50k followers, Just like how Twitter did a couple of years ago(flushing out the fake profiles and followers from a handle), I feel that even Instagram should resort to that so that the brands do not get deceived and get to know the real influence behind the handle.
There should be some ethics that need to be followed. If one runs behinds fame and money, then there is no question about quality. I m sorry to be blunt and outright but when this is done by more than 90% of the self-proclaimed bloggers shamelessly, this hurts the genuine bloggers and influencers like us who are in this field for more than a decade.
Having said that, if the brands actively engage in checking the genuineness of these handles since there are various auditing software available, they can ensure genuine engagement for the brands. Most of the brands which do the influencer activity started doing this but this has to be done proactively. The ay is not far when only the genuineness will prevail and win.
Let us go to the positive aspect now.
I started my blogging career in 2007 but a major break came through in 2011 when my blog post was adjudged the 2nd best in South India by the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai. There was no looking back. Another breakthrough came a few years later when my blog was adjudged the best by a prominent author and I received a US$200 worth gift voucher. It did not end here.
When you put your heart and soul into the work you do, Success will come to you automatically. ost importantly, you can also sustain yourself in this highly competitive field. I have won various contests and prizes apart from being felicitated on various events. My name has found a mention in many books and India's leading newspapers like The Times of India, The Hindu to name a few.
I have been constantly approached by various brands of National and International repute since they have seen the quality of my work. I have also executed various campaigns in my individual capacity for various brands by organising Twitter Trending campaigns, Online and Offline Blogger/Influencer engagement to name a few.
Having been in this field creating a name in the niche of Influencer marketing, I was appointed as the President of Chennai and Pondicherry Creators Club for Helo which was one of the brands apart from Tiktok that is owned by Bytedance. When there was a void in the space on Influencer Marketing, these two platforms emerged as the clear winners by uniting all the influencers in one platform thereby creating content in vernacular languages. If I say that these have even influenced majors like Instagram and Twitter to some extent (making them release fleets/reels etc), it is no exxageration.
Thanks to Intellifluence which is one of the tried and tested platforms for Influencer Marketing. I am saying this with confidence since I am a member of this platform for more than 3 years and see how they perform. They recommend some of the finest activities which you can apply and if shortlisted, you can execute them as well. There are both paid and barter collaborations. You may want to check it. Who wouldn't want some extra bucks?
EmoticonEmoticon