The folks at Nikon let me try out a D300s camera. It’s a lot more pro-feeling than my Nikon D-60. Honestly, I’m not yet that clever with it. I’m trying it out, and shooting stuff, and they’re giving me little tips so I can try to do better stuff with it.

I’m part of their outreach project, which they’re doing for the South by Southwest event in partnership with YFrog. So, if you check out http://yfrog.com/nikon, you’ll see what me and a few others are shooting.

Why let an idiot like me use such a powerful camera instead of someone who’s a really great shooter? There are a few reasons. One’s obvious: I have a big audience, so Nikon is hoping that I’ll somehow coax you into buying one. I’m not sure how well that kind of option works. It’s not an inexpensive camera, so it’s not like you do an impulse buy.

However, the OTHER reason they let me use it instead of some pro is that I can be more like an “everyman” user. (I’ve written about the everyman before.) This is why Scott Monty of Ford is perfect for Ford. He’s their everyman.

So, the post? I’ve got a mixed reason. First, I’m telling you, “Hey, look! Nikon wants you to see me making their camera take fuzzy shots because I’m not a good photographer, but darn it – they like me!” Second, I’m saying, “as marketers, take a look at this kind of outreach and ask yourself what’s the yield. Believe me, if I somehow magically convince you that “even I can use this camera,” which is possible maybe, then how many will I be selling?

What’s your take?

I was part of the Hanes Comfort Crew this past week at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida (more about my Disney experience later). Basically, they wanted to show off their new lines of garments and underwear, but mostly they wanted to understand a bit more about how social media and moms/parents who use it will help influence the experience of buying more product. It’s an important game for Hanes to win. Over 85% of households in the US have Hanes products in them (the exact number eludes me, but who cares), so to grow is a tricky challenge.

How Do You Work With the Influencers?

But more so, they want to know how to build relationships through some of the great folks I got to meet like Erika Lehmann, Lori Falcon, Vera Sweeney, and more. What does the new world of advertising at a distance look and feel like? How do each of us find the right lever to help Hanes with their goals, while feeling that we’re doing something for our community?

(Quick note: the “we” and “us” in this is more my work over at Dadomatic, not here at [chrisbrogan.com].)

What’s the return on these efforts? How do you move more socks and underpants and the like?

Cause Marketing is Solid

One thing I loved: Hanes is working hard at cause marketing. They did a great project with Mark Horvath of Invisible People, not to mention that they’re a key sponsor of the Susan G. Komen foundation. And they’ve got some great plans for 2010 in that aspect. That, I believe, helps a brand: showing that they’re working with causes.

But What of Influencers?

It’s a tricky business on all sides. Large brands (not just Hanes; I’m using them as the storytelling element) are seeking relationships with people who have an audience the way publishers sought to build relationships with magazine readers and TV viewers, etc, only the way we interact as bloggers and media makers is much more different than the way shows were produced, and the lines were far more distinct between editorial and advertising. It’s a tricky situation on all sides with regards to disclosure (though I feel that disclosure is probably simpler than we make it).

And audiences aren’t the same as communities. I’ve worked long and hard at [chrisbrogan.com] to make this a community. I can’t and won’t treat you like an audience. My friends in the Hanes Comfort Crew feel similarly. Daddy Brad from DadLabs knows that his community trusts him with their time and attention. He won’t sell out for camouflage boxer briefs.

It’s an interesting time. Companies are saying, “We’re going to invest in this social media stuff, but we have to see a return.” On our side, on the media making side, you and I are going to have to find how we can ethically, seamlessly, and with value to all parties tell stories that will help all sides of the triangle.

What say you?

Every now and again, something pokes up, a reminder of how people see bloggers. I was once called “inventory,” as in, that stuff you could put ads up against. Sure takes the wind out of your writerly sails, eh?

Hell, even I sometimes jokingly refer to social media efforts as “Hamburger Helper for your marketing.” Face it: we’re less expensive than traditional paths. One year of services with New Marketing Labs, with all the trimmings, costs less than many agencies’ two-week engagements.

But we are human. (So it seems.)

So, the next time you’re contemplating a blogger outreach program, and if you haven’t contracted me to do it, please pay attention to just a tiny few details, like putting my first name on the letter you include with your book that you’d love for me to review. It’ll make me a wee more interested in helping.

The Little Things

In doing a blogger outreach campaign, please consider a few of these points:

• Is my product relevant to the blogger’s audience?
• Is the company/product community-minded? There will be discussions.
• What has the blogger done before? Any risk potential?
• What is the blogger’s audience reach? (Check their authority on Technorati, their reach on Compete.com, perhaps their RSS subscriber count, if it’s visible.)
• Write a personal message. Even if the first part is the only personal part, at least the name and first few lines should be 1:1. (The payload of the data rarely changes, I realize).
• Follow up. Even though the blogger should be compelled to reach out and thank you the moment they receive what you’ve sent them, it doesn’t often work that way. Politely check in.
• Follow back. When a week has passed, double-check that there aren’t questions and the like.
• Follow through. When (if?) a post finally comes about, be sure to drop by and comment a simple something or other, to show the audience (not the blogger) that you’re responsive and that you care about the community. This often amps up the discussion in a good way.

Now, if you want the bonus round, read Susan Getgood. She’s building quite a body of work about blogger relations. Wherever my ideas contradict hers, use hers.

**Update: I found this piece by Todd Defren really good, too.**

I know it seems like this post is stacked against marketers and PR people. I’m on both sides of this particular fence. I do blogger outreach projects, as well. Maybe, you might consider this my offering of advice to you. Or, if you see it as a slap at you, I can understand that. Either way, maybe we’ll all learn a bit.

I had the pleasure to take part of the last day of a tour of Pittsburgh, put on by Visit Pittsburgh. I missed the first few days, which brought the rest of the tour group to see even more of the city, but I had the opportunity to visit a historical museum, a few local attractions, and a Lucky Duck amphibious vehicle tour of the city by land and by water. The experience was great, and because Kristin Mitchell and team at Visit Pittsburgh found some swell bloggers to talk about their experiences in Pittsburgh, they’ll no doubt get some nice write-ups.

The process got me thinking, however. I asked a few people tonight what they’d want a blogger to know about their city. Norm Huelsman had two versions of what he wanted to talk about: the more likely nostalgic tour, but then he also mentioned it would be interesting to talk about how Pittsburgh is really broken into hyperlocal experiences, like the various neighborhoods within. John Carman had a few ideas of his own, too. After talking and thinking a bit, here’s my initial thoughts. I want yours.

How Bloggers Can Work With Tourism Boards

If a city needs a louder voice, bloggers can act in that capacity, but the question becomes, what message does a city want to amplify? And how could we help? I think it’s easy to think the answer is to write a great blog post that tells people to come to Pittsburgh (or wherever). That’s bloggers acting like PR or that weird syrup of PR meets media that we often find ourselves being.

How about we do something more powerful, more meaningful? What if we helped cities express themselves and share their voice? My first thought was to ask the people of Pittsburgh what they want to share with the world. That’s one way to think about it. My next thought was to give them the tools, show them how, and get the most authentic voice.

My last thought was that it’s a combination. We’ll all tell the story in different ways. What I saw that caught my eye wasn’t part of the tour at all. The tour was great, but I found a story a few hours after the meeting.

My voice as a visitor with a whole different kind of readership might tell you about the story of innovation and technology investment I noticed while talking with Jim Jen, Meredith Benedict, and Mike Woycheck of AlphaLab, a startup incubator helping seed companies find their footing and launch out into the world.

My post about tourism bureaus and bloggers sparked lots of ideas, and it’s been on my mind since. Some people might show me the culture. Others might want to see the food, and that’s not wrong. Grace Piper would be a great person to share the food stories of a city. But what else needs to be said?

Of course, as always, I’m here to ask you. How do you think bloggers should interact with explaining travel and tourism?

After lunch, en route to the airport, Matt Homann gave me a great tour of St. Louis. We went through various neighborhoods, and I learned a lot about the history of the area, a few really interesting spaces, and some of the interesting news about neighborhood redevelopment.

It got me thinking: why aren’t tourism agencies looking to build relationships with visiting bloggers?

One group that is trying this out is Visit Pittsburgh. My friend and PodCamp organizer, Justin Kownacki, connected me into a program with Visit Pittsburgh that ties to the upcoming PodCamp Pittsburgh, happening on October 18th-19th 2008. They have a tour set up for me, and are doing a lot to show me the better side of Pittsburgh, a place I’ve visited three or four times now and find exciting and dynamic and full of great rebirth stories.

I’m not sure how it works. Maybe you have some ideas. Would this be the kind of thing that would attach to conferences being held in the area? That’d be a great way to find out who was visiting that might represent the new media. Or is there some other simpler mechanism to put people together on these kinds of opportunities?

It’s on my mind.

And Michael? Thanks for the gooey butter cakes. Those were a delicious taste of St. Louis.