Should we pay bloggers to talk about our brand?

Well, the answer is YES.

Nokia sent out there phones for the review last year and asked the bloggers to review and give their feedback. The phones got a huge response, and most of the bloggers appreciated Nokia's effort of being transparent and authentic in sharing the information with the consumers. Kmart gave some bloggers a free shopping spree in exchange for a blog post about the experience — a practice which is called sponsored conversation. With appropriate protections for disclosure and authenticity, this practice will take its place alongside public relations and advertising activities in the blogosphere. Marketers should take advantage of sponsored conversation as an entrée into the online conversation. To succeed, you should get to know the bloggers you plan to work with and set expectations across your organization.

Marketers already try to influence bloggers through public relations activity. They also pay for ads on blogs. Seen in this context, sponsored conversations are an extension of existing activities. As long as bloggers don't hide who's paying them and have freedom to write whatever they want, I think paying bloggers for the conversation about your brand will fit in well with the other forms of marketing through blogs.

Marketers buy ad space on popular blogs like TechCrunch and Huffington Post just as they would on any other site; Intel recently worked with blog ad network Federated Media to have 100% of the ads on a gaming blog created by Boing Boing's bloggers. Best Buy went further, working with Six Apart's blog network to deliver not just ad units but a sponsored question-of-the-day that inspired bloggers to respond to in their personal blogs.

Ford recently offered Jessica Smith of Jessica Knows a Ford Flex car for one year; she now blogs about her family's experience with the car and participates in Ford events. (View Source)

Why and How to Pay bloggers to start the conversations:

The blogosphere can be a powerful marketing channel — even consumer bloggers know they have more influence than their peers. That's why you should start now to recruit bloggers who will act as brand ambassadors for your brand. Working with bloggers is:

Cheap and scalable. Kmart worked with Izea, a company that manages the process of reaching out to bloggers for paid conversation. The payment to each blogger was only $500 in shopping credit.

Far-reaching. The number of people reading blogs alone has grown by 50% in the past year and now one in three Indians online are doing so at least once a month.

Great for search engine optimization. Because blogs generate links and change frequently, they rank high in organic search results.

Persuasive. Blogs represent relationships with communities of readers. Through blogs, marketers can listen to, talk to, energize, and support potential fans and new customers.

How To Do Paid Conversations Effectively

The rewards of paid conversations are promising, but there are risks as well, including brand backlash if you conceal your relationship with bloggers. To participate effectively:

Mandate disclosure. Require that any sponsored content includes disclosure of the paid sponsorship and that any sponsorship network you work with has similar requirements.

Ensure freedom of authenticity. It's tough to let go, but it's best to let bloggers you work with write whatever they feel is appropriate, rather than trying to coerce them to write positively about your brand.

Partner with popular blogs that are relevant to your brand. Relevance and context are the keys to working with bloggers. Behind every blogger there is a person, and each person is different. Some will work with marketers, and some won't. Some are personal, and some are professional.

Don't talk and then walk away. Your relationships with bloggers should be a long-term commitment used to listen to feedback to help improve marketing in other channels such as advertising, public relations, merchandizing, and CRM.