Dear General Mills,
I am not sure I would make statements like this anymore:
Overall, the program resulted in 5 million total impressions and over 8,000 comments with no media costs. (General Mills does not buy ads on blogs, Witt said.)
1) First off, Mr. Witt (Can I call you Dimwitt? Oh, your used to it? Great.) You do buy ads on blogs. Or you employ companies that buy ads on blogs….I know because you owned a space on my blog for a mere $500 a month for a span of 3 months. You know that whole Fruit Rollups campaign? Hello, down here, measly blog you purchased on. So your either lying or ignorant of your own statements. Either way…not so flattering. Get out of your leather chair, join twitter, and realize you’re a moron. Kthanxbai.
2) Number two…Making an official statement like this is beyond me. The whole article comes off as a slap in the face to bloggers. You clearly claim that the 5 million hits from the blogs you got for sending out some $3 can of yogurt have larger circulation to many (ah hem-currently dying) newspaper circulations, but also state you had no media costs. Thanks for the wake-up call, I appreciate that. (want to tell General Mills how you feel? Go here)
Listen up you corporate pigs: If you keep talking crap about the hand that blogs for you, pretty soon bloggers are going to wise up and stop being taken advantage of. In fact, you should not just be employing PR, who by the way still send pitches like “Dear Tammy” “Dear (Fill in the name)” and “I would love for you to blog about this motorcycle” to our blog, you should be employing a professional blogger or a blogging team to school you on what your doing wrong and how to start doing it right. My consult fee starts at $75 an hour, which is cheaper than my ad costs, toss me an email. But not you General Mills. Your fee is $125 an hour because I have a feeling I am going to have to talk slower.
Bloggers, Read this article, GET A CLUE and get it fast.
Social media has not passed us. Its not something that started 10 years ago and we are snorting around for some breadcrumbs to feed our empty stomachs. Its the present and its the future. Companies are creating army’s of PR reps and focus groups to deal with US. If we don’t put together some rules on what we are doing with our blogs to work with PR and corporations, we are shooting ourselves in the virtual head.
Stop selling yourself short. You are worth something. This isn’t about disclosure, it’s about business. Your time, your space, your marketing. Bloggers need to understand how many skills they have. Companies would have to hire 10 people to have as much professional knowledge that is floating around our blog. Blogging moms own webcams, video cameras, digital cameras, websites, they create graphics from ground up, slogans, html, scripting, they belong to Ning, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Digg, Stumbleupon, and hang on forums with other bloggers. We created these communities of which we live in and are so influential.
WE DID.
No one called me up and said ‘hey trisha, I need you to create an entire community of bad ass bloggers that fall between 25-34 and are women (the buying power of america)“…but I did, and so have you all. Now everyone wants it. Know why? Cause it works. These links, these referrals, these reviews, and these giveaways are powerful. Companies can’t just create a forum and expect us all to show up and swoon over a jar of spaghetti sauce. But a mom can do it.
Unfortunately, right now bloggers are pretty much equivalent to a woman in an abusive relationship that keeps going back over and over again. But not for the kids…..for the freaking yogurt cups.
I think its really awesome that PR and bloggers have met…but they are not meeting in the middle….as a blogger I’m way over here on the left side being smothered-and unpaid. The PR and the corporate offices are pushing products down our throat and it just doesn’t taste that good anymore. It feels like they expect me to not only work for free, but to be happy that someone wants to give me a TV dinner to give away. If you give me that tv dinner in a hotel for 4 in the South of France, I am all ears. If I can go to Walmart and buy it for $3.50, I am insulted.
Maybe its the condescending attitude, maybe its the unappreciation, maybe its the freaking 5 MILLION hits with NO MEDIA costs that piss me off, but bloggers need to virtually unionize and set some personal standards.
Over on the MomDot forum a blogger recently posted that she was pitched by a company and offered a $25 dollar gift card to pick out an item from their site to review. The problem was that 95% of the items cost over $25. so she would be out of pocket. The kicker? They also wanted a YEAR LONG TEXT LINK on her sidebar.
Snort.
Are you done laughing yet?
Of course its not all bad. I have some amazing PR Reps. AMAZING ones. They know who they are. They offer us great opportunities, we are the first ones they contact for paying positions, and they don’t take advantage of who we are. They stick around long enough to realize we have a job, they have a job and it makes us both really happy. Actually, I really do love most of our PR.
But the companies behind the PR have to stop smoking the crack pipe.
Reward us for our loyalty and buy some ads. Send bloggers to conventions. Support the women that support YOUR company. Holy crap, we not only buy from you now, we advertise you for free.
Do you know that MomDot worked with Dyson (which happens to be a product I used and loved well before being a blogger) to create a mom panel that included an opp to test a vacuum and then receive one for free. Dyson did not pay us to do that. They did not pay us for our graphics involved (which another blogger donated to us, a skilled blogger), they didn’t pick up the hosting, they didn’t do one iota of advertising for it. We did. I really wanted to help bloggers have a chance to work with Dyson so I took it. Now when BlogHer came around I asked them for a sponsorship. Nope. Not one penny. Lesson learned for me…Gravy train has left the mashed potato mountain.
My blog is not a charity case that is interested in peddling wares to make myself feel accepted and happy that I was acknowledged . But you can guarantee if you see a giveaway on this site I have a special relationship or reason its here or its an ad space.
These are the ways you can get on my blog:
- 1) You can piss me off
- 2) You can buy editorial or ad space
- 3) You can be a mom company or blogger that I am interested in sharing cause you kick ass
- 4) We can have a mutually beneficial relationship of bartering
That’s it.
You know, come to think of it, maybe the heart problem is stress related. Blog stress related from watching all the bloggy abuse. Someone sue them if I die. Or blog about it and link your text link to “killed a blogger” for me.
Oh, and for the record General Mills …these are no follow links. Hire a blogger and figure out what that means.
~Trisha
I SOOOOO agree with this blog. In my neck of the woods every “mom blogger” kisses Disneyland’s Ass so they can feel like they are media and go to “special events” mean while Disneyland never spends any money advertising with them only throwing them little bones here and there and making them feel special. It is true that these companies suck but it is also true that there are many many many bloggers out there that don’t know squat about business and will continue to be corporate puppets. This does not apply to real bloggers that blog out of interest and passion.
Um.
Can I kiss you?
Amazing!
In this age of safe-speak it sure is refreshing to read your candid, honest opinions in this article. While I’m not a mom, I have one and am married to one and sent them both the link to your site so they can participate in this community.
Good job!
So true! Thanks for speaking out.
For more affirmation that you are spot on, read “What’s a Friend Worth” in this week’s issue of BUSINESS WEEK(one of the last print periodicals I still read.) Corporations are paying huge money to social science/marketing companies that track interconnected relationships, to learn which networks and blogs connect like-minded people. Why, then, would they financially ignore the value of the bloggers who write the content that draws the readers?
Writing is the tool that moves information and makes connections. It’s hugely valuable.
You rock. Stand up for your value.
You’re my new hero.:D
Dear Tammy, (just kidding)
Speaking as someone who’s on the corporate/marketing side of the equation, I think you’ve really encapsulated the changing mood of everyone involved in “blogger outreach” for companies like General Mills.
I think there will always be a need for case studies that quote traffic stats and such, otherwise a large chunk of old-schoolers will simply never give us the resources we need to make these projects more rewarding for both sides.
But I think the onus is also on us in marketing/PR/whatever to explain to corporations that this isn’t about exploiting popular bloggers for free coverage. It’s about finally proving that brands actually care as much for their customers as their ads say they do.
I’ve got a lot more to say, but I won’t clutter up your comments. You’ve given me (and a whole lot of other people) a ton to think about. Thanks for your candid writeup and for prodding a conversation that needed to happen.
Wow! I like you! Nice job!
I second it! Great post
Couldn’t have said it better! You rock Tricia!!!
Kim @ What’s That Smell? wrote:
Thank you!
Wow, I certainly learned a lot. Thanks!
Trisha, I so agree with you. Brands pay big to post on sites like newspapers and news sites, etc… but they think that bloggers are not worthy of competing equally, the day is coming when they will have no alternative but to and then, the burned bridges will be coming back to bite them in the arse.
Go Get ‘Em!!
Wow, what an eye opener! You had me laughing pretty hard during this post!!!
I can’t believe how condescending they were in that article! As usual I learned a lot today! Thanks Trisha!
Lindsey@A Kindred Spirits Thoughts wrote:
I feel the same way! I’m so new to all of this. I really really appreciate your hard work! I respect you and your business decision! Rock on MomDots!
Susieqtpie
Truly enjoying your posts. I’m getting at least two companies a week hitting my email asking for me to do product reviews or site reviews. A few you can tell haven’t been to the site because it’s not the right market. But mostly they aren’t in it for a real exchange so they are shined on.
My last review turned out quite nicely and I’m honestly very happy with the product. So happy that even though I was only required to do the one post on the one blog, I put up another post on a different blog and will be doing an update to said post as well.
I think that is the other thing they don’t think of. Sure the review is there, but once they got us and we like them, they have our attention and possibly our loyalty
BUT, if the state of the economy hasn’t shown the entire world just how stupid and ignorant corporate America is and how much they only care about themselves, then nothing else will. Seriously, they’d rather bitch and push things off to their attorneys than actually work and think of new ways to move the companies they work for forward. Total PIGS!
I vote for you as the President of Mom Bloggers Union. I’ll be the first to join. You rock sister!
I’m just thinking about who (in my experience) is doing most of the grocery shopping and making product choices in families… General Mills might just find they’re in for a huge drop in sales after a post like this!
Goes to show… consumers speak with their wallets, companies should maybe start thinking with theirs.
Wow. I’m really being educated here, you know. THANK YOU for sharing!
I don’t mind being inexpensive at the moment, but I want to get paid. I also like to do favors for smaller companies, as far as reviewing for a product without pay. However, when you are General Mills, it is ridiculous to even think of only sending a product with no pay. I, and so many other people, have given up on TV, and especially on commercials, because they are paid lies quite often, or just nasty. But bloggers are real people who give valuable opinions to people who value what they have to say.
I think I love you!
Thanks for the education.
Well done Trisha! As always you tell it like it is and help others see value in themselves and the services they provide. Everyone should have a “Trisha” in their corner. Go get ‘em tiger!
WOW!!! I totally want to know how in the world you are able to get paid that kind of money! It boggles my mind. I am still excited when someone sends me a product to review. I guess that makes me part of the problem, huh? What am I doing wrong?:) Great post though, and I am itching to know how that phone call went.
Trisha, you are 100% correct. Why are bloggers suppose to give free advertisement to companies? Out of the kindness of our hearts? That’s bull!
@ Shan @Last Shreds Of Sanity:
im just a lazy typer. I admit it.
I appreciate the great products General Mills puts out. Rice Krispies is a household favourite.
Oh, I think General Mills just got themselves a shit sandwich made by Trisha! LOL You go girl!
(And yeah, the “your” vs “you’re” thing was pretty prominent in this post, but I think it was more because you were so pissed off more than anything)
How did the phone call go? (I saw your tweet)
Bravo Trisha! As a Baby Boomer, you can bet I like a good cause to rally by! Women are tired of being taken for granted. Thanks for getting the message across to Bloggers to wake up and smell the coffee and see through the Smoke & Mirrors of Corporate America. I can’t re-write my Product Review Policy Page fast enough.
Maria — WAHM wrote:
i know, its my crutch. If you read my blog alot, you know that your and you’re are the same thing on this blog. LMAO
WOW… I have always hated our dyson.
Oh and the other stuff too… things are happening fast in our virtual world!
Psst … you have an error in this sentance: “Get out of your leather chair, join twitter, and realize your a moron.”
The second “your” should be “you’re.”
Way to go Trish!! I am just in the process of learning to blog and setting up my own. Thanks for all the great information and for your honesty. Keep up the good work.
kim
@ Kim @ What’s That Smell?:
It still didn’t show up…
I’ll leave the end brackets off…
a href=”some site” rel=”nofollow”>Some Site</a
Frugal RI Mama wrote:
when you add rel=”nofollow” to a link…like this:
Some Site
(I added some spaces to that code so it would show up…)
It doesn’t pass on “link juice” to the search engines. Every time you link to a site you HELP them in the eyes of a search engine. By adding “nofollow” Trisha was making a point to not pass on a link readable by the search engines to them.
Does that make sense?
Perfectly said! I love the way you say things.
You know Trisha, I love how you give it to us. 100% honest and real. You always make me think. I had to make my husband sit and listen while I read this post to him.
well said Trisha!
Rock on Mama! Wow! Remind me to stay on your good side, okay?:)
Emily wrote:
thank you!
I bow down to you Trisha!
@ H.E.Eigler: Love your comment and ideas. Right on!
And Trisha, another fabulous post. Were you a cheerleader in high school?!?! Way to cheer for us blogging women!
Oh AMEN! I am amazed by what we women are doing for pretty much nothing for so many of these companies. When I found out the Walmart 11 weren’t getting paid… I about died! Someone along the line is getting paid, for sure, and it ain’t us!
We do need some sort of blogging union or standards where women bloggers unite and agree to not work for free for these companies!
Can I just say I totally agree. I just got pitched for writing a post with keyword direct links and they would pay me $10 total…not per link…for lifetime links. BLAH
Great post and so true, I do not do reviews for free, I either get paid actual money or a free product- worth MORE than 3.50, I got that offer too and had to laugh. One of the next reviews am doing is a custom canvas painting, I get one made for me and I get a $250 gift card to give away, that is $500 dollars worth of product. I definitely accepted that!
It is all the bloggers doing this for free that are so frustrating, I get PR pitches daily asking to post something on my blog for free, no product no nothing, I reply with my reates and hear back that there are plenty of bloggers doing it for nothing…. well, I bet those bloggers are not going to get you the traffic I do, so your loss there.
You go girl!
That was AWESOME!!!! You get em girl!
Only bad part Trisha is the url…we ARE NOT STUPID! As you showed so well in this post.
Great post!
Oh and I should say, ‘Take THAT General Mills!’ lol
Right on! Great post Trisha!
can someone explain the no follow links, I’m still new to this!! thanks. Great Job Trisha!
Incredible! I am a “newer” blog, and at first I tried to take advantage of some of these opportunities to get my name out there, but now I realize – I don’t have to! It IS a big slap in the face. I’m glad you wrote this – I am going to be more particular about what I do, and if my time is worth it.
I had to come back because I realized that I forgot the most important part of my story before. After I posted for the PR rep, do you now what happened within HOURS of sending over the link? I got another press release with this written at the bottom of the email “Please tell me when you can post.”
Also, I forgot to say that like Trisha said, MOST of the companies and PR reps that I work with are actually awesome. The truth is that I am totally willing to help them out for free when there is a mutual relationship and respect. It’s when the relationship is totally one sided that bothers me.
I came to the realization that if I don’t do something about the people that are taking advantage of me then at some point, I will only have myself to blame. I mean…WHY would they stop getting free links, write ups, and advertising? Basically, why buy the milk when you can get the cow for free? That’s really what it all boils down to.
Thank you for sharing!
I’m EXTREMELY new at all of this so I don’t know the ins and outs but I will be sure to take all of your advice!
Love and Energies.
Kayla
Great post, Trisha.
Rock on sister! Will you be my BFF? Way to stand up for all of us!!!
Go Trisha!
Ya know, these companies are totally missing the point here.
900 cookie cutter blog posts that nobody is even going to read because the blogger is not invested enough with the brand to put time into writing about it well.
I’m not reading ‘Mmmm this yogurt was really great!’ posts. Ever.
Why not find 10 bloggers who you can treat well as brand advocates? Put ads on the other 890 sites and have a campaign that is authentic, visual, all encompassing and that actually gets attention?
Taking advantage of those who are just starting out and don’t know their worth is not the way to get into the hearts of moms. The women who take these opportunities do so because they are hoping to gain experience. We all have to start somewhere but – treat them with respect. Blogs age quickly and a newbie can become a sage in a matter of months. Do you want your brand to be on the other end of their cynicism when they realize their blogging goals?
Oh.My.GAH! You said it all. My fav part :stop smoking the crack pipe: AWESOME lol
Awesome Trisha , I even think you did it with grace and style ! Okay a little , I think you did awesome! I know im not even 1 step up the ladder like you ladies and Im just starting to figure all this pr, reviews, the whole thing. I have just starting to , lets sat dip my big toe in there. Im going slow cause I wanna do it right ,
So thanks for writing this.
Perfectly said and totally a lesson for new bloggers to learn…such as myself.
You have no idea how happy I am that you posted this. I DO think we’re majorly taken advantage of and honestly, I am pretty pissed off about it too. I am sick to death of getting press releases and PR emailing literally saying “blog about this”. I got one about a month ago that I decided to “feature” because I’d worked with her once before and I thought I’d help her out. When I couldn’t get it posted right away (which I never agreed to or gave a date) and the emails starting coming in from the pr rep and her assistant with the same press release over and over again (more than twice a day) as what I assume was a “reminder” I started to get pretty upset. When I wrote back and said sorry I haven’t posted yet, but I will post in the next week (moronic of me to do! why am I apologizing?) and I get an email back saying “sooner than later is always better”…let’s just I was pretty mad and very insulted. This crap happens to some degree all the time and you know I am so thankful for YOU-because of YOU telling it like it is I realize that I am worth way more than that. I meant to tell you that when you posted the Queen of Spain drama but that pissed me off so bad, I couldn’t even type-lol.
I do think we need to have a “standard” among bloggers because if we don’t this crap will keep on happening. What is wrong with us demanding respect for our time and what we’ve built? Seriously, I’m over it…I had already decided that it was time to stop being so nice all of the time and start getting comfortable with the word NO. This is just icing on the cake.
i like short permalinks…LOL
Trisha-admin wrote:
I couldn’t figure out if I missed something in the article, I kept re-reading it, but that is what I think she was referring to.
AMEN!
WELL SAID!!! I have to say that I loved getting those emails at first asking to review something small like a chap stick, but their links are permanently on my site.. which has a lot of traffic on. Cheap advertising and they are treating bloggers like we are peons. I don’t get it.
GREAT post, Trisha!!
Kim @ What’s That Smell? wrote:
well, seriously, 910 bloggers with 5 million hits? ….General Mills is sitting up at corporate laughing in their $900 suits right now calling us stupid. I guarantee it.
Ok, I see what Mel is talking about…the post permalink..
Wow – what a slap in the face.
I’ve turned down many advertisers and have told several to not contact me again. The latest was a company with $150+ products that offered me a $30 GC in exchange for a review.
This is so, so, so important. I learned hard and fast and am slowing becoming more and more assertive with my product. Thanks for this. I hope it reaches many bloggers out there. It is our job, our creative license, what we do…why they seek us out. They won’t offer to pay you unless you ask many times…so go ahead…
Can we do a blog Eulogy for you…..sponsored by General Mills? Just kidding! Love it!! I am still a newbie, but totally agree that even the companies whose products we love and buy still shit all over us.
oooh, I’ve got more…
this comment: Overall, the program resulted in 5 million total impressions and over 8,000 comments with no media costs. should piss off every blogger out there, mom or not. Boasting that bloggers are their “witch with a capital B” is not something we should take lightly. Now I’m not sure the comment wasn’t taken out of context, but regardless, it was printed that way and we should all be shaking our fists at that guy right now.
Valid points, necessary points. I’m not sure unionizing is the way to go (union dues? not when my mortgage just went up) but it’s something to be considered. There do need to be more discussions and dialog on ways for companies, PR and bloggers to meet in the middle.
I fear that for as many people who start to stand up for their time, space and brand that there are others who don’t see what the fuss is about and who will continue to do business as usual, which won’t help matters very much.
I don’t know what the answer is, but starting a discussion is at least a way to get the ball rolling.
PS- If you want bloggers to help you try to start a grassroots campaign, calling them stupid may not be the wisest way to go about it. I like you, but think there was a better way to make your point.
Ha! I’m so glad you made those links “no follow.” Maybe they’ll get smart and pay you to undo that, LOL. And yes, they do have ads on blogs. I use Logical Media and have General Mills ads on my blog quite often!
Way to get your voice out, you blogged it to the other moms around the bloggy world. How is that for advertising? Mom listen to other mom, congrats.
Hallelujah!
Seriously. How many of us are yogurt or cereal whores? I meekly raise my hand but am ashamed to admit it.
Moms are the most influential group on the planet but we allow ourselves to be taken advantage of because it is a whole new world when people are offering you free yogurt or free cereal in exchange for your time. Take on 20 of those opportunities and YOU HAVE NO TIME LEFT. And for what…$40 worth of crap you could live without.
I’m not saying the products aren’t worth talking about, it’s just that we all need to advocate for ourselves and show these brands that WE ARE worth something too.
LOL
Great rant! I hate when companies try to get free advertising, and they do it all the time!
All I can do is laugh at the no follow links comment right now. I CAN”T STOP LAUGHING!