The Bloggerville that is BlissDom

By: Natalie Wilson, Assistant Account Executive, Edelman Dallas, and Mattie Walker, Senior Account Executive, Edelman Dallas

In late March, several members of Edelman Southwest had the privilege of attending BlissDom, a premier blogger conference for women. This annual meeting usually takes place in Nashville, but in 2013, the conference was right in Edelman Dallas’s own backyard-- the Gaylord Texan!

Numerous companies took advantage of the unique opportunity to place their brand in front of key influencers, and  a group of more than 800 women gathered at the resort in Grapevine, Texas.

The Edelman Team took away a few key lessons related to social media, the legalities of blogging and storytelling:

Bringing Social Together

·         Companies and Social:

o   Every disaster isn’t a PR opportunity: In the opening keynote, Scott Stratten touched on how every natural disaster isn’t an opportunity for companies to take a stance. Offer condolences, offer help or be quiet. When people are hurting, it’s not an opportunity to profit.

o   Be good on and off social: Companies that have a 90-minute customer service call wait time but respond immediately to a tweet won’t be well received.

o   Be human: In responding to consumers via brand social channels, “Please accept MY apology" - versus "our" - humanizes the response. We all just want to be heard.

·         The YouTube Trifecta:

o   YouTube isn’t a stand-alone: In a session on “Demystifying YouTube,” Mindy McKnight  stressed the point that YouTube isn’t a stand-alone medium. It’s part of a trifecta. Social channels, a blog and a YouTube channel must work together to tell a cohesive story.

o   Treat your YouTube channel as a TV show: Pick a date / time to upload a new video on a weekly basis to encourage viewers to tune in to watch the content.

·         Legal Bliss:

o   There is an expectation for bloggers and PR pros to know the laws, related to offering promotions, giveaways, and product reviews.  A few topics to be aware of:

§  FTC Disclosure

·         It’s the law. FTC Disclosure has to be done by the blogger(s) you are providing with inventory for giveaways, sweepstakes, contests, etc.

§  Definitions

Legally, all promotions fit into one of these three categories:

1.       Sweepstakes are prize giveaways where the winners are chosen by the luck of the draw. Prizes can be almost anything you can think of, from handmade cards to an all-expense-paid trip.

2.       Contests choose a winner based on some merit. The winner is chosen based on some criterion, such as best photo, most votes on a video, or best recipe.

3.       A lottery is a prize drawing where people must pay money to buy a chance to win. Lotteries are highly regulated and should not be run without consulting legal counsel.

Everyone Is a Storyteller

·         Big Picture to Tiny Details: Pictures bring stories to life, and readers become more invested.   

·         Good Enough or Great: In his session, Jeff Goins  discussed the significance of putting your best foot forward and being relevant. What are you saying and why does it matter? Why should people care?

It’s hard to share everything we learned, but these are some of highlights! BlissDom was a great learning experience, and Edelman suggests attending, if you have the chance.