Most Bloggers wouldn't mind a special opportunity sent their way every once in a while which is why we all sign up with Blogging Community Network who we hope will have enough influence to put together some fantastic campaigns for us to participate in. Or at least that is the hope. We sign up not to get every $5 or $10 dollar offer that comes across their email boxes we can manage those on our own. We also don't sign up to get a pitch from them that is so beyond ridiculous if we got the pitch from a PR company we would delete it without a second thought.
There are certain things you should expect from a Blogging Community Network.
- They should screen the pitches before sending them off to you. Not every pitch should make it through to you unless it is quality.
- They should not send along a pitch to their subscribers that they themselves wouldn't take.
- If the pitch they receive from a company is completely out of control for what they are asking of the Bloggers it is their responsibility to turn it down and /or educate the PR firm or company of what is fair to to ask of Bloggers and how they should be compensated.
- The Blogging Network is paid for the use of their subscriber list and to get the pitch out to the appropriate Bloggers for the campaign. They need to treat their Community with respect and not as a cash cow.
http://dearcrissy.com/toyota-pays-mom-bloggers-10-to-bury-bad-press/
The Blog Post Blames the Brand for the ridiculous pitch. I am 100% in agreement that this should have never made it to their email boxes. However this was not a direct pitch from the Toyota PR people it was something that was sent to these Bloggers by a Blogging Community Network that should have pre-screened this "opportunity". I do have my suspicions about what occurred. Namely that the PR company gave the Blogging Network a check and told them to engage as many Bloggers as possible in this campaign. So after taking their cut off of the top the Network made the decision that they would offer a $10 Gift Card Per Blogger to engage in a completely ridiculous number of tasks.
There are several things that should have taken place. One was the Gift cards should have been $50 dollars each and either the opportunity only offered to those with a huge influence or offered to the entire network of subscribers as a random draw. The tasks should have also been broken up maybe by adding one commercial to the blog post and then having a hashtag to use when tweeting the post so the time spent by each blogger was not astronomical but the company would still get the press it desired. If the Network owner had chosen to just invite the top influence-rs the $50 would have been in payment for their time and advertising. If they instead choose to do the random draw the prizes would have been more like a thank you for your time and even though not everyone could win everyone chances would have been the same.
It is up to the Blogging Community Network owners to educate the PR people they work with on that is acceptable and what is basically a slap in the face to Bloggers who work hard at what they do.