What Australian Bloggers think: Social media, what do you have and how important that a blogger embrace it?

Us bloggers have these thoughts and sometimes we'll even externalise them into a blog post, a forum post or (even!) a 'real life' discussion.  I decided to bring together a group of bloggers of different genres and experience together to understand what Australian Bloggers think as a community, of themselves and of others, their relationships with brands, PR's, blogger platforms and few other things... stay tuned each fortnight..!

Today we're discussing social media - Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, StumbleUpon - the list goes on and on and on... there are lots of ways to share not only your thoughts, questions and opinions, but many bloggers use social media to extend the dialogue of their blog, attract new readers and network with other bloggers and brands.


Today a dozen bloggers tell me on a scale of 1-10 how important social media is to their blog (1 being least, and 10 being most) and why:

What? I use twitter, facebook and pinterest as MahliMoo. My blog isn’t that main reason for using them though. I enough the social  ‘contact’ it allows me to have.
Importance Scale? I would probably rate it a 7. I have found a lot of people through twitter, but I would still be blogging regardless. I blog for myself, but it would get mighty boring if no one commented.
Amy, MahliMoo  [craft, parenting] [6 months blogging]

What? Currently YouTube. I have a twitter and Facebook account ready to go but don’t promote them because I’d rather not till I know I will actually use them.

Importance Scale? Probably 8, which seems strange since I am not currently using them. I do think if I am REALLY to take my blog to the next level it needs to happen, and soon. It just hasn’t yet. Probably the number 1 thing holding me back.

James - Aussie Green Thumb  [gardening] [9 months blogging]

What? Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Linkedin

Importance Scale? 10!

Nikki, Styling You [Fashion, beauty] [3 years blogging]

What?Twitter and a Facebook page 

Importance Scale?  8.  I blog to create community – to form a network of others interested in play and early childhood education, and social networking is an important tool to create connections.

Jenny, Let the Children Play [Education] [21 months blogging]

What: I have twitter, facebook and tumblr attached to my blog, with youtube coming up in the next few months.

Importance Scale? I rate social media's necessity to blogging at 15. It is vital that you keep in touch with people via the channels they use the most.

Stacey, Veggie Mama [food, parenting] [18 months blogging]

What? Twitter, facebook, rss feed, bloglovin - I also embed youtube clips into my blog occasionally                                    

Importance Scale?10 times a million!!!!!

Caitlin - Chasing Cait [Fashion, Beauty] [9 months blogging] 

What? I have twitter, facebook, must add my youtube channel.  I only have it advertised on my 'contact me' page, need to add buttons on the side bar.

Importance scale:   5 - not really sure yet.  At the moment, it's helping me to build relationships with other bloggers, that's about it.

Mandy, A little space like home [personal, parenting] [6 months blogging]

What? Just Twitter.
Importance Scale: I would say that as a new blogger it's very important.  So a 9.  It's how you build up your followers and get your posts out there.

Amelia, Wedding, babies Everything [family] [9 months blogging]

What: @frank_in_oz - Twitter here for Hiking site BUT I loveTwitter and play there a bit with all sorts of stuff. Facebook - Frank wall - mix up person and OHB stuff -YouTube (slow on this ) - ourhikingblog. @CradleMtn - specific for Cradle and Tassie

Importance Scale: OHB - 5-6 have a few subscribers and get most of traffic off Google search. Cradle - Huge, 10 -  thats how I launched it and promote everthing around it!

Frank - Our Hiking Blog,[outdoors/hiking] and Cradle Mountain [tourism] [8 years blogging]                                                                                                           

What? facebook, twitter, youtube

Importance Scale? I'd say about a 6 for me because I use facebook for my community and to chat but it's not essential to my blog! My blog came first and is where I spend most of my time but I see social media as a tool. I'm trying to get better at twitter but in all honestly - 4 kids, husband always working, household to run, blog posts to write, photos to take, emails to answer, craft, cooking....it doesn't leave a lot of time for spending on facebook and twitter!

Corrie - Retro Mummy [craft, family] [5 years blogging]

What? Facebook and Twitter
Importance Scale:   In terms of building my readership, I'd have to rate social media right up there as a 10.  Twitter and Facebook are fantastic ways to help promote blog posts and interact with my readers.  They're both great outlets for sharing other people's blogs too - I think that it's important to help promote other blogs that inspire or have something useful in their posts that you think your own readers would enjoy.
 Melissa, One Crafty Mumma  [craft,family] [5 years blogging] 

What: Primarily Facebook and Twitter although I dabble on Stumble Upon, Flickr and will be using YouTube more in the future for vlogging.

Importance Scale? In the beginning it would have been a 10. Now that I have an established readership it is no longer essential to survival but is still essential to the growth of my blog. I'd still give social media a 7.

Zoey, Good Goog [personal, parenting] [2 years blogging]

How do you rank social media in your blogging life  or even your non-blogging life?

If you are interested in taking part in this series as a blogger in either the technology, travel or sports arenas or a PR please don't hesitate to email me!

What Australian Bloggers think: Blogging platforms - What, why, pros and cons

Us bloggers have these thoughts and sometimes we'll even externalise them into a blog post, a forum post or (even!) a 'real life' discussion.  I decided to bring together a group of bloggers of different genres and experience together to understand what Australian Bloggers think as a community, of themselves and of others, their relationships with brands, PR's, blogger platforms and few other things... stay tuned each fortnight..!

Now for those who attended Blogopolis on the weekend this was a little bit of a hot topic - I'm sure I wasn't the only blogger-using-blogger in the room who felt a little 'snubbed' (I'm a big girl, don't worry I'm over it!) Seriously though, there does seem to be a little bit of elite-ism over the WordPress platform, and whilst I have not used it enough to form an informed view I'm not sure if it's warranted. I do know it gets under a lot of non-wordpress users' skin.

With the commenting and outage issues in blogger of late I am unsurprised by the massive migration over to WordPress.  I was considering a move, but am told Blogger will be releasing some fabulous and much improved functionality with the upcoming release of 'Google Blogs'.   Blogger, please redeem yourself soon!


Today I have a dozen bloggers who tell me what blogging platforms they are on, and why and the Pros and cons of their platform:

Platform: Wordpress

Why? I was originally on Blogger, but when I bought my domain name I moved to Wordpress because it seemed to be the easier option for self hosting.

Pros: I love that it is so customisable and that almost anything you want to do you can achieve by plugin. I also love that it can be utilised as a content management system, not just as blogging software. I much prefer the commenting system on Wordpress.

Cons: It does take awhile to wrap your head around and I have spent hours trying to tweak some small thing and playing around with the css to do something that would probably take a designer or coder all of about 5 seconds. It lacks the community that Blogger has and that's a real shame.

Zoey, Good Goog [personal, parenting] [2 years blogging]

Platform: Blogger
Why? Google search funnily enough! Then I discovered the bloggers I loved used Blogger so I knew I was onto something OK
Pros: Easy to use, using blogpress I can blog anywhere
Cons: Can't reply to comments individually

Amelia, Wedding, babies Everything [family] [9 months blogging]

Platform: Wordpress

Why? Started OHB on Blogger because it is free and it grew and grew. Swapped over to WP and our own domain about 2 -3 years ago.  It is much more flexible, easy to use, regular updates, great interface, fast and easy to use AND, not clunky! Cradle - WP

Pros: Everything - flexible, light,  easy to use, reliable, great developer community

Cons: None really

Frank - Our Hiking Blog,[outdoors/hiking] and Cradle Mountain [tourism] [8 years blogging]                                                                                                           

Platform: Blogger

Why? It was easy to use and I set up a blog in under an hour when I was a week overdue with keira. 

Pros:  It's easy to use and I tried self hosted wordpress but found it trickier. I'm not good at the IT stuff. 

Cons: I'd probably like more gadgets that I could add to my blog and change my layout a bit more so it looked less 'bloggy' and more 'websitey'. They are real words btw.

Corrie - Retro Mummy [craft, family] [5 years blogging]

Platform: Typepad
Why? Pure luck, most blogs I visited were Typepad or blogger - I just decided to go potluck with Typepad
Pros: Simple to navigate and straight forward for posting and loading photos onto. Typepad is just that.
Cons: Actually I'm very happy with Typepad!
 Melissa, One Crafty Mumma  [craft,family] [5 years blogging] 

Platform: Blogger
Why? I choose Blogger simply because it is very user friendly. You don’t need to know any coding etc to be able to use it.
Pros: As above I love that it is so user friendly.
Cons: I dislike that there have been problems some user being unable to comment of late. Other than that I have no real critisms, but I would like a reply feature in the comments section but I am under the impression that they are working on that.
Amy, MahliMoo  [craft, parenting] [6 months blogging]

Platform: WordPress

Why? I did a blog training course in 2007 with a very successful blogging entrepreneur. He suggested if I wanted to take blogging seriously…there was not a choice. Wordpress is the industry standard according to him.

Pros: Ease of use, customisable, ample plugins for extra features.

Cons: To be honest I can’t really think about anything. Only possible issue is most web designers/tech guys I know think the code is awful and all the extra plugins can easily cause coding issues.

James - Aussie Green Thumb  [gardening] [9 months blogging]

Platform: Blogger

Why? It's easy to follow and connect with via google - whether it be fellow Blogspot bloggers, or those with a gmail account

Pros: I originally started on Tumblr, but realised I couldn't participate in the Aussie blogging community as easily as Blogger allows.

Cons: I've not had any issues with it thus far.

Stacey, Veggie Mama [food, parenting] [18 months blogging]

Platform: WordPress.com                                          
Why? I had worked with wordpress doing some marketing for a small business and they were using it as a backend for their website. I also just knew it as a free blogging platform
 Pros: find it very easy to use, it's pretty intuitive and it lets you preview what your blog will look like when it is published
Cons: because it is wordpress.com and not .ORG there are a few different widgets that work on one and not the other. Wordpress.com does not allow java script to be used either so this can be a problem if you are trying to add a badge or image that someone has provided for you.
Caitlin - Chasing Cait [Fashion, Beauty] [9 months blogging] 

Platform: Blogger

Why? Was familiar with it from a lot of other blogs I read, was ill informed of others

Pros:  Don't have to be an IT expert to start a blog, sure helps if you know a bit, but it can all be learn't as you go. 

Cons: Outages

Mandy, A little space like home [personal, parenting] [6 months blogging]

Platform: WordPress

Why? My first developer steered me in that direction - best accidental business decision I ever made!

Pros: The ease of adding and removing different apps or plugins that mean I can make changes and enhancements without the need to learn too much HTML or CSS editing.

Cons: Nothing - love WordPress

Nikki, Styling You [Fashion, beauty] [3 years blogging]

Platform: Blogger

Why?  am squarely in the technically challenged camp, and Blogger seemed to be the easiest one to get started on straight away.

Pros: It remains easy to use.

Cons: Ah, let me count the ways.  My chief dislikes would be:

Little choice in templates, Templates don’t have the same fresh, clean professional look as Wordpress, Fewer plug-ins than Wordpress

Jenny, Let the Children Play [Education] [21 months blogging]

What do you think about particular blogging platforms?  Are you passionate one or the other?  If you're a reader do you care?  Would you consider moving your blog to another platform?  What would make you choose to?

If you are interested in taking part in this series as a blogger in either the technology, travel or sports arenas or a PR please don't hesitate to email me!

What Australian Bloggers think about sponsored posts

Us bloggers have these thoughts and sometimes we'll even externalise them into a blog post, a forum post or (even!) a 'real life' discussion.  I decided to bring together a group of bloggers of different genres and experience together to understand what Australian Bloggers think as a community, of themselves and of others, their relationships with brands, PR's, blogger platforms and few other things... stay tuned each fortnight..!

My thoughts on sponsored posts are quite well known I think... but to recap I'm not a fan of doing them.  I  haven't done them, nor will I.  I don't begrudge others and read blogs that have them  - I think sponsored posts have their place in the blogsphere and I foresee in the future they will feature more heavily.. my position is that I want to be the only editor on my blog.  I don't want to hand over that editorial control to a brand or an advertising network... that's what I'm comfortable with and I think whatever you are comfortable with is good, it's your blog and your real estate, use it as you see fit!

Today's question is : 
How do you feel about sponsored posts? Doing them and reading them...? 

I don't mind them.  If I read a sponsored post sometimes I actually learn something new which is always nice.  I'd be happy to do a sponsored post if it was the right thing for me at the time. 

Amelia, Wedding, babies Everything [family] [9 months blogging]

Do them a little bit but don't really like them for the hiking site.  Will do HONEST product reviews.  Money is not that good anyway.
Frank - Our Hiking Blog,[outdoors/hiking] and Cradle Mountain [tourism] [8 years blogging]                                                                                                           

Sponsored posts have allowed me to close my online store which was taking up so much of my time while bringing in more money to the family budget. With a family of 6 and me being a stay at home mummy it's been great. And for me it works well because I receive a lot of PR emails and enquiries and Nuffnang look after all of it for me. More time for me to spend on family, blogging and craft.

Corrie - Retro Mummy [craft, family] [5 years blogging]

I have no issue with both - as long as it is stated that it is a sponsored post -i DO have an issue with the blogger just copying and pasting the press release word for word though - use your own words people (although coming from a background in PR, it was very flattering to see you press release used word for word haha!)

Caitlin - Chasing Cait [Fashion, Beauty] [9 months blogging] 

I do have sponsored posts. I like to limit them to at most one a month so that it doesn't crowd content. As far as reading them goes, I enjoy reading them as long as they're done well. I don't want to read a regurgitated press release, but a well written sponsored post will read like any other post - a certain product will just be a part of the story.
Zoey, Good Goog [personal, parenting] [2 years blogging]

I feel sponsored posts have a place in blogging. I do read them, but I if the blogger is all sponsored posts and no actual content I would stop reading. If the opportunity were to arise for me to take part in sponsored posts I would certainly look at it. If I thought the topic/products would be of interest to my readers and was of interest to me then I wouldn’t hesitate.
Amy, MahliMoo  [craft, parenting] [6 months blogging]

I'm more than happy to write sponsored posts so long as I'm still able to write them in my style and that they are of content that is relevant to the Styling You reader.
Nikki, Styling You [Fashion, beauty] [3 years blogging]

I've not ever written a sponsored post, and I would probably be very fussy if I was approached to do so. If I'm to read one, I am turned off by blatant selling, too-tenuous links between a blog's "brand" and the product they are hawking, and short posts with seemingly little point except kickbacks for the author.

Stacey, Veggie Mama [food, parenting] [18 months blogging]

I'm a great advocate for sponsored posts, providing it's a brand that you truly believe in and providing that you're being paid correctly for your time and blog post.  I've turned down a well paying sponsored post because it wasn't something that I felt right about promoting. I always read sponsored posts if they appear on blogs that I enjoy and trust.
 Melissa, One Crafty Mumma  [craft,family] [5 years blogging] 

Not a big fan of sponsored posts but have no problem with banner advertising and also writing a blog post promoting that product free of charge. Anything I advertise I prefer to write about because I only really want to sell things I actually believe are useful for my readers. I want my readers to know WHY I am advertising that product to them.

James - Aussie Green Thumb  [gardening] [9 months blogging]

What are your thoughts as a reader or potential executor of a sponsored post?  Do you think there's enough money in it?  Do you like reading them?  What advice would you give a blogger who is considering doing them or a brand considering paying for them?

If you are interested in taking part in this series as a blogger in either the technology, travel or sports arenas or a PR please don't hesitate to email me!

What Australian PR's think: What determines how and which bloggers you target?

Bloggers are slowly becoming part of many-a-publicity campaign these days... and along with tick in the box for bloggers in Australia, comes a multitude (or not) of pitches.  Have you ever wondered what makes a PR decide if you are 'right' for their brand?


I asked some of my favourite Australian PR's what their method was - very interesting responses I'm sure you'll agree.....

Kat Peden, Senior Account Manager - Verve Communications

When identifying a blog for a brand, it needs to be relevant but also we check who they are connected to (i.e. blog-roll) their engagement of their audience (comments, social media activity and responses) and any peer or professional recognition (awards etc).
What goes against a blog being engaged is:·      

• Low community figures (‘followers’)
• Lack of credibility  -  running hundreds of product reviews, plugging everything and anything. Lack passion and enthusiasm, which should be the essence of why a blogger writes a blog. NOT for commercial gain
• Lack of social media connectivity
• No clearly defined target audience i.e. parenting, food, fashion. The more ‘niche’ an audience is, the more valuable they become to a brand.  Mainstream media might not be able to tap into such a niche market or engage with them the way a blog can.

Multi-national PR consultancy - identity reserved
The mummy bloggersphere has grown enormously in the last few years and while it has been a bit of a learning curve, we’re continually trying to educate ourselves in this area as we realise the growing value and influence that mummy bloggers have in the online space.

When it comes to approaching bloggers we would firstly spend considerable time reading their blogs and researching their interests to ensure that the idea is relevant to them.  Relevance is key, we wouldn’t approach a blogger to work with a product or brand if we didn't feel it was the right fit for them. We invest lots of time in building ongoing relationships with bloggers and value these greatly, as we do in other areas of media and aim to keep up to date with as many newcomers as we can.

Lizzie Culverhouse, Senior Account Manager - One Green Bean:

We have a stringent process in place which we undertake before we add a blogger to our media lists 

and thus regular outreach.  Essentially, influence is the main criteria.  Any blogger we’re considering must be relevant and influential in the area they operate.

We have developed a robust identification method and scoring system that takes into account Google Rankings, engagement metrics and other client-specific criteria. This method has garnered consistently excellent results for our clients and has identified bloggers that we now have great relationships with.  The most important factor is how well a blog aligns with our client's subject.

Another key area is social media presence, so how many fans a blogger has on Facebook and how many followers on Twitter can point to a much larger online influence as well as greater chance of our story finding its way into readers/followers information streams .

Finally it's how many comments they secure from readers form posts, multiple comments shows many readers are actively engaged. Links to posts or Tweets from other Mum blogs are another indicator of influence.   We will share this knowledge with clients who of course, make the final decision on if a blogger can be approached.

Are the answers what you thought they would be?  Do you think there's any other 'measurement' PR's could be using to determine the value of a particular blogger to a brand?

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What Australian PR's think: What do you think blogs in Australia have to offer brands?

Brands make an appearance on my blog as an extension of my every day life,   Whether organically or via the PR channels, I do try and keep my content as relevant as possible and avoid 'over-informing' my readers - their trust in what I say is paramount and it's important to me that I can be 110% honest and transparent about my experiences with brands.

I recognise I do have influence when it comes to brands, this is something as bloggers I think we really need to take on board responsibly and consciously. It is precisely for that reason my my involvement with brands has been select and few - and truly brands I know, use and trust.

I asked some of my favourite PR's who are working with bloggers to increase public awareness of their clients' brands: What do you think blogs in Australia have to offer brands?

Lizzie Culverhouse, Senior Account Manager - One Green Bean:

One of the aspects of working with mum bloggers that we appreciate the most is the knowledge that any products or services we approach mum bloggers to review will get a fair and honest write up.  We’ve found that mum bloggers often want to test things with their children, giving their kids' feedback as well as their own, accompanied by photos of the family interacting with the product.  This type of coverage isn’t something print media offers, yet is so important when it comes to items such as toys.  The reader comments following a post are also important and our clients value reading these to hear consumers reactions and experiences with their brands.

Mandy Griffiths, Account Manager - Porter Novelli

We are currently going through a believe-ability crisis due to the overwhelming amount of marketing messages flying at people. Blogs have something not many other platforms can offer – authenticity.

Kat Peden, Senior Account Manager - Verve Communications

Blogs help give a brand an authentic voice. They are perceived as being much more ‘trustworthy’. The general public has become increasingly wise to the fact that traditional media can lack credibility, particularly with high-profile people or brands ‘outing’ media for their ‘false claims’ via Twitter.

As a nation, we no longer take ‘news’ or ‘reviews’ at face value. We are more likely to seek a second or third opinion before we make a decision, such as crowd sourced review sites (i.e. TripAdvisor, Amazon). A blog could end up shaping a person’s opinion, even swaying their purchasing decision – a platform brands can no longer afford to ignore.


To support this, research suggests women in particular respond and act on the opinion of others if it's someone they trust. Shespot recently did a survey, revealing 63% of women purchase based on a referral from a friend or family member in comparison to a brand’s website (33%) or magazine advert (18%).  It is evident women want to hear from real women, not a source that has commercial interests.

• So as a PR, blogger or a reader, where do YOU think blogs offer brands?  
• How do you rank the advice/recommendation of a blogger say above an advertisement, a friend or your mother?  
• Do you read blogs that you think have TOO much brand involvement, or is there no such thing?

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What Australian Bloggers think: how bloggers measure success of other bloggers

Us bloggers have these thoughts and sometimes we'll even externalise them into a blog post, a forum post or (even!) a 'real life' discussion.  I decided to bring together a group of bloggers of different genres and experience together to understand what Australian Bloggers think as a community, of themselves and of others, their relationships with brands, PR's, blogger platforms and few other things... stay tuned each fortnight..!

Today's question is : 
How do you measure success when you're reading/following a blog? i.e. that moment where you think 'wow, they've made it!  Is it followers, promotions, comments... anything in particular?

If I’m landing on a new blog, I admit to judging a book by its cover – if the design and layout of the blog looks appealing and professional then it gets its first tick.  Then it would be the level of engagement a blogger has with audience – how many followers they have, are they active on facebook and twitter, are they influential in their niche?   Jenny - Let the children play  [education] [18 months blogging]

I think if they have a book out, opportunities they have had, lots of followers and comments are a good guide or if I find out their traffic and go wow!
Corrie - Retro Mummy [craft, family] [5 years blogging]

Probably first and foremost followers, secondly promotions, if people are seeking them out, they must be doing ok.  Certainly comments is another obvious sign.

Mandy, A little space like home [personal, parenting] [3 months blogging]

Followers, activity on social media i.e if they are helpful , interesting and active.
Frank - Our Hiking Blog,[outdoors/hiking] and Cradle Mountain [tourism] [8 years blogging]                                                                                                           

Part of it is the amount of followers, but mostly it is about the amount of involved followers. There is no point in having thousands of followers if only a handful comment. Comments make the world go round!
Amy, MahliMoo  [craft, parenting] [6 months blogging]

I measure the success of an Australian blog by the reach they have - what kind of readers regularly visit? how many? How many people interact via comments,etc.
Stacey, Veggie Mama [craft, parenting] [15 months blogging]

I read the first paragraph of the first blog post I open, then assess the design.
James - Aussie Green Thumb  [gardening] [6 months blogging]

For me personally, I think it's a mix of everything - the wow factor, give aways, sponsored posts and overall blog presentation.
Melissa, One Crafty Mumma  [craft,family] [5 years blogging]

I probably look at followers first.  I also think that if they have a few giveaways they must be doing something right for if brands are wanting to work with them. And any bloggers in the Kidspot Top 50 is a success in my opinion.
Amelia, Wedding, babies Everything [family] [6 months blogging]

Followers is definitely a big part of it, but I think for me I measure the success of a blog on their engaged readership - mostly numbers of comments. I'm a hard core comment addict.

Zoey, Good Goog [personal, parenting] [2 years blogging]

So, what makes you think 'That's a successful blog/blogger' when you visit?