Now that blogs have become more mainstream (or at least people have heard the term even if they still don't know what it means), marketers are trying to figure out how to use them to sell their products. I have been asked the question: should we create a blog? a few times recently. There are boutique consulting firms popping up everywhere as well as "practices" inside bigger agencies that are now all about blogging. If you work in teen marketing or media and want to incorporate blogs into your strategy, here is my free advice on what to keep in mind.

1) Don't create a product blog for a new product that nobody knows or cares about. Hello Secret Sparkle? Nobody wants to read daily posts about a new body spray written by its fragrances. If your brand has huge fans, chances are they already are blogging about it. Look at the Manolo's Shoe Blog. It's a love letter to that brand. If that's the case you don't need to create your own. I think the Vespa blogs might work too b/c people are passionate about that particular scooter - I knew a guy when I was in college who had 9 of them! In the youth space, I would say the surf/skate/BMX brands have shot at making brand blogs work (hint: get your young fans to do the blogging).

2) Brands can sponsor cool blogs on related topics without writing driectly about products. Just be clear that it's a sponsored blog. The idea that popped into my head was that Torrid (big girl's Hot Topic) could sponsor some kind of positive body image blog about feeling good, eating healthy (not dieting) and loving yourself no matter what size you are. These types of blogs can be written by great writers or by teens if you want real authenticity. Stonyfield Farm has been doing this for awhile.

3) The only time having "fake" writers works is when they are writing as movie characters. The Darth Vader blog was cool and also written by a fan vs. movie marketing people. I think movie blogs can be a great marketing tool (The L.A. Times, reg. required) for movies that have a big fan base (think movies based on comic books or are directed by geek kings like Peter Jackson or Kevin Smith). I also think quirkie indies that have characters or storylines that lend themselves to this format and could be effective at building buzz - hit or miss. The writing on these has to be stellar.

4) Blogs are a great thing to add to already robust communities. Bolt added blogs to its huge teen community this past year as did AOL Red. While I don't think this brought in tons of new users, it's a great addition for existing users and probably keeps them spending more time on their sites.

5) Adding blogs to your teen magazine site can only make it stickier. I've given them props before, but I think Cosmo Girl is doing a bang up job editing a handful of blogs on its Website. Having them written by editors or editorial assistants is cool -- it's the Sassy model of let's have a conversation with our readers, but a real one b/c readers can actually comment. Keep it up and make sure you promote the heck out of it in the print zine.

Posted by anastasia