Why You Must Show Up and Shake Hands (like Cirque du Soleil)

Sep
26
2008

Why You Must Show Up and Shake Hands (like Cirque du Soleil)

“Influencer relations” demands active networking beyond Twitter and Facebook. Attention spans are thinning, so brand ambassadors (you) have to show up, shake hands and speak well. Be present. Not just online, but out there in the real world.

Basic Networking: Media Events and Tours

Every quarter, one of our clients exhibits at a large media event for the tech industry. Attendance is limited to mostly high-profile reporters and bloggers in a specific tech vertical. The costs of participating are buried by the rich, in-person opportunity to look our media contacts in the eye and put a product and concept in their hands.

Media and blogger tours accomplish the same thing. We’ve taken several clients to “meet their makers.” Each time they come back trailing trophy leads and ultimately landing significant coverage. They took time to show up and shake hands.

Crashing the Blogger Party (or “Bring Them to Your Tent.”)

When BlogWorld brought the bloggers to Las Vegas last week, Cirque du Soleil took advantage. Chris Brogan’s story about the Cirque experience is worth the read. In a nutshell, Cirque’s head of social media Jessica Berlin attended the sessions (and afterglow gatherings), interacting with the influential folks on deck.

When one party grew too large, Jessica played an important card: She invited the group of 100 bloggers to a Cirque nightclub.

The “red carpet” was rolled out in terms of service and experience.
Some bloggers subsequently took in a Cirque show - something that might not have happened without Jessica’s involvement.
Jessica followed through by thanking Chris on his blog.
Cirque channels on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace were already in place to catch overflow.

Questionable Motives? Not So.

Cirque’s efforts were chalked up as “an appalling attempt at corporate blogger relations” by Brandon Carlos of PR Ninja. “. . .What Cirque has done here is give VIP status to a group of bloggers who otherwise would have had to wait at the back of the line. . . The term blogger relations is quickly becoming synonymous with bribery. It doesn’t take a genius to see right through Cirque motives.”

Meeting influencers half way is not cheap. It is smart. Through basic awareness raising and rewarding fans, you can cash in on good networking and word of mouth.

What about you? Do you think deliberate networking and favors are unethical? Where do you go to meet your influencers?

[Image credits: "Shaking Hands" by Aidan Jones and "Cirque du Soleil by Saltoricco]

Tags: cirque du soleil, influencer relations, media tour

by Qui Diaz | social media |

13 Responses to “Why You Must Show Up and Shake Hands (like Cirque du Soleil)”

Brandon Carlos Says:

September 26th, 2008 at 10:11 am

I have to credit Heather Yaxley of PR Conversations with really clarifying this issue. As she points out: who’s more important to the success of Cirque, this group of PR bloggers or the people waiting in line willing to pay for their product? The realization is this: anyone can be an influencer, a blogger, in today’s digital age. You can bet that had an influential blogger waiting in line noticed Brogan and his gang getting the Five Star treatment, his blog posting would have sung an entirely different song.

I really can’t blame Jessica for taking advantage of the situation. My attack was on Brogan and other PR bloggers who throw their dignity out the window in the name of swag. Targeting influencers is by no means a new practice (celebrities are a perfect example), but how credible are the rantings of any body, influential or not, who’ve just received a night of free partying and booze. The QUALITY of the PR is far more important than the coverage, Qui, and this one reeks of shamelessness.
Jenn Mattern Says:

September 26th, 2008 at 10:41 am

Had they actually been “rewarding fans” it may have been a different story. But special treatment (god forbid bloggers have to wait in line like real fans) isn’t called for. And yes, that’s bribery.

Good blogger relations involves not treating bloggers like second-class citizens when they need information from you. That doesn’t mean they need special treatment.

Good blogger relations involves relationship-building on a basic level (having conversations relevant both to the company and the blogger’s target audience). That doesn’t mean having a beer, seeing a show, or getting them into a club of any sort (unless that blogger’s job is to review your beer, show, club, etc.).

Good blogger relations means understanding the mutual benefits of those relationships. That doesn’t have to involve pandering (as a matter of fact, if you’re worth that blog’s coverage to begin with, you shouldn’t even need to consider it).

Good blogger relations is about mutual respect between targeted groups of professionals. By catering strictly to a blogger’s ego, companies aren’t demonstrating any level of respect (as the bloggers aren’t demonstrating a great deal of self-respect or respect for their readers when they’ll deem something worth their audience’s time just because someone gave them free stuff, free access, etc.). Rather than respect, those companies are demonstrating their willingness to take advantage of a “new” medium and those behind it who frankly aren’t used to dealing with these things on a broader ethical scale.

Am I saying companies should never give things to bloggers, invite them to events, etc.? Of course not. But the lack of targeting and denial of obvious motives (not necessarily with this event) just makes the company look bad. If they want a review, they need to target appropriate bloggers with appropriate readerships, and they need to be up front about it. It’s when they want nothing more than “look how nice they were for giving me [fill in the blank]” coverage on blogs that things get pathetic - and even worse when they try to pretend they had no motivation whatsoever of getting people to talk about them in precisely the way they achieved.
Craig Says:

September 26th, 2008 at 11:36 am

Whether it is unethical or not is irrelevant because it is not going to stop. It is no different than the payola scandal way back and it happens all the time. Whether bloggers, journalists, PR teams. People use “gifts” and rewards to help persuade their cause and to be honest, there really isn’t anything wrong with it. We see this type of influence all the time in politics, it works sometimes, and other times not.

The only issue I have about this is that a lot of times it requires additional finance for a company to provide these rewards. Smaller start-ups can’t compete with larger companies on that level to buy awareness and have a difficult time establishing themselves and to get the appropriate attention and awareness they deserve.

Craig
http://www.budgetpulse.com
Jenn Mattern Says:

September 26th, 2008 at 11:41 am

Ethics are never irrelevant in PR. And I’m sure it certainly will change over time - as more companies are called out on their BS attempts at publicity, seeing that these efforts can bring bad publicity as much as good, and as more bloggers continue to grow and be held accountable by their audiences. It’s not up to the individual blogger whether they’re “just” a blogger or essentially a journalist held to higher ethical standards. It’s up to their readers. They’re the ones who will decide if and when change is going to happen.
Qui Diaz Says:

September 26th, 2008 at 12:32 pm

Thanks, Brandon for the additional insight on your remark. I think I hear your point - the onus is on the blogger to not cave to perk-abuse (which can lead to pay-to-play, for lack of a better term.) As a practitioner and blogger I agree that relationship ethics are key. (Some sell out, some see it as the generous web.) As a huge Cirque fan, I applaud any effort to increase visibility and word of mouth for their brand.

What occurred was a classic case of WOM 101. A two-way courtship made possible by both the bloggers and Cirque staff. Although the bloggers might not have had any interest or investment in Cirque beforehand, they were open to an experience. Cirque was there to give it to them, from a conversation to a place to play to possibly a performance. By extending those gestures, Cirque just put themselves on the map for people who can facilitate trusted WOM among their own audiences.

In response to Jenn’s excellent points, wouldn’t it be fair to say that Cirque gave their time, attention and some level of an “experience” to a highly targeted audience of socially connected people? I imagine conversations about interests and audiences would have taken place to determine who would value a free show – if any tickets were given away at all.

Back to Brandon: sure. The average person or fan might have felt overlooked as Cirque flirted with the cewebs. (Probably drummed up attention and buzz over anger). The evangelists (myself included) are cheerleading - they want everyone to be thrilled by Cirque. There are a lot of people that love this brand and love the shows, but don’t have the same reach. I’m willing to bet that Jessica and her Cirque cohort are figuring out the best way to leverage our enthusiasm and word of mouth.

Finally, Craig – great point about the financial implications of “showing up.” You don’t have to throw huge amounts of resources at this. One of our clients is planning to periodically invite local influencers to attend one of their events. The aim is very targeted towards people already invested in the “issue” at hand. Exposure through experience. Just one of many steps in cultivating the relationship, but easy, affordable and effective.
Brandon Carlos Says:

September 26th, 2008 at 12:43 pm

Qui, the “best way to leverage your (the fans) enthusiasm and word of mouth” would be to ask! Get discussions in open forums and blogger circles about customers who love the brand, the experience. That, to me, would be a far better outreach program than getting some “cewebs” drunk and making them feel like the cool kids for a night.

On your comment to Jenn: you’re right, they did connect with a group of highly connected individuals; the issue is that Brogan is not an entertainment blogger! He’s a PR blogger, and as such should easily be able to distinguish between blogger relations and bribery. There IS a difference.
Qui Diaz Says:

September 26th, 2008 at 1:18 pm

Yet, everyone likes to be entertained. Bloggers aren’t limited to verticals. You were saying, Brandon, that bloggers are people, not gods? To each his/her own.
Jenn Mattern Says:

September 26th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

wouldn’t it be fair to say that Cirque gave their time, attention and some level of an “experience” to a highly targeted audience of socially connected people?

I think it would be a mistake to confuse “socially connected people” with “highly targeted people.” And I’d also have to ask why socially connected bloggers should be treated any differently than other socially connected people who may have a bigger influence over their network - like some of those fans who would have spread the word to friends, family, co-workers, etc. had they been given the same treatment. Whose opinions do more people trust and make buying decisions on when it comes to “social” things like Cirque (or in Molson’s case, beer)? Those of a blogger they read who may or may not have any real knowledge about that topic, or those of their best friend? In other words, targeting an average Joe with a big mouth and bunch of friends could offer a far better return than targeting a blogger simply because they generally have good reach. There are different levels of “social connections.”

I don’t know if the conversations you mentioned took place in this case. They’d be irrelevant though unless those conversations centered around not the blogger’s interests, but those of that blogger’s audience. The blogger’s social connections are only of value if those individuals would care about what you’re trying to get some exposure for.

Yet, everyone likes to be entertained. Bloggers aren’t limited to verticals.

True, we all like to be entertained. So again, treat the Average Joe like a god, and not a blogger who can’t spread the word to a relevant audience. Many bloggers are limited in what they cover - they’re limited by what their audiences want and come to expect. If I go to a tech blog, I want to read about tech news or issues; not that the blogger was invited to hang out backstage at a concert b/c a label thought they had a big audience, or that someone was given a free green PC to try out if their niche is showing me the best new indie bands.

Should Cirque hit big blogs with news releases, even if they’re completely irrelevant, just because “everyone likes to be entertained?” If there’s any chance that blogger would complain and call it spam, that blogger knows they shouldn’t be covering that subject matter on their blog for their particular audience. Does getting something for free instead of just a news story suddenly make that company, product, event, etc. now more relevant and appealing to their audience? Not in the slightest.

I find it laughable that we can have bloggers out there blacklisting PR firms over releases, and have bloggers who really should know better betraying the expectations of their own audience/community (the lifeblood of a blog) the second they’re given an ego boost by some big company. Perhaps I should be giving kudos to the companies who learned how to play the game and manipulate - as a blog reader though, I find the behavior from both sides often disgusting (and I’ve quit reading several blogs for that very reason). Good PR?
Martin Edic Says:

September 26th, 2008 at 2:41 pm

Since when is having an entertainment company put on a party, with swag, for media types new or controversial? It’s an entertainment company, not a military contractor! Try doing travel writing- if you’re any good at all you could have been on lots of free junkets…
Just because they’re bloggers we’re supposed to treat them any differently?
No one has to change their minds because they got a few free drinks…
Jenn Mattern Says:

September 26th, 2008 at 3:12 pm

Martin, It’s not just an issue of Cirque. You’ve got them, beer companies, auto manufacturers, etc… it’s not just an entertainment thing.

And the problem is that the bloggers are being treated differently. Those travel writers would be a targeted group (I actually know a few travel writers, and not one would would be out for free because of employers’ rules regarding the ethics involved in that - I’m sure some do, but a big part of the problem here is that bloggers can be far more easily influenced to take these freebies because they don’t have that regulation keeping the ethics in check).

In cases we’re seeing lately of so-called “blogger relations,” companies are poorly targeting bloggers - we’re not talking about a resort bringing in travel writers. We’re talking about things like Molson targeting PR bloggers, and then saying things like “We’re in no way interested in publicizing our social media capabilities” (which would be the only relevant angle PR bloggers should have been interested in with their whole bit of drama.
Jared Goralnick Says:

September 30th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

While I feel it’s unethical to be schmoozed implicitly but solely for the purpose of coverage, I’m not convinced that’s what happened with Cirque & Chris Brogan. I think the context was very different.

There was an event going on with typical mingling professionals. Some were community managers tied to companies (like Jessica) and some were more on the reporting side, regardless of the topic at hand (like Chris). Nobody was planning to give something for coverage, but people were getting to know each other like in any other event.

There was an unexpected opportunity (overcrowding) and Jessica helped out as a local with a venue. It wasn’t clear there was even another option.

The part that Chris was highlighting initially in his article was really that Jessica was a part of the conversation throughout the conference and was generally around…and then was kind enough to help out when the event was getting crowded.

“It’s crowded, know anywhere nearby to go?”
“Well, we probably have room at my bar.”

She was in a unique position to help, and hadn’t planned anything. Special treatment is probably part of the standard culture at the bar…so even though the treatment was special it wasn’t unusual for a Vegas venue.

Since that led to coverage, so much the better for her. But that’s how relationships work–when you hang around without trying to sell sell sell, all of a sudden someone is in a position to try your product or learn from you or whatever. She knew that it could help her employer, but she didn’t know HOW helpful it would be and she obviously wasn’t thinking too hard about “target market”–she was just trying to help some people she could.

I’m not of the opinion that helping is always a one-way street. So what that her helping led to some coverage, good for her.

When judging someone’s actions, in this case of blogger relations, it’s important to factor in the context and intent. Her intent was genuine and thus labeling this bribery is missing the point. I think it was being good to the community where you’re a member. The blogger relationship had already been forged.

As Qui pointed out, it’s valuable to show up…usually just for the conversation and relationship-building, but also for cases like this where you can really contribute.
Chris Brogan... Says:

October 9th, 2008 at 6:36 am

The near-exact start of this experience was like this:

*We were at a party held by Zappos that was STUFFED, and so I walked out.

*As I walked out, I saw Jess leaving, too.

*I said, “Jess, this is your town. Where should I take about 100 bloggers if we want to get away from that?” (pointing at the stuffed party)

*She paused, thought, and said, “Well, you can go to our club. I can call and tell them you’re coming.”

*Cool!

So, it was more like a friend we’d just met helping out. It wasn’t like Cirque was sitting around hoping I’d show up, and it wasn’t like they’d thought about this a bit.

Jess and I had talked earlier in the day about Cirque’s strategy overall, and about things coming in the future, etc. I introduced her to other friends at the event. We did what people do at conferences: got to know each other a bit and shared ideas.

At that club, the bloggers spent thousands of dollars (maybe 2 thousand) by the time the night was done.

Was that blogola? Because shit, I spent $200 to be wooed.

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mediabistro.com: PRNewser Says:

September 26th, 2008 at 3:16 pm

[...] The Ticker: Shaking Hands, Twitter and the Election, Hockey PR Blogger’s Advantage… The Buzz Bin: Why You Must Show Up and Shake Hands [...]

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