I spent the past couple of days hanging out with some powerful women bloggers at the She’s Connected conference in Toronto.
Billed as an opportunity for bloggers to meet, and work with, major brands, women came armed with business cards and media kits. The sessions were informative and provided a great opportunity for women to learn from one another. Often, the questions, and subsequent answers, provided more valuable information that the overviews.
I learned a few things about this emerging field. First, that the whole digital space is evolving daily. There aren’t any hard-and-fast rules yet as to the expectations for people who work in this field. Second, brands (and their respective PR firms) are working to understand and capitalize on the unique opportunities that bloggers can provide. After all, most bloggers deliver highly targeted, engaged audiences. If you’re a major brand, why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of that?
At the same time there appears to be a lot of fluidity in the digital space right now. There is not agreement on compensation for the access to these dedicated audiences. New jobs are appearing, such as brand ambassador or community manager, yet what exactly is the relationship to brand or PR firm?
One thing is certain – the laws of supply and demand are well in force.
It was a real pleasure meeting you in one of the sessions!
Hi Shari – likewise! It was so awesome to connect with bloggers from across the country. Cheers