Out With The Old, In With The New: Brand Journalism’s Effects on Corporate Media
“Welcome to the emerging world of brand journalism — marketers using the tools of digital publishing and social media to speak directly to consumers” - Lewis Dvorkin
This is how Lewis Dvorkin, a writer for Forbes, introduces content marketing to his readers. Content marketing is a current trend that has the entire media world buzzing. This is mainly because of the inability to determine whether or not journalists or marketing professionals are better at creating and delivering content. Due to technology, the way people process and perceive news has drastically changed. Stories can now be delivered to mass audiences in a much quicker, and even more relatable way. Mass media was not long ago controlled mainly by the rich and powerful. Now, our voices are able to be heard much louder than ever before.
In a sense, we can all call ourselves ‘journalists.’ The act of journalism is compiling and relaying information to an audience, and most of us have done that at some point, just on a much smaller scale. Andy Bull writes “Retweets on Twitter, Facebook likes and other sharing mechanisms mean that anyone who chooses to engage in social media gets not just the news, but their social circles’ views about that news as well.” Brands are finally starting to realize that the best way to promote their product to the consumers is directly through these social feeds. Companies are able to use these online platforms in order to build their networks and create content that bypasses the media altogether and is relayed straight to the consumers. This is what we call Brand Journalism. Many companies have begun to build stories around their name with websites, status updates, blogs, and even video content. This has proven to spike massive interest in the public because of how relatable it is to an average American. These days, we have no interest in watching a bunch of rich CEOs promoting their product through mass advertising. We want to hear the stories behind the people who devote every day to their job in order to deliver the most reliable product to their peers. It’s very interesting to think about how distant social media has made us in many ways, yet we still desire so much intimacy. Lewis PR explains that as a society, we now have much more freedom to tell our own stories, share images that shape our lives and deliver the most compelling news to others around the world. Ragan Productions elaborates on the meaning of Brand Journalism in the video below.
The shift from traditional product marketing to brand journalism has basically forced major corporations into hiring media specific teams in order to keep up with the constantly evolving industry.
Joe Pulizzi, the co-founder of the Content Marketing Institute, says that Brands can no longer afford not to invest in journalism and in telling their own stories.
All that these corporations have to do is, for example, create a short video that tells a story about their brand, and if they do it well; the public will finish the rest of the work for you. Within a matter of seconds, a simple video, or status update can be shared thousands of times. In fact, the power of the individual is so strongly held within social media that Coca-Cola handed its entire Facebook presence over to a couple of fans. The Coke Page, which totals almost 100 million fans, was created by two Los Angeles natives out of boredom and their love for coke. Today, Coca- Cola is the company with the biggest following and has the most “fans” on Facebook. Dusty Sorg, one of the originators of the Coke Facebook page explains how this all came about in the video below.
This is a prime example of an instance where a major corporation took advantage of an already existing platform and turned it into a revolutionary marketing technique. Lewis PR states that brand journalism is a company investing in content and becoming a provider of news. However, there are quite a few standards that companies have to meet to earn the reader’s trust and establish credibility. They are as follows:
The stories need to be based on facts
Be fast and topical
New content should be generated often and consistently
It must give value to the reader or viewer
There must be complete transparency about the origins of the content
If you ask me, most of these points look very similar to what makes a reporter’s work trustworthy. So, how do companies decide on whether or not they should leave the branding up to the PR and marketing team, or hire a few journalists to contribute their ideas as well? Andy Bull asked around and found that many professionals who favor “old school” marketing techniques make the argument that journalists should stick to investigating stories that have a more politically focused agenda such as revealing corruption among banks or powerful individuals to the public. These are also the people that got so used to acting as gatekeepers and having complete control over their audience and the media they owned. They haven’t quite grasped the massive impact the social numbers have on the success of their product. Forbes Magazine criticizes these people however, and claims that they must sacrifice a measure of control and become more “relevant” and “authentic” within this new era.
Although the brand journalism industry is currently booming, many experts are finding it difficult to find job stability. Ann Friedman from the Columbian Journalism Review interviewed Jessica Bennett, who worked for renowned journalistic companies such as The Boston Globe and Newsweek for just under 10 years before she decided to make the transition into brand journalism. She accepted a position with Storyboard, an independent publication owned by the major blogging platform, Tumblr. She was still collecting and relaying news, but everything she created had to relate back to Tumblr in some way. Although this was a risky move, she said that being a part of something so new and powerful most definitely outweighed any doubts she was having. Although she enjoyed the freedom of “not having to do bullshit PR,” Bennet said the job was very challenging. Relating content back to a brand in every story is quite difficult.
“Kids these days are able to identify when a story is a redrafted press release, or an original piece.” - Ann Friedman
Most parents aren’t capable of this. After being laid off just 14 months after her start date, Bennett claims that her biggest annoyance “was trying to prove to people – sources, media, colleagues, my parents – that I was still a ‘real’ journalist.” Many companies are willing to experiment with the idea of outsourcing independent journalists, but are quickly fiscally exhausted. The cofounder of Tumblr, David Karp, says that we as companies “have to be careful about doing too much storytelling because we are just going to take away from an online community of already existing storytellers.” So as you can see, it’s obvious that marketers are aware of how essential brand journalism is to their company, it’s just a matter of finding a place for the team to fit. Not enough companies are prepared to pay these extra employees, and part from the traditional practiced ways.
“Brand journalism exists to provide audiences with value beyond just an advertisement, aiming to provoke dialogue or prompt sharing with others.” - Lewis PR
It exists to engage the audience and to arouse emotions that create a relation between the brand and the person. The Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs recently conducted a study and found that 90 per cent of non-media companies are creating some type of original content to share with their audience. These are not just claims; it’s evidence that brand journalism is becoming critical to brand marketing.
“The debate around so-called brand journalism is no longer about whether or not there’s a place for it, but rather how can we make the most of it and do it well.” - Lewis PR
Explain what you've done to follow the successful blogging strategies identified in the tutorial and articles.
In order to follow the blogging strategies provided for us, I utilized the linking tools, embedded media into my post, and hyperlinked the quotes I shared. I believe I did really well at referencing my sources while creating a post that is aesthetically pleasing as well.
Specify which words you researched to use as keywords/tags and the reasons for selecting those words.
According to JPROF, at mininum, tags should include names and places, ideas and concepts, and actions and processes. The tags I used referenced the Authors that I quoted, major subjects I touched on, and buzz words that appeared throughout my article.
How and why did you select particular hyperlinks to embed in your blog?
I chose to embed videos and images that related to my subject, and especially brand journalism.
