Trend Tuesday: Talk to me and win a shirt!

Ah, the Blog Contest. Who doesn’t love a good blog contest. You may be think from the title and first words (and perhaps the by line) that this will be a bit of biting criticism calling out the blog industry for selling it self short. Or perhaps you think it is ridiculous self promotion for our current blog contest. Well, this is neither. It is the perspective of those two people who can agree on one thing: Blog Contests work!

One of the values at Schipul is Win/Win. This means that in an interaction or agreement or business-dealing, both sides walk away feeling like they have gained something. When we do work for our clients, we earn their business, and in turn they are provided with a service they need. The Blog Contest is, on most scales, a true example of Win/Win.

The Blog owner can be seeking PR, attention, an urge for traffic, or perhaps they just have extra stuff. To accomplish their goal, they can utilize traditional advertising, but this does not always help them reach their audience in a fun and interesting way. Even online advertising can be a poor fit for the audience or the budget. The flexibility of the Blog Contest allows you to give away pretty much anything, from a Wii Fit to netbooks to cat T’s.

From the reader perspective, generally very little is asked of you. Leave a funny comment, become a fan on facebook, mention something on twitter, etc. Much of the time your odds of winning are quite good compared to a business card fishbowl or a clearing house sweepstakes. And generally there is a high amount of transparency in seeing who wins. Unless a contest gets out of hand (see Wii Fit above), then the contest is contained to the community of people who read the blog, with maybe a few outsiders who are just around for the contest.

Even after a winner is announced, many great things have happened. Either a new reader has won something, which may keep them coming back as a reader, or an old reader has won something, which rewards them for being a part of the conversation. Attention is gained at a cost (like all advertising), but in this case the readers profit, not an Ad agency. Aside from some twitter contests which can be quite annoying (i.e. planet-orbiting-berry), the old-fashioned blog contest is a Win/Win event.

In all seriousness, these contests are really good for everyone and are turning into a great advancement in online economics. The scale of costs and attention help to create a happy event for all involved. A small giveaway creates a small burst of traffic, and giving away something large can create bigger waves on the internets. As a blog creator, you control the size and expense. As a blog contestant, you can control what contests you enter, and what is worth your time/attention/info. Everyone remains in control, traffic goes up, and someone is a winner.

In the words of Michael Scott, this is Win/Win/Win. One Win for the blogger, one Win for the contestants, and a Win for me for explaining it here and encouraging you to create a blog contest. There’s another Win too if you follow me on twitter, because all of my followers are winners.

Boss Blog of the Month: Bumper 2 Bumper Traffic Blog

1trafficBoss [baws, bos]
-adjective

  1. exemplifies a unique quality; awesome; incredible
  2. An expression from the mid 1950s, which fell from favor by the early 1960s….until now..

Bro, traffic blew this morning…I was 20 minutes late to work and missed donut circle time. Dude, go check out the Bumper 2 Bumper Traffic Blog, it’s so boss!

My mornings are not your typical ‘wake up, drink coffee, sit on your thrown reading a nice article about ‘Why we swing our arms when we walk‘” routine. They usually entail a Sprite on the rocks, Quaker oatmeal, and…(queue harmonious music)…KPRC’s traffic updates brought to by Jennifer Reyna. To be quite honest, I don’t really care much about traffic, my morning drive is pretty ordinary with the familiar stoplight hobo and occasional rubber necking. Basically, it comes down to the simple fact that Jennifer Reyna is so gosh darn adorable and an hour on the ol’ boob tube just ain’t cuttin’ it anymore. But I have found the light…

Jennifer Reyna’s Bumper 2 Bumper Traffic Blog is seemingly mundane, but I stand true to my word when I say this is a must-read. And I think you know where I am going with this.   That’s right my tiny cupcakes, the Boss Blog of the month is every Houstonian’s greatest foe…traffic.

This recent “find” if you will, is what I like to call a boss moment. I could equivocate this to the time your beloved Harry Potter obsessed monkey friend literally dragged you to opening night of H.P.’s latest flick, in turn leaving you with a little obsession of your own…Hermoine Granger. In a nutshell, the movie is the traffic and Jennifer Reyna is Hermoine…now you’re with me folks!

So what makes a blog about traffic so special? Go ahead and pump those breaks champ…I am going to tell you.

Here are my Top 5 Reasons why Jennifer Reyna’s Bumper 2 Bumper Traffic Blog is the Boss Blog of the Month:

  1. I really don’t have to say much here…
    Jennifer Reyna
  2. It’s rare to find true passion in a human being, much less through a traffic blog. The Bumper 2 Bumper blog exhibits just that…passion. With every post, you know Jennifer is writing from the heart. Hell, I bet she sits at her computer singing The Beatles and yelling out random sayings like, Skittleeedooo!, just because she is that happy. To be honest, I find it quite enjoyable to read about Goat Milking Contests…
    goat-_-blog4
  3. Jennifer posts pictures from just about every event she attends. I realize that posting pictures on your blog is nothing new, but for a reporter, it’s good to show people you are actually human. Like I have said before, I just don’t trust robots and neither should you if you know what’s good for your children.
  4. 2-crew-parade-_-blog
    She listens. Every few posts, she takes questions that she has received from her viewers and answers them openly and honestly.

    Dear Jennifer,

    Could you please tell me why we swing our arms when we walk? Also, thank you for being you.

    Sincerely,

    Courtney P.

    I will be crossing my fingers for a response in the meantime.

  5. Jennifer has obviously realized that KPRC is not just a TV station. It is a media outlet. She has enabled viewers, like me who are unable to watch a lot of television, to receive information through her blog. She has also built an extraordinary brand through her Bumper 2 Bumper blog and that is definitely something to be modeled. Jennifer Reyna is not only an inspiration to the Houston community, but she has made my morning commutes a little more enjoyable. Jennifer Reyna…you’re boss.

Say hi to Jennifer on Facebook!

Thank you Kim Yokota for the awesome traffic pic!