It’s probable that the sponsored post will find a place in social media because most blog readers and mainstream consumers either:

A) Don’t notice it’s sponsored or
B) Don’t care as long as the content is relevant to their need in reading said blog.

Considering this, the acceptance and validity of these posts will come down to the kind of sites they appear on. On a consumer site like Uncrate.com, a web magazine for guys who love stuff; the best gadgets, clothes, cars, etc.; if the post for the the product fell into the category of ‘stuff guys would love’, that would be fine. If it was for Nice-N-Easy hair coloring for women, wouldn’t go over so well.

Darren Rowse’s blog, ProBlogger.net is infiltrated with ads, however, because readers get value from his insights, the ads are palatable. On the other hand Chris Brogan caused an upset for his sponsored post for only one reason: To date he has epitomized the core tenants of social media philosophy – sharing, transparency and a near void of consumerism. On ChrisBrogan.com, that post would have been highly inappropriate. It was on DadOMatic.com where it was exceptionally well received, by the way.

Izea offers a controversial PayPerPost service, which pays bloggers small sums for writing about the products of advertisers. PR pros have been providing products to media outlets for years to entice them to write about it. I’m certainly not an advocate of the play or no pay approach, and it’s appropriate PR practice to give away products as part of your pitch. Izea’s crossing the line to insist on coverage in exchange for perks does make it advertising and is less credible as such.

So, what does all this mean for legal firm marketers? The Izea experiment has shown that:

A) Sponsored posts do get the word out there but that
B) In some circles they’re not well received.

Developing what marketing for legal firms will look like in our new, social connectivity-dominated web was nothing more than trial-and-error in what will eventually become the greatest communications invention of our time: the effective and engaging online social media.

But what the experiment also tells us is that whatever the future of advertising is, it will be centered on content and engagement which is what good public relations has been doing for years.

Reference: Jason Falls – Social Media Explorer
Photo Credit: Jack Hollingsworth/Corbis