Brands are now more confident that editorial articles and prestigious blogs will resonate well with audiences compared to a decade ago, according to famous blogger Xiaxue, who spoke about the enduring success of the written word at the social media conference Engage Bali, earlier this month.
Xiaxue claims that brands have become much more mature in their approach to content and advertising in recent years, which is due in part she says to those in charge of marketing budgets becoming more digitally advanced. This has resulted in brands finally delivering diverse and relevant campaigns for audiences.
She said: “Brands are a lot more confident now because in the past, when I first started in 2005… To them, advertising was sending emails and buying banner ads. None of them had ever heard of bloggers doing editorials or sponsored reviews. So, they did not have confidence in doing it, because it was something completely new to them.”
Xiaxue also revealed that the recent “influx of new influencers” has increased the risk to reputable brands as they often only care about “fame and money”, adding that new rules should be introduced to ensure sponsored posts are disclosed to avoid deceiving the general public.
Brand safety has been a huge challenge for the industry during the last 18 months, so it would be no surprise to see many of them pivot towards editorial content and premium blogs to showcase their expertise as thought leaders rather than investing in ads and influencers, which are often unable to deliver the added value consumers now crave.
