For businesses seeking to grow brand awareness and deliver messages about new products and services, reaching out to Vietnam’s leading bloggers has become a”must have” activity for members of corporate marketing and business development teams. In addition to global social networks and blogging tools such as Twitter or Wordpress, there is also immense development of Vietnamese social weblogs targeting young people, primarily 18-34 year olds.A few examples include Clip.vn, 360plus, Zing, Vietspace, and Yobanbe.
In this context, some people have become famous by sharing their entries on blogs. These highly popular bloggers—known as “hot bloggers”—attract thousands, and in some cases, even millions of viewers. These bloggers become well-known in many different ways. Some post sensational news from the world of entertainment or society. The blogs TacKe and OnlyU fit into this category. Some bloggers just share their experiences and feelings about every aspect in life such as Cogaidolong and Hà Kin.
Despite many different opinions about “hot bloggers” and their effects on society, there is no doubt that they show the readers various aspects and issues in daily life which can not be published on other mass media. Thanks to trust from the readers, “hot bloggers”, in general, have had a strong influence on many people who view their blogs. With just some words and pictures on their blogs, the information from their blog can be spread widely and rapidly. That is the reason why many companies have cooperated with hot bloggers as a marketing strategy to popularize their products or services.
With the aim of having deep understanding of the relationship between blogs and the business, we carried out interviews with the twofamous bloggers, Robbey and MeoAc.
Robbey used to be a student specializing in Literature at Ho Chi Minh City Gifted High school and Highland Regional High school in the USA. He has achieved a good command in both written English and Vietnamese. Robbey started his blog with reviews of music and performances, especially American Idol and Vietnam Idol competitions. He soon acquired a good reputation thanks to his wide knowledge of music and his access to celebrities.Robbey Wordpress : http://robbeydeptrai.wordpress.com/
1. How do you become famous on online community? What do you write about?
It occurs really by chance. Writing is my habit since I was just a child and when I studied in America, I started to write in English and just gave my friends to read. Then, when I came back to Vietnam, I began to write in Vietnamese. Vietnam Idol 2007 is a big step. When I saw Phuong Vy’s performance in this competition, I liked her immediately and wanted to write something about her and this competition. At that time, I realized that Vietnamese music is also great, and I started to listen to and reviewed some albums, artists and shows. Many people paid attention to and read these reviews and entries. In fact, art is my passion, so I also observe and expresses my thoughts about fashion, movies and music shows.
2. Who are your main blog readers? What do they think about your entries?
The majority is certainly the young generation with the similar portion of male and female. Moreover, 61% of people are from the age between 18 and 24.
As a matter of fact, people certainly have different opinions. But the most important to me is that they must respect each other. They can disagree or dislike my opinions and thinking but they must converse in a civil manner.
3. What are advantages and disadvantages of becoming a hot blogger?
There are many advantages. I have more friends and relationships. My opinion becomes valuable to artist managers when they need ideas or feedback. I even become famous, sometimes I walk down the streets and some teenagers run to me and asked to take photographs with me. It’s funny.
Besides, when becoming famous, you also have to face bad rumors from bad people who try to damage you. Sometimes I even do not know what’s going on with them. I am also disturbed by spam on my blogs or bad messages from anonymous people.
4. Bloggers become famous by sharing their own thoughts with public, why would they be valuable to PR strategy, in your opinion?
In fact, traditional media like magazines or newspapers are biased and provided one-sided information. Sometimes, they do not provide the true or sufficient information to the readers. But blogging is different. I want to emphasize the interaction of blogging. Readers can interact with writer and express whatever they are thinking right away. Moreover, in some cases, when I write about some artists, they also make comments on my blogs.
5. What kinds of projects do businesses offer you to work on?
I work with many different kinds of businesses.
Occasionally, I write entry on my blogs or press release for them. I am also a copywriter for some brands.
6. There are many famous bloggers now in Vietnam, why do you think they chose you to cooperate?
Frankly, I have excellent writing in both English and Vietnamese and the significant thing is that when people read my entries, they feel familiar and can find themselves in it.
7. What are difficulties when working with PR specialist?
Straightforwardness is important. Some companies do not have clear vision or plan when working with me so I always express my thoughts.
8. How do you satisfy your clients but still keep your own opinion?
I do not write about what I do not like. I just write when I am interested in and feel good about it; otherwise, it doesn’t make sense. My blogs are not commercial pages; I link everything to my daily life naturally.
9. Will you change your content of your blog or any plan to attract more people to your blog?
I will upgrade my blog’s designs and I also have my own team to do it for me. Moreover, I have different teams to write about various sections or fields on my blogs.
10. what do you think of the future of blogging in Vietnam?
The strength of blogging is interaction and this is what people need now. People can exchange various information, ideas online. Furthermore, not everyone can make decision by themselves; they must look for extra opinions from other people. And these are reasons for blogging to prosper in the future.
MeoAc becomes famous in Vietnam’s online community by her sharing insights about her daily life, especially about food and good restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City. As a freelance journalist working in the entertainment field, she has good relationships with celebrities. She also shares her experiences and feelings about the entertainment business, and musical shows or events in which she took part. MeoAc is now studying the second diploma about Marketing Management in Kent College. She also can speak English, Japanese and Chinese.MeoAc webpage : http://meoac.info/
1. How do you become famous on online community? What do you write about?
It is quite hard to answer. Actually, I just write about my daily life but try to put more pictures for each entry on my blogs. ‘MeoAc’ (Cruel Cat) is famous because I share my own thoughts about common concerns; my entries are short but expressive. Maybe, eye-catching pictures of food and good recommended restaurant addresses on my blog seize the readers :D. Moreover, my life is colorful so people love it because I am a real person with a real interesting life, no exaggeration, no bad words, no ‘hot picture’ to increase page views as others. Also, I often update news about entertainment because I am a journalist working in ‘entertainment’ field.
2. Who are your main blog readers? What do they think about your entries?
Teenagers, officers, entertainers, journalists, artists also Vietnamese people working in foreign countries. They are interested in food, entertainment, technology, parties, new products … The majority of my readers are in the ages of 15-40, and 70% are female.
They think that my blog has private but useful information for daily life.
3. What are advantages and disadvantages of becoming a hot blogger?
I have extended my relationships, cooperated with many companies and gained interesting experiences with them.
In terms of difficulties, my blog becomes less personal. I can not write about anybody frankly as I used to because it may have influence on their lives.
4. How does your life change after becoming famous online?
I have to face slander. Many people like my blogs and many people dislike it, also. Moreover, I must balance my work and blogging. Sometimes, I am really busy but still have to spend time updating my blog not only to maintain the number of readers but also to share my living information with friends who are busy and work far away.
5. Bloggers become famous by sharing their own thoughts with public, why would they be valuable to PR strategy, in your opinion?
When an interesting individual shares their thoughts and feelings people become trust them, this person will have big influence. When the readers believe in bloggers, what bloggers say on their blogs will be widespread. It is the power of blogging, online social networking as well as word-of-mouth which help to spread information faster. And that is how blogging becomes value to PR industry.
6. What kinds of projects do businesses offer you to work on?
So many, I can not remember all.
Mostly, I introduce their new events, products or services on my entries. Or I become an image for a short-term campaign, create testimonal, or simply experience their product/service and write about my feelings.
7. There are many famous bloggers now in Vietnam, why do you think they chose you to cooperate?
There are many bloggers but not many HOT bloggers. Many bloggers focus their content and writing style on just one topic, same individuals, or become too professional and unfamiliar, which limit the number of readers. For instance, they focus on films, poetry, photography, music … not diverse contents as MeoAc. Furthermore, it is also possible that my regular viewers are the target customers of their products. Or, MeoAc already becomes well-known to many people.
8. What are difficulties when working with PR specialist?
Writing style. Many companies provide information insufficiently while I want to mention them naturally in my entries for the best effectiveness. I can not satisfy clients 100% every time but I always try my best to provide essential information.
9. How do you satisfy your clients but still keep your own opinion?
It depends on the deal. Moreover, the content must be well-prepared before being public, I do not post an entry with some random careless information. In some cases, the content must be sent to the client for their checking and approval.
10. Will you change your content of your blog or any plan to attract more people to your blog?
Honestly, blogging is not my main job. Currently, I am studying Marketing Management and Chinese simultaneously. Therefore, I do not have a plan to updade my blog. However, I will update information that I feel people want based on their comments on my blogs, for examples, fashion, weekend entertainment, new trends.
11. What do you think about future trend of blogging in vietnam?
According to every marketing material I read, blogging is the fifth most powerful tool in public relations, so, blogging in Vietnam undoubtedly has a bright future.
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