I just posted an article onto Marketing Conversation called Gifting Bloggers Doesn’t Mean Pushing Swag and within minutes Stevie Wilson of LA-Story wrote the most amazing comment on the culture of swag that is commonplace in Los Angeles, California… (via Marketing Conversation)

Swag is the name of the game in Los Angeles– in a city that lives and dies by celebrities getting swag and quite frankly are the least needy for that – because they have the $$ to pay for anything given to them.

Swag has a bad connotation because it smacks of pandering and quite frankly payola. However when it comes to blogging– depending on the topic of course–one can hardly blog about a skincare line if one hasn’t tried it — or has tried it for only one week and doesn’t own up to the fact.

Gifting is somewhat different. Sometimes it’s a holiday or birthday gift that really is a “gift” between a corporate entity and the blogger for the support (if there has been support and I don’t mean Perez Hilton type support that has been advertised) that the blogger may have given. Or it can be something that the corporate entity has done to gain the attention to the brand in such an unusual and interesting way that it definitely gains the immediate attention and enthusiasm of the blogger– like a video iPod that has videos of fashion shows or make-up tips from NY Fashion Week .

In LA there is a gifting process that is quid pro quo but typically for the more visible press— which means stylists who bring in celebrities to a suite whose promoter gives them a trip or a great big fat goody bag of stuff (the same goody bag given to the celebrities)

However that being said, even the stylists get shunned despite bringing or sending in celebrity friends, clients or contacts.

Some PR and brands don’t think that bloggers count. Trust me– we can reach people faster if you are kind, polite and friendly.

Agreeing with Chris here that offering me some worthy information is well worth it — whether it’s to be written about or giving me some heads up on a trend or event that’s about to launch.

I have PR people who slip me the 411 on celebrity clients wearing the brands they represent before anyone else has it. You can bet I run that information and pronto!! Others tell me about new things just because they know I can help support that when it launches– because I can “plan” for blogs around it.

It all depends on how and what you value. I have yet to see anyone gift me something so amazing that I would jump .. Been promised things (cars to come get me and other trinkets), but they never come through– suddenly bloggers are persona not so grata.

Well, in the blogger-to-blogger dialog between Norman Birnbach and me, starting with How Do You Establish Metrics for a Blogging Initiative? Take a page from the campaign for Jerry White’s book then moving onto Guy Kawasaki on the impact of bloggers on PR and buzz, then Gifting Bloggers Doesn’t Mean Pushing Swag, Stevie Wilson on The Swag Culture of LA, finally onto To Swag or Not To Swag — Actually Chris Abraham Clarifies the Notion of Swag:

To Swag or Not To Swag — Actually Chris Abraham Clarifies the Notion of Swag

In response to my blog entry, Guy Kawasaki on the impact of bloggers on PR and buzz, Chris Abraham has provided additional perspective about swag in his post, “Gifting Bloggers Doesn’t Mean Pushing Swag.”

Check it out, but here’s some of what he said:

• “Gifts don’t have to be free stuff — like books or iPods — gifts can be in the form of knowledge, intellectual property, insider access, or blogger exclusives; gifts can be informational, gifts can solve a community problem, or customer service issues.
• “What a gift needs to be is super-valuable to the recipient — the value of a gift is based on perception. You need to be willing to give the gift that the blogger wants and not the gift you are prepared or want to give.
• “What is not cool is half measures or crappy, throw-away gifts, the Internet version of key rings and a bowl of candy. Offering throttled, limited or restricted demos (without access to the full version when it is released); offering a single book chapter (without the whole book being an option); or granting “exclusive” access to something that is already released is just plain lame and will result in severe negative consequences.”
• “It is pretty bad to not give a gift when you reach out to bloggers just because you feel entitled or represent a fancy client but it is worse to be stingy about the gift you do give. Make sure the gift is generous — give until it hurts.”

This is very useful. I’m sorry if I misrepresented what Chris was telling me about swag.

Thanks, Norman, I appreciate the follow-up post that better explains my methodology and the implemented strategy and best practices of Abraham Harrison.

This morning, Norman Birnbach wrote an article wherein he suggests that I emphasize giving swag:

One of his tips is to “Give swag” — a point that Chris Abraham emphasized in a recent interview. The reason is that blogging is often a second career and there are few perks so swag can make a difference to get bloggers to respond.

He is not wrong, but I think I need to clarify my definition of “gift-giving.” I don’t emphasize giving away swag, necessarily — what I do emphasize is gifting — and giving ’til it hurts, “What a gift needs to be is super-valuable to the recipient — the value of a gift is based on perception.” The following excerpt is from Be Generous, Not Stingy, When Engaging Bloggers:

“Gifts don’t have to be free stuff — like books or iPods — gifts can be in the form of knowledge, intellectual property, insider access, or blogger exclusives; gifts can be informational, gifts can solve a community problem, or customer service issues.

What a gift needs to be is super-valuable to the recipient — the value of a gift is based on perception. You need to be willing to give the gift that the blogger wants and not the gift you are prepared or want to give.

What is not cool is half measures or crappy, throw-away gifts, the Internet version of key rings and a bowl of candy. Offering throttled, limited or restricted demos (without access to the full version when it is released); offering a single book chapter (without the whole book being an option); or granting “exclusive” access to something that is already released is just plain lame and will result in severe negative consequences.

It is pretty bad to not give a gift when you reach out to bloggers just because you feel entitled or represent a fancy client but it is worse to be stingy about the gift you do give. Make sure the gift is generous — give until it hurts.”

If you want to become a better bloggers, monetize your blog, and create and build your personal brand then I recommend attending the PostieCon ’07 in Orlando, Florida, on June 1 & 2, 2007. Register now because PostieCon ’07 is cheap at $199.95, but only until May 18th. Even without PostieCon ’07, Orlando is cool, inexpensive, warm, sunny, and seriously entertaining. There is no way this Con is going to be either lame or geeky. It’ll be rock star.

PostieCon ’07 promises to be a fun, informative, educational, and important event, and if you register early, you can save money. So, what are you waiting for? A pop-up window?

PostieCon ’07 is a two-day event that will be held from June 1-2, 2007 in Orlando, Florida. By registering, not only will you be getting to take a mini-vacation to one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, you will receive:

* VIP access to all conference sessions, workshops, and extra-curricular events
* Breakfast (with eggs) Lunch, Drinks and Snacks on Friday and Saturday
* Saturday early evening open bar with hot and cold appetizers
* Sit down dinner with open bar at the award banquet on Saturday evening
* Cool swag to take home

Registration Special: If you register today, you will receive your “backstage pass” for the low, low cost of $199.95. Act soon, because after May 18, 2007, registration costs go up to $249.95.

PostieCon ’07 attendees will get something that no one can put a price on, namely the networking opportunities, blogging tips, business tips, and time spent with some of the best and brightest in the business to bounce ideas around.

I have been blogging since 1999 over at “Because the Medium is the Message“, http://www.chrisabraham.com. Part of what has always been tough for me is figuring out how to take something I am passionate about, blogging and social media, and actually make a bit of a living from it. I have done an appalling job of it and have made all the mistakes. Only now am I finally at the point where my blogging basically pays my car payments. My goal is to help the new kids get their voices out there with fewer and fewer boundaries. I want to make sure my mistakes benefit them.

The second event is called PostieCon ’07 http://www.postiecon.com. It’s a blogger convention down in Orlando, Florida, on June 1 & 2. I want to draw your attention to it in the hopes that maybe you’ll consider speaking at it, or spread just spread the word with your readers

I think PostieCon ’07 is cool because it is for the rest of us bloggers who have yet to ascend to top-200. While TED and SXSW and VON are super-cool, they’re also super PhD-level. PostieCon ’07 is all about the training up the bush league.

As I see it there are three reasons (probably many more) why your readers should know about this Con, and perhaps attend:

a) Let super-serious B-, C-, D-List bloggers meet each other, put a name to a face, conspire on ways to get better, and trade war stories and

b) Let some serious experts and A-Listers, like us, share their experience, hope, and joy as well as leading them by the hand to monetization strategies, how to build brand, how to attract readership and traffic, and all the stuff you need to do (and seems obvious to use) in order to go from D- to C- to B- to A-List!

c) To quote the site: “Why should you attend PostieCon ’07 ’07? Two words: Rock Star.”

That said, I hope you consider speaking at PostieCon. Your voice would be very welcome. If you can’t make it, I was hoping that you might share the love with your readers (as attendees) or other folks who might be really into speaking at PostieCon. And, as you know, I am not asking for any particular coverage. You are free to say or do anything you like with this email and the content herein. That’s the way things work. So, just consider this an official love note.

Why Should I Attend PostieCon ’07?

Why should you attend PostieCon ’07 ? Two words: Rock Star. Bloggers and Internet personalities are the Rock Stars of the information age. Bloggers reach millions of dedicated fans on a day to day basis, it’s easy to see why today’s humble blogger could potentially be tomorrow’s Rock Star. That’s why PostieCon ’07 ‘s theme is “You’re A Rock Star”. We are here to educate bloggers on how to build traffic and readership, and use your notoriety and unique brand to create value and monetize your voice. It’s not all about money and fame, our conference is designed to help you become a better blogger. We have invited some of the world’s biggest bloggers to share their knowledge, perspective and experience with PostieCon ’07 Attendees. We provide the peeps and the knowledge, you use it to better yourself and build your blog.

Want to be a Speaker?

PostieCon ’07 will, have numerous opportunities for speakers. From individual presentations to group discussions, the event is open to speakers who represent the diversity of our bloggers. PostieCon ’07 ‘s theme is You’re A Rock Star, and its goal is to introduce bloggers to methods of making their blogs better, more known, and more profitable. This event is open to all bloggers from anywhere and everywhere, from the most seasoned to the greenest of the greenhorns. (For rookie bloggers, we have a special featured event: Blogger Boot Camp.)

Currently, PostieCon ’07 is searching for the best speakers to share their knowledge with the attendees of this exciting, one-of-a-kind event. So, who are we looking for?

- Does your blog or new media site lead the industry?

- Does your traffic make your friends and competitors frothing-at-the-mouth jealous?

- Does your expertise in this competitive industry earn you a good income?

- Is your format the envy of your friends, peers, and competitors?

- Have you come to the realization that in the new media universe, your content is king?

- Are you the owner of a unique, compelling success story?

- Are you at the forefront of the blogging/new media industry?

- Are you an advertiser looking to reach out to bloggers?

If your answer to any or all of these questions is “yes,” then you’re exactly the kind of person we’re looking for. Our attendees deserve to hear from the best, and sometimes the best person for the job isn’t the most famous or well-known. We need to hear from you, so don’t be shy — we don’t byte.

If you’re an advertiser with a product you feel would be useful to our target audience, and wish to get your product in the hands of tomorrow’s notables of the blogging scene, this is an excellent opportunity for you as well. Please contact us and explain to us what makes your product or service essential for our industry’s niche needs.

For more information or to become a speaker contact our Event Coordinator Britt Gustafson

Robert Scoble

Robert Scoble is an American blogger, technical evangelist, and author. He is number 9 on Forbes Top 25 Web Celebrities. Scoble is best known for his popular blog, Scobleizer, which came to prominence during his tenure as a technical evangelist at Microsoft. He is married to Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble, and has a son, Patrick, from a previous marriage. He and his wife currently work at PodTech.net, a video-podcast startup. He is also the co-author of Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers with Shel Israel.

* Session: Living in a Google World

David Ponce

David Ponce is a 26 year old web entrepreneur who took up blogging as a hobby over three years ago. Quickly realizing the potential of the niche-marketed micro publishing business, he quit his full time job as a computer salesman to devote to full time blogging. His articles, written on OhGizmo.com, have been linked to from a plethora of sites, including Gizmodo, Engadget, Yahoo’s The 9, Slashdot, Digg and BoingBoing. David himself has been interviewed by several mainstream publications, such as PC World Magazine and SmartMoney Magazine. He currently serves as Executive Editor of the site, managing a small team of 5 rotating writers, and has plans for launching several other sites to form a network.

* Session: Turning Visits into Cash

Michelle Madhok

Michelle Madhok is Founder of SheFinds.com and SheFindsMom.com, online publications distributed via e-mail and blogs that help busy women everywhere shop the web for the latest beauty and style finds.

A widely regarded expert in online shopping, Michelle is also the style columnist for and a contributing editor for MSN Shopping, Cotton Incorporated and the American Heart Association. Her style and shopping tips have been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines, radio and television interviews, including Metro newspapers in New York and Boston,Women’s Wear Daily, The Tyra Banks show, NBC, Investor’s Business Daily, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Post, and the Washington Post.

Prior to launching SheFinds, Michelle enjoyed a career in new media. First, she was the Director of Entertainment Marketing for CBS Broadcasting New Media and then she was the Group Director of Editorial Products for women and oversaw all content for women at AOL. Michelle has a BS in Communications from UC Berkeley and a MS in Marketing from Northwestern University. She currently resides in New York City with her husband, Michael Palka.

* Session: Turning Your Passion Into Dollars

Nancy Shenker

Marketing Guru, Blogger, and Former Hippy Girl Nancy A. Shenker is Founder & Principal of theONswitch, a firm specializing in start-ups, business transformations, and non-traditional growth solutions. She frequently consults on “smart” marketing spending, PR, and branding and has written several “how to” guides for business owners. Her “business blog” is “The ONblog” (http://theonswitch.typepad.com/theonblog/) and her newest blog, about the ways in which communication and life have changed (and yet stayed the same) is “Hippy to Wiki” (http://theonswitch.typepad.com/hippytowiki/). “I encourage all PostieCon ’07 attendees to get in touch with me before June and tell me what they want to hear about when I speak!”

* Session: Hippy to Wiki: How Blogs and “Traditional” Communication Can Live in Peace (and make $$)

Sherry Heyl

Recently nominated for Women in Technology “Woman of the Year” Sherry Heyl is the CEO and Idealist for What a Concept! Her responsibilities include business development and inspiring ideas and communication strategies. Sherry has been involved in the technology industry since 1998 when she developed her own curriculum at FSU to study ecommerce. Currently she creates strategic plans for integrating streaming video, blogs, podcasts, RSS, and virtual worlds into communication plans for B2B, B2C, Non-profit and Higher Education organizations. Sherry has been a guest speaker and keynote speaker for the Project Management Institute (PMI), a panelist for the 400 Technology Connector, TechLINKS, and Customer Relationship Management Association (CRMA), and is on the board of directors for the Atlanta Electronic Commerce Forum (AECF) as the programs director and has participated in putting programs together for the Atlanta Media Bloggers Group and AeA and is a member of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association. Sherry is a graduate of Florida State University with undergraduate degrees in Marketing and Creative Writing.

* Session: Why Live Life Online?

Jim Kukral

Jim is a veteran online marketing expert and award-winning blogger who focuses on helping businesses, or bloggers, make money or find publicity online through creative marketing ideas and strategies. Jim has been blogging since 2001 and has participated and worked on over 30 blogs since that time and has written thousands of blog entries. He is the publisher of ReveNews.com, the leading online revenue group blog that focuses on the billion dollar industry of Internet revenue. Jim is also the founder of BlogKits, a blog advertising network that focuses on helping bloggers find creative ways to generate revenue.

* Session: The Secrets To Long-Term Blog Success & Profitability

Lena West

Lena L. West is the CEO & Chief Strategist at xynoMedia Technology. Affectionately known as the “geek with speak”, Lena understands complex technology concepts and distills them into easy-to- understand strategies. xynoMedia helps mid-market companies make sense of their place in the online world by developing customized, progressive Internet strategies that consistently increase thought leadership, online revenues and visibility. West communicates her expertise about social media, web 2.0 and online technologies through regular writing for Jupitermedia, her InfoWorld.com blog and her Entrepreneur.com column and blog. She is also on the BlogHer Business Advisory Board and a member of the Women’s Presidents’ Organization, TENG-NY and the Downtown Women’s Club. Currently, West is conducting research for a book she’s authoring about the role of women in technology. xynoMedia’s mission is to help 10,000 mid-sized businesses grow 25-50% by 2010.

* Session: Building Blog Value

Shirley Frazier

Shirley George Frazier is an excavator who digs up smart marketing solutions for individuals and business owners looking to increase their revenue through effective promotions and collaborations on and off the Web. She’s president of Sweet Survival®, owner of three popular blogs, and author of two best-selling niche industry books. Shirley has more than 16 years of experience conducting seminars on business topics and consulting with a range of clients from home-based professionals to Macy’s. She has appeared on CNBC, The Food Network, and The Discovery Channel, and her expert opinion and articles have been featured in Entrepreneur, Business Start-Ups, Black Enterprise, and Opportunity Magazine.

* Session: Building Your Niche Blog

Kristie Tamsevicius

Kristie Tamsevicius turns authors and speakers into the lavishly paid in-demand experts in their field. She is the host of Speaker Success Talk Radio, the founder of Webmomz.com, a community for work at home moms, president of Branding on the Net and author of several books including, I Love My Life: A Mom’s Guide to Working from Home. A sought-after branding expert, Kristie creates branded websites that position you as a mini celebrity so you increase sales, book more presentations and become headline news.

* Session: Building Your Niche Blog

Dan Rua

Dan is an experienced early-stage venture capital investor with a technology foundation and product design, development and management experience. Inflexion Fund is his third early-stage venture capital fund. Prior to Inflexion, Dan was a Partner with Draper Atlantic, the east coast fund of Silicon Valley’s highly successful early-stage venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Dan has participated in funding and building thirty-two companies and managed funds totaling over $140 million.

* Session: Blogging for Business

The Blog Squad

Known as The Blog Squad, Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff, Psy.D., are authorities in helping independent professionals and small businesses to grow and prosper through optimizing their blogs. Between them, they have 10 blogs they post to on a regular basis covering topics like Internet marketing, business blogging, ezine marketing, writing and marketing books with a blog, plus several private blogs for clients and programs they teach. The Blog Squad are co-authors of “Build a Better Blog: The Ultimate Guide to Boosting Your Business with a Professional Blog” and “Confessions of a Reluctant Blogger: From Boring to Brilliant in 30 Days”, and keepers of the blog site “Build a Better Blog.” They also host a weekly Internet radio show, “Blogging and Beyond.”

* Session: Blogging for Business

Jim Turner

Jim Turner began blogging in early 2004, and began posting about life as a father and husband. He became one of the top Daddy bloggers, and used his expertise to found One By One Media, LLC, a social media consulting firm. While consulting companies on using the new social media for their marketing and advertising needs, Jim then founded Bloggers For Hire, a company that provides professional bloggers to companies. Jim continues to be a well respected professional blogger and has mentored many bloggers to become professionals, and has lead companies to be successful in their online campaigns. Jim is a contributor to Business Blog Consulting, and also writes his personal blog at Genuineblog.com, and is the founder of the The Best of Blog Awards. When he is not blogging, Jim is busy being a husband and father of 4 kids 7 years old and younger.

* Session: Blogging for Business

Paul Lewis

With more than 20 years experience in marketing and information technology, Paul Lewis has gained recognition as a leading visionary and author in the field of modern marketing strategy. Through his expertise, Paul has served on the Advisory Board for the Direct Marketing Association and spoken at numerous marketing conferences worldwide such as DM Days, the Power of eMarketing and UFI Open Summer Seminar in Finland, presenting on topics including Generation Y and the digital generation, cross-media campaigning and relationship marketing. He is currently the co-author of the upcoming publication Y: Outside the Polls and Inside the Minds of the Millennials and is the President/CEO of Interactive Agency MindComet.

* Session: Connecting with Advertisers