Sponsored Review
A lot of buzz has been created in the blogosphere since a new marketing service launched a couple of days ago. ReviewMe is a service for advertisers to purchase honest reviews on blogs for their service or product.
But why would advertisers want a review? Publicity is the main reason. The more blogs you have mentioning your product or service, the more people will find out about it. Word of mouth, or viral marketing is among the most successful ways of launching an online marketing campaign.
However, there has been an ethical question to including “payed for” reviews in one’s blog. Other similar services endorsed in the past (and some still do) “questionable” practices, such as requesting for “positive” reviews, and that bloggers would not disclose that a post had been payed for. In other words, disgustingly misleading their readers.
And this is why until ReviewMe came into the picture I refused signing up for any similar service.
But how is ReviewMe any different? Skeptics may wonder. Here is what the service tells advertisers: “We do not allow advertisers to require a positive review”. What this means is that as a ReviewMe member, you can be as objective in your reviews as you would be on any other post in your blog. If you don’t like a service or product, or think it doesn’t suit you for any reason you can either criticize it or refuse to review it at all. Also, it is actually required to make clear to readers whether a review on your blog has been sponsored.
And this is why I signed-up for ReviewMe. A service which actually pays for objective reviews. I wonder if anyone will request me to review their product or service in the near future, but if this happens rest assured they have to be worth the effort or you will never read about it. This has been my first “sponsored review” and I feel it is an honest account of my first impressions on the ReviewMe service. You will always be able to recognize sponsored reviews on my blog since they will be marked as such.
For more information, visit the ReviewMe website here.
