When Community Hurts Your Marketing

There have been a lot of allegations of bad behavior and “shame on you” posts after the blogging conference I attended. There are always different expectations for this type of conference: some bloggers view it as a networking and professional development opportunity, while others treat it as more of a party or vacation. I suppose it’s natural that those two styles would clash.

But a lot of the backlash has been aimed at “mommybloggers” and I think it’s undeserved. Yes, there were a lot of moms there. But there were many women in attendance who don’t have kids, too. Allegations of swag grabbing, threatening sponsors, and a sense of entitlement absolutely cannot be laid at the feet of moms alone.

There is only one example of a problem — the #nikonhatesbabies hashtag on Twitter. A mom who was denied entrance to a private party tweeted with that tag (she later said she only meant it as a joke), and the use of the tag went downhill from there. That example is the only one that is most definitely from a mom. The rest of it? I’m not convinced unless someone has examples where they saw someone they know as a mom blogger, too much of this is heresy.

And it bothers me. As part of the community that is being maligned, it affects me. People already sneer a little when you’re a mom and a blogger, even if you write about topics other than your kids. I don’t appreciate the endless talk of how horrible mom bloggers are.

It affects me because I have a harder time marketing myself as a parenting writer or a mom blogger when all of this negativity is floating around. Sure, it’ll die down eventually. But in the meantime I either have to distance myself from the community that means a lot to me, or stand up and say I’m not going to take the negativity directed at us — undeservedly — any more. Both are hard to do and each have their own repercussions.

When you are part of a larger group and you identify yourself that way, it can sometimes affect your business whether you want it to or not. And you have to decide whether you need to adjust your marketing strategy, wait out the storm, or find a new community. Have you had to deal with this type of situation? Which did you do?

image: lumaxart