Electronics makers court bloggers

Electronics makers are going all out in courting influential bloggers in order to create favorable views of their products.

As star bloggers with near-professional knowledge and edgy writing skills hold sway among customers of electronics gadgets, the companies are becoming more aggressive in their blog marketing, offering free products and even overseas trips to bloggers.

Samsung Electronics recently sent four-star bloggers to Europe, asking them to write about their experiences there on the official blog of its new mobile phone, the Soul.

Their personal accounts of European cities such as London, Paris and Amsterdam, through 93 postings on the blog, have attracted 750,000 page views so far, the company said.

Earlier, the company gave out its premium touch-screen phone, the Haptic, to 30 bloggers, asking them to post reviews on an official blog for the phone.

Such a gimmick has helped attract customers` attention to the phone, Samsung officials believe. It has sold more than 400,000 units of the model in Korea until the end of July, only four months after the phone`s launch.

The company is considering employing a similar blog marketing strategy for an upgraded Haptic, scheduled for release next month.

The Korean unit of Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp. has held a dinner party, inviting about 100 bloggers, in line with the launch of its new laptop series.

"These bloggers are customers who have big influence on other customers` choices. An increasing number of customers take into account reviews by these bloggers and other user-generated content before making a purchase," an official at Sony Korea said.

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By Lee Sun-young



(milaya@heraldm.com)