Kim K. Tells Us What She Thinks and More
Friday, November 25, 2011
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving yesterday, and gobbled till you wobbled. I know I did.
| Photo Credit: http://www.latimes.com/news/blogs/ |
Thanksgiving is done, and I'm pleased to report that Kim Kardashian gave back to the less fortunate at the Los Angeles Mission the day before Thanksgiving ("Kim Kardashian's Thanksgiving mission to help those in need"). Did you hear about it? I found out about it today.
Even better, the only tweet that seemed related to her volunteer work was this one:
No mention of it in her blog or Facebook either. Good job for keeping it on the down low!
On to this week's blog post on internal relations and Kim's use of social media...
Kim Kardashian is a deliberate spokesperson for the "Kim Kardashian" brand. In fact, based on the "Five Types of Deliberate Spokespeople" identified in Bhargava's "Personality not included", she encompasses three out of the five types - the founder, the authority, and the celebrity.
As the official and deliberate spokesperson, she maintains a blog in her official website under Celebuzz.com, where she is considered a "Celebuzz Celeb Blogger". As I wrote in my old blog post "Kim Kardashian: Social Media Queen", "I find it surprising that Kim has her own domain name, which redirects to Celebuzz.com, but not to a site on her own server." Why does she have a blog under Celebuzz.com, instead of creating her own sub-domain? Surely, it doesn't cost that much to have her own server. Somehow, it diminishes the credibility of her blog. It's equivalent to having your business blog under Blogger with a blogspot.com domain name.
At the same time, it's possible that keeping her blog lodged with Celebuzz.com implies that her "Kim Kardashian" brand is not a business entity. It's simply a showbiz blog under BuzzMedia where she merely happens to share her life and promote her merchandise. I have to admit, given their families numerous product endorsements and even Kim's reported "$25,000 per tweet" contract clause, I do wonder if she gets compensated for keeping her blog under Celebuzz.com and for rendering her celebrity sparkle to the company? It's very likely to me, but who's to know?
Her collaboration with Celebuzz began in 2008 according to "Kim Kardashian Partners With Celebuzz to Further Expand Online Presence". But why Celebuzz.com?
Celebuzz.com is owned by BuzzMedia, Inc. BuzzMedia was formerly Buzznet. In the article "Buzznet launches Celebuzz.com, a social network for Perez Hilton groupies", Celebuzz was described as "a community for enthusiasts of celebrity news and gossip." In addition, "Celebuzz features a full-out social network with user-created content in addition to editorial content coming from in-house reporters, partner bloggers, paparazzi photo agencies, celebrities themselves, and 'expert panelists' like celebrities' personal trainers and plastic surgeons. At launch...it's already the 'fourth-largest celebrity site on the Internet, period,' following People.com, TMZ, and Yahoo's OMG." Here's what BuzzMedia has to say about Celebuzz.
That said, having her blog under Celebuzz could actually be a good move on her part, given the breadth and coverage of the network. All she needs to do is plug in the content, and the rest is up to Celebuzz to keep the engine running.
Her blog is a hybrid external blog - both a personal and a corporate blog. It's written in the first-person point of view, presumably by Kim herself. Is there a need for a separate internal and external blog for the "Kim Kardashian" brand?
Let's begin with my simple assumption: Kim Kardashian does not run her businesses on her own. Admittedly, it seems like the "Kim Kardashian" brand is just her, all about her, like it's a solo venture all throughout. Yet I doubt that she's a sole proprietor. She must have employees.
Now, I don't know whether or not an internal blog exists for her businesses. If she did indeed have employees, an internal blog can be a tool for her to keep everyone informed of what's going on with her businesses - new projects, project status and help keep the "Kim Kardashian" image alive. She can write it, or other employees can definitely chip in with their ideas and give feedback.
At the same time, an external blog is a must. For people outside of the "Kim Kardashian" organization, knowing who helps manage and run her brand - the wind beneath her wings, the behind-the-scenes staff - might prove helpful. Personally, I find it more interesting when companies acknowledge the "cogs in the machinery", no matter how small their contributions are. This blog can tell us what new products are in the works, or about to be launched. It can address complaints and criticism on her products as well - whether the designs aren't so great, or the quality is so-so. Once again, she can write this herself, or she can allow people who are involved in product production to post there.
As for the celebrity spokesperson, Kim is her own celebrity spokesperson for the "Kim Kardashian" brand. She's all over her blog. She maintains the content and writes the blog posts herself. Is she, as the spokesperson, used effectively? I dare say yes. If the "Kim Kardashian" brand does not use her, who would I want to be the spokesperson? Well, given it's the "Kim Kardashian" brand, there can be no other spokesperson but her.
Right now, her blog sounds authentic enough. I do wonder what if - heaven forbid - the Kim Kardashian blog hires ghost bloggers? Will people suspect and figure it out? How will it affect her brand if that was the case? I imagine her fans will raise a ruckus. After all, her blog is one of the ways they keep a relationship with her.
Nevertheless, Kim Kardashian is the voice for the "Kim Kardashian" brand. She's the person behind the brand. After all, would there be a "Kim Kardashian" brand without her? Of course not.
3 comments:
You've done a good job of uncovering who Celebuzz is and what they do. You've also explained why she is associated with that brand. (I wonder, however, whether they write each celebrity's blog as part of their "service". This would be very appealing to those celebrities who want a blog but don't want to be bothered actually writing it themselves. So they can go off and do "celebrity things," while this company gives them a persona to their fans.)
However, I think beyond that, this one's tough for an internal relations assignment, because there doesn't seem to be any employees outside of her and her family. And she wouldn't need a blog to communicate with them. Obviously, as you point out, she is the brand, so there's no point in another spokesperson who might compete with her.
One thing to think about is all those products on which she has her name. They must come from some companies. Does she communicate with the people in them in any special way? Does she give them thanks for their hard work or tell them how important they are? Probably not. One hopes that the companies themselves do that job.
I had to laugh when I saw that you had selected Kim as the corporation to blog about...it is a strange phenomena to me that she has "no talent" yet is the most widely googled woman...what has happened to our society?
I find it incredible that she has marketed herself & family as a product. The blog she "writes" of course must be written/edited by another person and of course she is being paid by Celebuzz to use their site.
I'm somewhat skeptical that she writes her own blog. Maybe she gives an outline to a ghost writer and approves the final text. It's also hard to accept that she is a one person corporation. She has become so large now that surely she has support staff of some kind if only a PA.
Interesting that she didn't play up her Thanksgiving service. Says something about her character. But then again hearing nothing about those who may or may not be working with her on her brand says something as well.
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