Jory Des Jardins, BlogHer and Larisa Hall, TheFind.com, addressed how to reach the true influencers on the web, women. They shared a campaign that they completed online.

Jory described what BlogHer is and how they have grown over the past year to over 10,000 members, almost purely WOM driven. They do not advertise. Jory views the site as the TVGuide to women bloggers.

Jory sees the marketing dollar moving, and more of this is moving online. While people spend 36.4% of their time online, advertising only spends around 5% online. Looking at BlogHer stats: 94% female, 64% between the ages of 28-40, 51% visit daily, 94% with high school education. The women are also not afraid to buy online.

In October of 2006, TheFind.com launched a new 'search by color' feature. The campaign objective was to drive women to the site to use the service and build buzz about the feature. But how do you market a service like this? TheFind knew they wanted to support a charitable cause as part of the program, TheFind.com looked to BlogHer and asked their members how they should proceed.

The BlogHer network wanted to support Doctors Without Borders. TheFind.com donated $1 for searches for anything red on its shopping search engine. BlogHer was given the exclusive run of the campaign so they could have a sense of ownership. The members appreciated that.

When users completed searches on TheFind.com that resulted in a donation they received immediate feedback and thanks.

The campaign resulted in an increase in 'red' searches from 1% to 12%. Over 10% of the searchers came back 5-6 times in order to search again and donate. The donation to Doctors Without Borders was $10,000.

What's better click-thrus or blog chatter? Jory and Larisa think that blog posts are better since it also helps boost your SEO.

What did they learn?
- Be creative, but keep it simple
- Identify a cause that your target is known to care about
- Give examples, help them out
- Interact with those bloggers who participating
- Always solicit and respond to feedback
- If you are choosing a philanthropic route, choose your charity carefully to make sure they spend their money wisely

Doing good = ink in the blogosphere. If your campaign can be a story in itself then it will be talked about.