My plan

Since we'll be getting a depressingly low reward for reports, and since we'll have to wait a month while our points are pending, I've decided I need a new plan.

I'm going to do three frogs a month, accept any campaign I don't have to pay to get in (because each campaign I accept will give me the opportunity to earn two honeycombs), and do two reports and ONLY two reports per campaign. I will do all the surveys and polls since that's how they match you to new campaign offers. And that's it. After I get enough MyPoints to get one last gift card (I am half way there, so I'm going to stick with it that long) I will no longer attempt to get rewards from BzzAgent. I'll go after campaigns, but not rewards. They aren't worth the effort I would have to put forth to get them.

Good plan Karen!

I plan on doing the same.

good plan! I agree, I did not even think about accepting every campaign now, there really is no point in turning down a campaign anymore since you do not drop your tier and you only need 2 reports. I think i will take every one offered to me as well

I'm still new here ::wave::: but that's my plan too. I love having a challenge, and getting up to tier 4 was always my push to keep bzzing, but now that I have a ceiling of opportunity, I'm not motivated anymore. The rewards were never a big deal, but I did like that they counted for SOMETHING...now that anything above two reports is only worth about 50 mypoints, it's just not worth it anymore, and forcing myself to coomplete three frogpond activities will utilize all my extra willpower (I hate the frogpond!).

DisneyKrayzie wrote:good plan! I agree, I did not even think about accepting every campaign now, there really is no point in turning down a campaign anymore since you do not drop your tier and you only need 2 reports. I think i will take every one offered to me as well

that of course assumes they'll be offering any campaigns... the well sure has been dry for a long, long time, or so it seems. when my two remaining campaigns come to an end, i'm not holding my breath waiting for a new one!

cross your fingers for campaigns....do the campaign dance....hell do what ever it takes I am bored.

That's my plan -- that's why I forfeited my points -- there's just no reason to collect them at the rate they're being offered. Plus I figure that if enough people do the bare minimum, sooner or later they'll raise point values again because they won't getting enough reports like with the Crest Whitestrips campaign. The mid campaign emails even said they weren't getting as many reports as they expected in that one.

I like your plan... sounds like a motto to live by

Sounds good to me too! It totally makes sense. Sign me up!

I refuse to agree with Karen on general purposes.

So instead, my plan is to do any campaign offered, as long as they are free, with 2 reports. ONLY. do the 3 frogs a month that are required, and try to get INTO my points to redeem my cards. Then pretend like they dont exist.

LOL!

I know this will probably stir a few feathers but here goes. I have read in numerous threads that people are not BzzAgents for the rewards and the points don't matter. And that they did a lot of reports per campaign because they felt they owed it to the company that gave them the free product to try. Well my questions are:

These companies are still giving the free products, aren't they?

And if you answered yes to that question with,"Yes but there is no incentive to do more than the required 2 reports", then I would like to know, is that the fault of the company giving you these free products?

If you answer no to that question, then I would like to know why are you going to penalize the company that is giving you the free product by not writing as many reports as you did before?

Now go beyond all the frustrations and aggrevations and ask yourselves if you truly are not doing this because of the points and rewards.

I personally have only been a BzzAgent for a year. I have only been in 5 campaigns in that year. I was a tier 1 and I was fine with that. I am also fine with only being a level 2. I thought this was supposed to be about receiving a product, talking about that product, and reporting to BzzAgent about the product you have talked about. I didnt know it was supposed to be - if I do this, what is in it for me and how high can I get on some list. I am not trying to say anything other than what my opinion is of what I have read and observed. I also agree that mypoints is not friendly to our northern neighbors but again is that the fault of the companies giving you the products to try out?


My plan is to continue on the same way I was before all the changes because I feel that I truly do owe it to the companies giving me these products to try.

I have always done the actual Bzzing (i.e. having conversations about the product) naturally. And there is no reason that will change. I didn't figure the time it takes me to Bzz a product into the per hour rate BzzAgent pays for reporting when I did that math earlier. I don't go very far out of my way to do it. And so I will continue to Bzz products as I always have. I figure that fulfills my obligation to the company. I am advertising their product and increasing interest in it.

But I have always considered the reports to be work. Easy work, for the most part. But work. I DON'T naturally type up my conversations, include quotes, describe the circumstances that led up to the topic, etc. And I don't think that those reports are as important to the client as BzzAgent would like us to think they were. Sure companies want some feedback on their products. But these products have already been tested. They aren't in development. So somebody might be interested in the reports if the product does a lot better or a lot worse than they expected. But I think that for the most part, the reports are for BzzAgent. BzzAgent com devs read them, and most likely if someone is interested in our feedback, BzzAgent would gather that info to them using a computer program that tracks the responses in the drop down box that asks how the Bzz was received.

was, I am in it for what I can get. Yes its cool to try a new product. and yes I know bzz is NOT a freebie site. But I got stuff, and I do as they ask. For me its no differnt for when Pinecone sends me toilet paper* to try and asks me NOT to tell anyone I am using said toilet paper, then asks me to do a survey for it and pays me. I do this for survey companies ALL the time, and get paid CASH money.

They can spin it how they want. They wouldnt have NEAR the people if it wernt for the promise of rewards.

for Bzz I do it a little differnt, I try the product and try to influence purchases. I do this naturally. I am always talking about something. (by the way, the blackberry is the COOLEST FREAKIN PHONE EVER!!) and I dont get paid for it. BUT I am also not fixing to write blackberry and tell them I have convinced 3 people to get one. (SIL and BIL are going to go and try to get one this week, Hubby got one and so is a neice, although she is gona have to beg a little more...).

So I ... sorry, I got lost..

OH yea. RIM could care less that I just sold 3 possibly 4 of their phones in the first 5 hours I had one. and they aint gona give me crap for it.

And my point is, none of this is done out of the goodness of anyones heart. Its all a money game.

Tetra fish food gives Bzzagent 3 million dollars and 500 bzz kits. They in turn give us a free supply of fish food, treats and a cute little tree for our tanks. we tell 40 people. we submit reports. They give them to tetra. and prove how much we have talked about the product. The good and the bad, they can fix the bad, and market the good. then they give us a little reward (tiers, keys, mypoints, wafflemakers) and Tetra increases their sales by 20%. Thereby making 12 million dollars.

OR

Tetra give Pinecone* 500 samples, we use it on our fifsh, then we do a survey and they learn that it worked well for us. They pay us. Tetra is able to fix what needs fixing, market it to who wants it, and make it a better product, and hopefully, put it in our minds that we need to spend the extra 2.00 a bottle for tetra.

Since I am getting something for ALL my work with PInecone, I dont mind doing it. Since I am getting something for 2 reports for bzzagent, I dont mind doing it.


Yes, I am in this for ME. Sure I love to talk, I love to promote things I like, but I also do this for ME. That is where I stand in this. I am not going to do alot of PT or surveys and never get anything for it. but I am not going to lie to advance either.

DO both companies have the same goal? No, but have both companies changed my buying habits? yes. Will I talk about how much I like the toilet paper? yes, when I buy it for myself, and with out disclosing that I was in a PT for it when it was a brand new product and I helped to mold it into what it is.

Alot of people are in this for truley unselfish reasons. and I applaud that. I am not. so this is whats best for me.

*I have done neither a toilet paper test nor a fish food test for Pinecone. I only used the name pinecone because its a well known company.

Well, I no longer collect points so they really are irrelevant to me. The companies still get their WOM every time I talk about a product, which is what they're paying for. BzzAgent only gets 2 reports because that's all they're encouraging us to give them. I move up one honeycomb, but I'm not really sure why -- since I'm level 6 already it's not like I've got a level 7 to shoot for. Looks like everyone gets what they've asked for to me!

By not encouraging us to write more than 2 reports, they are actually likely saving themselves a lot of money. Fewer reports mean fewer ComDevs needed to read and approve those reports. Fewer reports also mean fewer rewards redeemed, costing them less money (ignoring that they had little to no rewards available before Shaloha).

Does anyone really know if our reports are actually going to the companies that are providing the products or if they are just getting a "There are XX,XXX people talking about your products and XX% is favorable." type report? If the latter, there is nothing in it for BzzAgent to encourage multiple reports.

It is my understanding that the later is true. While an occasional report may go to the company, most do not.

I base this belief on both the high number of crappy reports they seem to approve on a regular basis, and on reading the section of their website that is to answer questions for prospective clients.

Analyze
We track ROI, Net Promoter® Score (NPS) and other data-driven metrics that gauge performance. We aggregate, synthesize and analyze Agent reports and communications so you can fully understand the impact of your WOM campaign.

We also provide qualitative feedback and marketing recommendations derived from real conversations. So, if people didn't like the color of your product, had ideas for improved packaging or thought the service didn't live up to expectations — we'll tell you. This real-world information provides invaluable customer insight that can inform product, marketing and sales strategies.

Interested in something else? Tell us what you want to know — and we'll tailor our analysis so it works with your own internal benchmarks and barometers.

My plan is to stick it out...maybe I won't turn in as many reports..but I will try and make my reports better...but really some reports I read there is so much filler and fluff...I want to scream get to the point already!!

Then I read the one and two sentence reports and laugh...at myself..and you bothered to write a decent report why???

Then I think there is no way I could be a report reader for Bzz...


So I guess really nothing will change for me..except hoping that what they are saying about more campaigns are true..

And more agents will get campaigns..

I think Karen is correct. I think the client gets figures, charts, graphs, what have you, but only the actual reports of they request them.
I am very willing to admit that I am in this for what I get out of it. I never have believed we are influencing the product, I think we are influencing the market. I beleive the reason companies are using WOM, and other new types of marketing has to do with looking for new ways to market due to technology changing the way we do things. One example is Tivo and personal dvr's in general. So many people now fast forward through the commercials, companies had to start to think outside the box. WOM marketing is one option that was born, so is product placement on the show. Real products with the name clearly shown are seen in shows all the time now. They also talk about the products in the dialog of the show.
BzzAgent is a marketing company and make lots of money off my bzzing products. I see no reason I should do that for no return to me what so ever.