What started out as a way for regular people to use the internet to voice their thoughts and opinions about life, love and stuff they like has become a credible source of content. Blogging is still king!

Fashion bloggers sit front row at the world’s most important runway shows alongside Vogue editors, music bloggers get freebies to some of the world’s best gigs and lifestyle bloggers get tickets to glam social events usually reserved for celebs and the like.

Blogs work because they are a credible voice, it’s non-traditional media and it resonates with people.

Good bloggers provide engaging content that drives readers back and because it’s conversational it allows audiences to build an emotional attachment to the words, pictures and sometimes to the blogger, too.

So how can clients use this media to engage with their target audience? This might seem obvious but the key is to provide engaging content and use the content as a catalyst to integrate your brand. Most importantly, use credible voices and write about topics that appeal to the target demographic, not just stuff about your brand or product.

MTV ran a blogger search for Sony Ericsson that tapped into the above ethos with great success. The campaign rolled out as a search for bloggers in Fashion, Music, Gadgets and Films – all genres that their target demo engages with on a regular basis. The winners in each category got their own blog integrated into the Sony Ericsson website and were free to cover whatever they wanted that was related to their category.

Audiences were able to engage with great content, learn about the features of the Xperia phone and Sony Ericsson got to leverage their brand against the trendsetting bloggers, other cool likeminded brands and MTV.

Blogging, when done well, is worth talking about and it might give your client’s brand that extra channel of communication that will take your integrated campaign to the next level.