I was
recently asked for my views on collaborating with bloggers for a piece
on Productive Blogging.
You can
read my thoughts below and read the feature here.
What do you look for when choosing bloggers
Bloggers contact us
for different reasons. To review products, which mean we have to send the
clients product to them. Generally this is not returned. Or the blogger
may need comment for an article or a regular column. Choosing to work with
a blogger can be for many reasons.
The amount of pages viewed on a blog is
essential and one of the first things we look for – there is no point having
great content if no one sees it. Great bloggers normally have great stats.
A large social media following is a must. Like
anything these days, social media presence is crucial for promotion. From a PR
point of view, we provide a blogger with content or a product and we need it to
be visible to as many of the correct audience as possible in as many places a
possible. The blogger should share the story more than once on their social
media pages for us and our client to engage with.
Good content is always crucial. The blogger
needs to be able to write engaging copy that’s well written. We would also
expect a backlink to the relevant website to be included. It’s the new
journalism and we hope that bloggers understand that.
The website has to look appealing with high
resolution and quality images. The website also needs to be easy to navigate.
Without this, people will drop-off the website without giving the content a
chance.
Do you encourage bloggers to contact you
directly with a pitch? If so how do you suggest they do that? What would you
like to receive from them?
Yes, we’re always interested to hear
from bloggers – existing and new.
For us, email is best, or phone, but we need
the information to make a considered decision etc. so email can do that.
We would always like to see a media pack,
links to example features & their success.
What do you want to see in a media kit from
a blogger? And what do you really NOT want/need in a media kit??
Keep it short, visual and factual.
Key information:
·
who you are
- demographic
- page
views
- average
entries for competitions & third party data permissions
- links
to feature example
We don’t want to see the following:
- the bloggers
life story or personal information
- poor
images – resolution, lighting etc.
- poor
use of language
- poor
or no examples
What can a blogger do to make
themselves be more likely to be chosen for a paid campaign?
Be higher profile.
We would probably know them already as they
would be a key figure in our industry.
Offer as many statistics and data as
possible, we like to see proof of deliverables.
Investigate the products/feature their
looking to promote so they know what they’re talking about before making
contact with PRs.
Offer a thorough review/feature with a
minimum word count, number of images and backlink to the relevant website.
Guarantee regular engagement on social media,
using the right tags and hashtags.
Be willing to negotiate on price. Smaller
clients don’t always have a large budget and product offerings can be pricey
for them.
Include engaging imagery in blogs/posts. If
it’s a product and you can’t take good photographs, ask to be supplied with
imagery to use.
What advice would you give bloggers in
negotiating the best fees for a project?
Know your PR and the clients you want to work
with. Generally the fee will be relevant because you know your audience and
what you are writing about.
There is an art to negotiating, but the
outcome needs to suit both the PR and blogger.
There is often a lot of frustration in the
blogging world about lack of fees/low fees. How can we work together to best
improve that situation?
Fees in traditional media came from
advertising and the two rarely crossed over. Editorial was about a good
story.
Everyone wants value for money and the above
and below the line has become blurred. A PR knows when they should be
paying for something because they will see the value.
PRs get approached several times every day
and many bloggers are happy to feature for free if the content is good and
will get them good engagement. This is because in the end it is win
win.
Offer a series of features over 12 months – a
long term partnership will have ongoing engagement is the way we like to
work. As its relevant for all.
We get asked for a lot for paid for entries,
but the bloggers statistics just aren’t big enough to warrant our clients
paying for a feature.
Invest the time, resource and relationships
to get a great looking blogs and increase your social media following before
asking for paid for activity.
What do you like about working
with bloggers?
That they’re open to ideas and features opportunities.
It’s great to work together on specific angles.
What would you like to see more of in the
blogging industry?
Bloggers coming back to PR’s every quarter to
see if we have any news to share. We try and keep our contacts updated with all
the latest news, but it’s great to touch base and check in every now and then.
It also strengthens the relationship.
More thorough features/reviews, not just one
or two sentences. It’s very disappointing to see, especially when there has
been an investment, either in a fee or by sending a product to the blogger.
Better quality images. There are no excuses
these days. Mobile phones and Instagram filters means that anyone can have
great images.
