Many brands still don’t understand a blogger’s influence. They would rather cultivate the relationships with their local media than their local blogger. But today, bloggers have a lot of leverage. Just do a search and you will find that most of the search engines have the blogs first even before many web sites.
Here is a list of do’s and don’ts on building blogger relations:
- Do: Cultivate a relationship with your local and industry bloggers and maintain the relationship.
- Don’t: Send them a general press release or pitch letter. Make sure that the pitch specifically targets the individual blogger.
- Do: Invite them to your events and offer them products for review. But remember they must disclose the endorsement.
- Don’t: Invite them to an event and then never follow up.
- Do: Ask the blogger what he/she likes to write about and what his/her interests are.
- Don’t: Assume that because the blogger focuses on business the person isn’t interested in reviewing a book or a play. (I write about a lot of different things to make my blog a little more enjoyable and interesting to different readers.)
- Do: Research on Technorati, Blogcritics and other search engines to find bloggers in your area of expertise.
- Don’t: Assume that all bloggers are on Cision or any other local media blaster. Some are and some aren’t, so remember to do your research.
- Do: Write the pitch with bullets and provide a strong lead.
- Don’t: Write long winded copy. This will turn the blogger off and you will be deleted or put in the junk folder going forward.
- Finally Do: Respond quickly. Their time is valuable and most often they are not getting paid for their blog, so be sure to respect their time.
Related articles
- Book Review: Social Media Judo (hilarytopper.com)
- 12 Tips on Approaching Bloggers (socialmedia.biz)
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I have not received any compensation for writing this content and I have no material connection to the brands, topics and/or products that are mentioned herein. https://CMP.LY/0/tyCaLQ
Good tips – bloggers are so influential and important in the world today!