Bloggers are increasingly gaining ownership in the channels that consumers use to decide on which purchases to make, how people gather information and who to look to as an authority on any given topic. Basically, they are becoming more influential by the moment and it’s crucial to your brand that you have good relationships with a variety of bloggers.
Here are some tips to improving the quality of your relationships with the bloggers in your life and who knows— maybe these tips will help your relationship with a significant other too…
Relationships are Never One Sided
Just like in a marriage, the relationship needs to be two-sided and this starts with the pitch. When reaching out to bloggers in your initial campaigns you are making your virtual first impression. Therefore, your pitch first and foremost needs to be demonstrative of your ability to give and take. Though your intention is to perpetuate a brand or piece of content, it’s wise to brainstorm and include in the pitch what you can offer the blogger. Here are some common ways to “collaborate” instead of throwing a one sided pitch:
- If you also have an active blog for your company, offer to exchange guest posts.
- Make the blogger realize that you are giving them a piece of content or exposure to a brand that their audience would love and find intriguing.
- Do their homework for them. Provide the facts, content, research, etc. necessary for the blogger to effortlessly put up the post promotes your brand.
Engagement is Crucial
Engagement is key not only for personal relationships but for blogger relationships as well. Actively engage in their social media channels. Whether you retweet their words, comment on their blog posts, share their article on Facebook— the blogger will see this interest in what they are doing and feel valued by you.
Appeal to the Ego
Give them an ego boost. Who doesn’t like reassurance? Tell the blogger when you like a piece of their content and how it was beneficial to you or your client. Because our relationships with bloggers are over the web, it’s easy to forget that they have self-esteem that needs boosting too.
Don’t Give them “Gifts” They Don’t Want
No one wants a press release. Would you email a press release to your significant other? Out of all the frustrations voiced by successful bloggers, the gripe about too many press releases is number one.
The problem stems from PR professionals trying to pitch bloggers like they would traditional journalists. Who can blame them? It’s been done this way for years. But, the reality is that bloggers are not traditional reporters and they want creative content that is tailored specifically to their niche which is way more honed in on than news sources from the past.
Make Them Feel Like They Are The Only One
In all your relationships, isn’t it true that the person with whom you are trying to maintain a good relationship wants to feel like “the only one?” Bloggers don’t ever want to feel like they are on some cookie cutter pitch email. Therefore, each pitch should be tailored to each individual blogger and you need to make sure they realize it was written just for them by mentioning specifics from their content. Yes, this can be time consuming but the results make the time spent worth it!
Relationships Need To Be Maintained
Like a marriage, your relationship with each blogger needs to be maintained. It’s not healthy for a long term relationship to reach out and get what you need from the blogger and never contact them again or not contact them again until you need something. With maintenance, you can keep your blogger contacts happy and it’s very likely that they will become useful again in another campaign.
Author Bio: Kristen Matthews the Marketing and Community Manager for GroupHigh, a blogger outreach tool, based out of Boulder Colorado. She loves to write and enjoy life through travel, good food, creativity and interesting people. You can contact her for any writing requests and collaboration ideas at Kristen@GroupHigh.com