Engaging with bloggers and online influencers, especially as a brand, can do wonders to raise your profile and put your products, services and name in front of select, relevant audiences.
SEO agency, every1 recently published their Blogger and Brands report which highlighted the sticking points bloggers and influencers have when working with brands and the steps that brands can take to help avoid this.
The report shows that 77% of collaboration rejections come from the brand simply not being a good fit for the blog.
Where a brand might see a blogger with a massive social following and audience to engage with it is important to understand that audience follow that blogger for a reason. The content they engage with is relevant to them and to their interests. Taking the time to assess your relevance to an audience before you approach a blogger can save you time and effort and avoid having to deal with rejection emails.
Instead think about who uses your products and services, look at that particular niche and find bloggers and influencers that fit within it. You might not necessarily hit the same size audiences as you would engage with a big-name blogger but the audience you do reach will be more engaged, receptive and more likely to be a potential customer.
According to the report 75% of social influencers rejected a collaboration based upon the approach brands take. Commonly this is something as simple as an email, but the comments from bloggers revealed a range of problems, generic emails, lack of budget to pay for their time, even the wrong name or website on the email.
Show some respect for the site, blogger or influencer you are trying to work with. Send an email that is unique to the person you are contacting. Explain who you are, why you want to work with them and open up line of communication.
Once you’ve opened those lines of communication and agreed to work with a blogger you need to make sure the content you create actually works not just for your needs but also the needs of the blog.
While you may be paying for the time of the blogger you need to account for the differences between your overall commercial goals and the objectives of the blogger and find a middle ground that is mutually beneficial.
Keep in mind the audience won’t want to be directly sold to through overly salesy content, and you need to adapt the tone of voice you might normally use for your brand to suit the blogger and their audience as the content needs to fit naturally on their site.
Getting the content right can massively increase your chances of turning a blogger’s audience into advocates for your brand and create a useful working relationship that can allow you to reach and communicate with an interested and engaged audience effectively.
Understanding the niche you occupy, finding the right bloggers, then approaching them properly with the right ideas for content can reap major rewards for a business. Taking the time to research and plan, considering your needs and the blogger’s, can be incredibly effective and improve your reach and online profile.
