The irony is that we keep talking about the power of digital storytelling, yet unfortunately a lot of the online initiatives we see are promo-driven social media efforts that don’t encourage genuine engagement
You hear brands and agencies talking about it all the time: influencer marketing. Questions like: “How do I engage bloggers?” “How can I get them to attend our events?” “How do I get bloggers to write something nice about my company/product/service?”
While these are common queries, my advice is to take a step back and be clear about what your objective is, and why bloggers would be interested in helping you meet it.
Sure, I may be biased because of my background as both a journalist and a blogger (I was a tech journalist for Philippine online news site INQUIRER.net and later became part of the Editorial team of Yahoo! Southeast Asia, and also had a stint as a tech blogger for CNET Asia) before joining digital agency Tribal Worldwide Philippines and then the Digital Asia team of Manulife Asia.
Still, I believe the first thing you should be asking yourself before reaching out to a blogger and inviting him or her to your event is: “What’s my story?” You know something’s wrong when you think the most important question is “What’s the venue?” or “What kind of food will I serve?” or “What’s my raffle prize/blogger kit/giveaway?”
Why do you need to offer great stories?
I’m a big believer in the power of blogging and citizen journalism, and I know that many bloggers are very passionate about the content they create and the community they’ve built. Remember, it usually takes bloggers years of hard work to grow their audience and build a following. They did this for their readers, not for your company, so your goal should be to develop long-term relationships based on mutual respect.
For bloggers like these, the best thing your brand or agency can offer are great stories. The irony is that we keep talking about the power of digital storytelling, yet unfortunately a lot of the online initiatives we see are promo-driven social media efforts that don’t encourage genuine engagement, but instead attract “professional contest joiners”. Or we see press releases that are just copied and pasted on some blogs, which defeats the purpose of getting the blogger’s unbiased views that his or her community has come to respect.
What bloggers want and need to retain the loyalty of their readers is fresh, engaging content for their blog. That’s where your brand and agency can come in by offering interesting information and events, and early access (i.e. sneak previews, beta tests, etc.) to upcoming products and services.
Unfortunately, here are some of the wrong things brands and agencies do, which are surefire ways to earn the wrath of bloggers and other influencers:
- Not bothering to read their blog and guidelines before contacting the blogger. Talk about starting the relationship on the wrong foot. Do your research, and find out basic things such as whether a blog accepts ads or sponsored posts before reaching out to the blogger.
- Pitching a story about a topic they don’t cover. Related to the above, because it shows you don’t read the blog; otherwise you’ll know what kind of topics they write about for their posts. Either that, or you’re being presumptuous in thinking they’ll write about anything if you ask them.
- Mangling their name, or worse, addressing them by another blogger’s name. I’m sure this has happened many times to bloggers — receiving an email or invitation addressed to another blogger. Talk about awkward!
- Assuming they’ll only write positive reviews. Just because you invited them to your event doesn’t mean you’ve bought their posts. The credibility they’ve built with their readers is based on objective reviews. Undermine their credibility, and they lose the influence with their community that made you want to build a relationship with them in the first place.
- Pestering them about when the story will come out. Again, bloggers are covering your event for their readers. They’re also covering other events and have other posts lined up, so don’t keep hounding them.
- Inviting them at the last minute. Inviting bloggers to your event should be part of the long-term relationship that you’re building, not an afterthought. What’s worse is if this is your first time to invite the blogger — yes, first impressions do matter. Bloggers also have busy schedules, so make sure to invite them ahead of time. Unless, of course, it’s breaking news or something as important.
- Treating them as second-class citizens. In a way, this covers all of the above, because sometimes brands and agencies still suffer from the “They’re just bloggers” mentality. How can you build a relationship when you look down upon them, and only remember them when you need something? When I was an editor, I reminded my reporters that there are good bloggers and bad bloggers, just as there are good journalists and bad journalists. And at the end of the day, I don’t care who submits the story to me, whether it’s a reporter or a blogger — what matters is the quality of the story. Great content can come from professional or citizen journalists, and bloggers don’t deserve this lack of respect.
For some useful tips on how to develop better blogger outreach programs and think out of the box, check out this post.
The importance of a sound digital strategy
While influencer marketing is the current buzzword, it’s just one of the many areas you have to address in your overall digital strategy. I also believe that brands and agencies should strive to build quality relationships with credible bloggers and influencers, instead of just jumping on the bandwagon in the hopes of “trending” or “going viral”. It should also go hand-in-hand with social CRM (customer relationship management), because at the end of the day, your brand’s best influencers are your satisfied customers. But that’s a post for another time.
Are you a blogger? Do you have other pet peeves that you would like to add? Or are you from a brand or agency that works with bloggers? Share your insight in the comments — I’d love to continue this conversation with you.
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This article was originally published on Medium.
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