There has been alot of negative feedback from Bloggers around the way that certain agencies approach them, the “incentives” they are offered, and the pushiness of the people running the blogging programme. Given the ruling of the FTC that all bloggers should say when they are being paid to blog, I feel its necessary to be transparent from an agency end as well. Therefore, I think there are five key points to blogger outreach:
1) Research.
a) There are alot of companies out there like Social Media Library, who will sell you a list of blogging names with their own influence index built in. These companies are taking you for a ride if you think the quality of database is any good. You are much better off doing the research yourselves and establishing your own influence index for bloggers. Whether you base this on Alexa, Technorati or whatever, do not go on the index you are given by people like Social Media Library.
b) Don’t approach a blogger without doing research on their site. Bloggers are not expecting you to read every post, however, they will expect you to know what their blog is about, the sort of tone of voice they use, and the sort of things they really like talking about.
2. Bespoke Approach. As offline PR agencies begin to move into online PR and blogger outreach, there seems to be a consistent blanket approach which is taken to contacting bloggers. Unfortunately, sometimes these blanket emails fail and clearly show “Dear [Enter Name]” as the automated greeting. The only way to approach bloggers is to approach them with a bespoke email, taking into account all of the above research points. Do not send a generic approach, it will only annoy and alienate the person you are trying to befriend.
3. Constant Contact. If a blogger has been positive towards your first approach, then don’t wait to begin your outreach. Discuss everything you are doing with them as you go, talk about the product with them to get their understanding of it, before you send them the product. Give them constant, but relevant updates about what the company is doing, what you are doing, etc. The more involved they feel, the more likely they are to respond positively. Do not lose contact, as it takes along time to build up initially.
4. If they say No, be polite. I have spoken to a few bloggers who have had really rude, negative feedback from blooger outreach programmes. Generally, the smaller the company the more high pressure there is to connect with bloggers, therefore the more tension. Treating bloggers like third rate citizens is not on.
5. Be more personal. If you can, phone them. A one to one is better than email, by a long way.
An additional fantastic comment from Eric Friedman at Marketing.FM (Thanks Eric..)
“I think another big part of any blog program should be letting the CEO\founder\company person speak to the blogger. Nothing solidifies the importance of the project than speaking directly to the originator of the idea. I would venture to say that the outreach and connecting doesn’t stop once you get an interest, but rather should complete the loop back to someone at the company. Many times this is impossible due to scale and time issues, but in some cases make the exception. I think this should apply to the large publications and a few small ones as well”
