Blogger relations best practice

Yesterday I was the guys at Rocket PR in London talking about blogging and blogger relations. My key message when approaching bloggers – handle with care. Bloggers are not the same as journalists although the principle remains the same – you need to provide them with something targeted, compelling and relevant if you want your company or client to feature positively in their posts and tweets.

First up, when is a blogger truly a “blogger”? Some sites that started out as blogs are so big and professional now that they may as well count as media publications, with the “bloggers” essentially becoming journalists, albeit with more propensity to offer an opinion. Spend time fostering good relations with your target bloggers; it’s all about the long game.

Why target bloggers?

Bloggers are amateurs, coming from the Latin verb amare – to love, so they have far more free reign to write about something that they’re passionate about and are potentially more trusted by the general public as a result. Many blogs have influential followings and high Google PageRank, so a link back from their site from a positive product review or story is an added bonus.

Many bloggers are writing to a small audience, though so focus on a short-list of key influencers.

How to identify bloggers that matter

How do you identify those key bloggers in your sphere? Check out free blog listing sites such Wikio, Technorati or Google Blog Search, then double check their traffic rates on sites such as Compete or Alexa to see how many visitors they’re getting. Paid-for services include CisionPoint, Gorkana or the Social Media Library and will come with most of the information you need already.

Check the site out, look at the about page, follow their Twitter feed, really clue yourself up on them, their likes and pet hates before you pitch to them.

How to approach bloggers

Really target your pitch and then approach your blogger by email or Twitter. A blogger will typically not welcome a phone call. Prepare as you would for a journalist – is there anything they’ve written on recently that you could segue into your pitch? Why would that blogger’s audience be interested? What have you got to offer? Really personalise it – more than you would for a journalist.

You only have one chance to make a good first impression, so make the blogger feel special. Don’t spam them with press releases – you’re likely get blocked; be transparent; don’t try to bribe them; offer to guest blog – some bloggers love free content; if you’re focused on a particular geographical location, why not organise an event just for bloggers?

Whatever you do, don’t get into a spat – especially a public one – with a blogger. They’re a tight-knit group so your brand or agency could suffer as a result. Bloggers can be great advocates for your brand, so have that in mind and at the core of everything you do with blogger relations.