5 Tips For a Successful Blogger Outreach Campaign
Sure, we don’t believe everything we read online, but we do consume a ton of content looking for answers to our questions, advice from credible resources and a little entertainment along the way. How do we know what to believe and whose opinion matters most? The influence of online content creators and accessibility on mobile has a large impact. Bloggers are not merely online hobbyists anymore. Many take great care in building their brands, and are considered “influencers” -- key members of a massive community of rapid-fire content creators shaping the online culture through scaled distribution across a wide (and growing) network of social channels.
From big brands to start up companies, there’s a frenzy with leveraging influencer content with attractive incentives. Growing sales show that it’s working.
According to a Nielsen 2013 study, a third of US moms are bloggers. Furthermore, Forbes quoted US moms as estimated to have $2.1 trillion annual buying power. Add in the mix the desire for parenting advice, the demand for community ratings and reviews, the importance of search engine optimization and the reality of the “top of the results page” click for a busy parent and even a blogger with a modest-sized social media following can join the ranks of news-making influencers.
Don’t get caught paying a group of influencers without first considering these 5 tips for a growth-driven blogger outreach campaign:
Brand & Audience Fit. Review past posts, frequency and content. From first blush you should be able to tell the basic demographic of the audience the blogger engages. Does the writer’s tone and language fit your brand? And it doesn’t have to be just moms. Dads have a powerful influence and it’s growing fast in the blogging community.
Size of Influence. A large number of social followers can be impressive, but it isn’t always the best indicator of influence. In addition, look at the level of engagement - retweets, comments, likes, shares, pins. A conversation with the blogging candidate can reveal page views, bounce rates, social impressions and other analytics that are must-knows before recruiting them. Check all the primary social channels, not just one or two - Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and to a diminishing extent, Google+.
Mobile active and responsive. 90% of millennials own a smartphone today, versus 65% in 2012 (IAB). So much of the content is being consumed on mobile, so be sure their site or landing pages are mobile responsive and consumabile on mobile devices. Obvious indicators of mobile active influencers post photos and updates from live events. Good multi-taskers make timing everything.
Writing quality. Typos, misspellings, run-on sentences, bad grammar, etc. ruin credibility fast. But also rank your candidates for entertainment, enjoyment and positivity of their writing.
Affiliate Tracking Incentive. If you are an e-commerce brand, use affiliate tracking links to offer bloggers incentive or a % of a transaction as a result of their referral. I’ve seen averages from 3-4% but the more the better for a stronger push outside of the standard deliverables bloggers are accustomed to. If you’re monitoring results outside of sales, use google analytics tracking links to monitor conversions and offer incentive or bonuses for reaching established thresholds.
Recruiting the right group of influencers, creating messaging that converts and planning a successful execution can add a layer of growth to your foundation of a digital marketing mix. There are a number of credible recruitment agencies you can turn to and particulars to consider when building a blogger network. We’d like to help.
Contact SpotOn to implement a trackable campaign using cost per acquisition tactics for an influencer campaign that will take your growth in a new direction.