Choosing a Blogger To Represent Your Brand: Tips and Expectations

On Sunday, I had the honor of attending a blogger event for Silicon Valley Moms Blog.  The pre-event round table discussion was phenomenal.  How often do you get to sit in a room full of bloggers and companies to openly dialogue about how we can work together to promote each other?  The discussion was lively and authentic.  I have much to share with you about what I am continually learning about this thing we call “blogging.”

I received an email today from a company who has not had a lot of experience working with bloggers.  The representative had some valid questions about how to choose a blogger and the benefits of blog reviews.  This is a topic I’ve wanted to write about for some time now, and her questions inspired me to write this post.  As with all forms of promotion in social media, this is a constant learning process. Best practices are being refined, innovative marketing outlets and tools for tracking your success are developing on a regular basis.

I’ve put together some tips on how to choose the right blogger to represent your brand.  I firmly believe that choosing a blogger must go beyond stats, because stats are only a starting point for measuring influence.  A highly trafficked blog does not always translate into effective use of your marketing resources.

1. Do your homework. Sites such as Compete and Alexa are a good starting point to measure a blog’s reach.  Generally speaking, the closer a site is to the number 1 position, the better its traffic ranking. But, page views are just one metric.  Very often the companies I work with ask for monthly unique visitors to gauge the type of influence I have.  Twitter and Facebook are also very important tools in planning your social media outreach, so it may be important for companies to consider a blogger’s ability to speak to a wide audience outside of their blog.

2. Get to know the blogger, they are literally an open book. Examine their writing style. For example, what has the blogger said in previous reviews?  Is it balanced with pros and cons?  Does the writing style (analytical, humorous, journalistic, etc.) align with your expectations?  Does the blogger write well (are their grammar skills up to par)? Is there a balance of personal insights and product facts?  Or has the blogger simply copied the press release or the specs from a website?  How creative is the blogger? You want your brand to stand out, so when possible, bloggers should be using personal shots and videos of your product with one caveat: expectation for such creative efforts should directly correlate with the value of your product (more about this below).

3. Prep your pitch. Make it personal and address the blogger by their name, if you can find it. I’ve been called everything from “Rockin’ Mama Blogger” to “Editor of Rockin’ Mama” to someone else’s name altogether! Most bloggers should and do have a bio on their site, in addition to PR info, Product Review Guidelines and contact information. Getting a little background on the blogger goes a long way to getting their attention. I receive hundreds of pitches every week. Those that stand out include a personal address (my name, the fact that they know I’m interested in certain types of products, the age and gender of my children, etc). Straight press releases, unless its a subject matter that a blogger is passionate about, almost always end up being deleted.

4. Know what you want and have an open discussion with the blogger(s) about expectations for the partnership. Do you have a time frame? It should be realistic and gives the blogger enough time to receive and use the product. The more complicated the product, the more time a blogger will need to thoroughly review it. Are you prepared for a negative review? The truth is that not everyone will love your product. I always aim to balance a negative with a constructive comment to help the company improve their product. On the rare occasion that I just cannot write a positive review, my policy is to give a company the opportunity to fix the problem or decline to have the review posted.

5. Why should a blogger promote your brand? Bloggers all started near bottom and we’ve all done our fair share of “free press”. As bloggers progress and improve their writing and reach, they naturally become more valuable as marketing outlets. While your goal is to promote your product in a cost effective way, be conscious of a blogger’s time and worth. Though they may or may not be considered an official business, they still offer valuable services and should be considered an important part of your marketing strategy. Very few bloggers actually get paid enough to make a living; we blog because we’re passionate about what we write. As such, if you want someone to review your product, offer them a product to review. If all you have to offer is a press release or product information, consider advertising with them in the form of paid posts and ad insertions.

When you choose to partner with a blogger, the goal should be to build a relationship. You are looking for ambassadors to champion your brand.