Blogger Outreach Best Practices
As you’re planning and creating your blogger outreach campaign, it’s important to know that there are some best practices. These best practices mean that you won’t expend extra energy, that you’ll achieve your blogging outreach goals, and that you’ll build on your brand reputation. They’re simple and straightforward best practices that are easily integrated into your process.
- Organize Your List into Tiers – During the research and identification phase of your blogger outreach campaign, you’re going to identify bloggers who are relevant to your niche and fit your pre-determined criteria. You’ll look at things like social influence, traffic, comments and so on. Organize your list into tiers. This means you’ll have a list of the top bloggers you want to connect with, down to bloggers that it would be nice to connect with. You might categorize them by audience size, influence, traffic or some other criteria, depending on your own blogging outreach goals.
- Set Blogging Outreach Goals – So many businesses go into blogging outreach with a haphazard approach. They just want blogs to talk about them. This is a mistake because it means you’ll miss out on the real power of blogging outreach. Your goals can range from building your list, increasing your traffic, or boosting sales – just to name a few. Set measurable goals and then measure them.
- Leverage Ready Made Tools – There is an abundance of tools available to help you in the blogger outreach process. We’re talking about tools that help you assess social influence, traffic, and relevancy. There are tools that help connect relevant bloggers and set up guest blog posts, and there are tools that connect you with bloggers looking to give quality product reviews. Use these resources during your research phase to help you identify the best bloggers for your list.
- Be Authentic – As you’re connecting with bloggers on your outreach list, be yourself. When you comment on their blog or on their social media posts, maintain your brand, voice, and message. Consistency only helps your business in the long run.
- Research Before You Pitch – Research a blogger before you pitch to them. For example, if you’re connecting with a blogger about a guest blogging opportunity then it is imperative that you know what they blog about, who their audience is, what type of content they need and prefer, and how you can add value to their audience. If you’re pitching a product review, make sure that they would enjoy the opportunity of a free product, and make sure that they do actually write product reviews and publish them on their blog. Do your homework before you pitch.
Blogging outreach can be a short-term strategy. You may be launching a product in a month and you’d like a few blogs to review it in advance. It can also be a long-term strategy where you build solid partnerships with a few key bloggers to grow your business awareness, catalog, and profits. Regardless of your goals and your approach, these best practices will help you achieve success.
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