This is a totally taboo topic but honestly, I don’t care. Everyone is fascinated with the blogging world but seriously no one seems to know how to work with bloggers seamlessly as a business strategy.
There is no rule book.
Everyone’s just out there, doing their own thang.
And I get asked all the time, as a business owner AND as a blogger, how we all work together. I’ve collabed with many bloggers especially to help promote my online boutique — some have been very successful but you know I like to give you the Real Real: not all collabs have been all that amazing.
But ya live and ya learn. And I’ve learned some things about this crazy blogging world.
If you’re deciding whether to work with bloggers to promote your business, you should consider these things FIRST:
What is your goal of this collaboration?
If you have a product to sell, I bet your main objective is to SELL THAT PRODUCT. Obvi. But you could have other goals, too. Exposure. Building a new audience. Getting more email subscribers. Getting more Instagram followers.
You have to decide on one goal & set your blogger up to succeed.
If you want email subscribers, relying heavily on an Instagram influencer probably isn’t the path to success. You’re going to want to find a blogger with steady blog traffic, for example, and capitalize on that.
Different goals, different strategies. I’m sure that concept isn’t lost on you.
But just with any marketing campaign, you need to decide ahead of time HOW this blogger is going to help you. In what capacity is this collaboration going to help you reach your goals?
Are you prepared for the exposure?
If a blogger posts about your brand on Instagram today, and his or her followers flood to your account to see what this new cool brand is all about, will your feed be attractive to them? Will it make them want to click “Follow” ? Or will they be like, “Meh, not impressed” ..?
Or say you get a whole bunch of new email subscribers from a fun blog post collab — do you have a funnel set up that will keep them engaged as clients in the future?
The worst thing would be to lack the systems in place to actually capitalize on the efforts of the blogger you hired in the first place.
What is your budget?
Speaking of hiring… have you thought about your budget?
Yup, here I go jumping into the super awkward taboo part of this convo…
Most bloggers/influencers do expect compensation. But the rules on how much compensation/what counts as compensation are literally non-existent.
Some bloggers want free product. Some want ca$h. And some want a LOT of cash.
(Some just want a coffee date and free pictures to post on Instagram!!)
You need to decide what you’re comfortable with giving away, product-wise and monetarily– and find bloggers who align with that. Blogging ain’t free, I can vouch for that, but giving away lots of free product and a large stipend just might not be in your budget. The good news is there are literally a countless number of bloggers to work with, so sometimes having a defined budget will help you RULE PEOPLE OUT. That’s okay, you can’t work with everyone.
So yes, get ready to pay people in some way or another. That’s just part of the game.
Does the blogger align with your goals?
Beyond just, “does this blogger’s image fit in with my brand?”
Think: how does this blogger’s systems help me reach my goals?
What I mean is, does this blogger rely heavily on social media to curate his or her audience? Does this blogger have a huge email list? Does this blogger post often and get lots of web traffic?
Understanding the strong points of the blogger and their relationship with their audience will seriously be the game changer to making a collaboration successful.
Create a Rule Book.
Have you thought about your collaboration must-haves?
Just because the bloggers have worked with other brands in the past doesn’t mean they have a set system in place. Most bloggers are looking to YOU to determine how they should post about your brand.
Do you want a full-on blog post written about your brand? Do you want backlinks to a specific product? Or to a certain landing page? Do you want them to embed a specific email sign-up? Or do you want two Instagram posts, four days apart?
In order to work with bloggers, you need to create a “Rule Book” that the bloggers can follow. This A) sets them up for what you are expecting of them, and B) simplifies the process for the bloggers to help you reach your goals.
Before You Work with Bloggers….
Getting word-of-mouth exposure can be super powerful, and honestly fun. Seeing my brands all over Instagram feels like, man, I’ve made it or something. And beyond that, it’s probably one of the most cost effective method of marketing compared to other paid channels. Sounds like a home run.
But before you start giving your sh*t away for free, know this:
I’ve also had big, big fails with working with bloggers. It’s because I set it up all wrong. I didn’t have a way to track my success. I didn’t care to understand the bloggers’ strengths. And I let the bloggers “decide” because I thought they knew better. I didn’t communicate my goals. I’ve wasted enough money for the both of us on Influencer marketing.
Hopefully these tips help you avoid some hiccups that come with trying to navigate this “Wild WIld West” territory of working with bloggers to promote your business.
I’d love to keep the conversation going in the comments from the perspective of brands and bloggers, as I know we all are dying to work together!
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