Blogger Outreach: The Next Big Thing?
It’s been said over and over again and I’m going to add to it one more time; quality content is the best thing that can happen to your website; be it in the form of blogs posts, guest blogs, infographics or simply images.
That said, amidst all forms of blogging practices, blogger outreach has taken the online marketing community by storm. It’s exciting, engaging and amazingly fruitful and if you haven’t tried it yet; you’re missing out on something.
A lot of people out there, marketers, business owners and even blogger communities aren’t aware of this yet, probably because it’s still a new concept. But its catching up really fast and those who have tasted it said they love it!
So what is blogger outreach?
Essentially, it’s all about building value relationships where you reach out to bloggers to find out how you can help each other in your businesses. However the approach need not necessarily be an exchange. It could merely be you asking someone to share a piece of really great content on their site but you’ll still have to reach out to them!
There are numerous tools, both free and paid, that help you conduct blogger outreach. Some of the best ones include:
- BuzzStream
- GroupHigh
- BlogDash
- Topsy
A blogger outreach may be intended towards getting the following:
- Building relationships for mutual growth
- Presence in a your company’s webinar or a podcast
- A sponsored post
- A guest blog
But why is it required?
As per Technorati Media & Digital Influence’s 2013 research report, “Blogs were found to be the third-most influential digital resource (31%) when making overall purchases, only behind retail sites (56%) and brand sites (34%). In fact, blogs were found to be the fifth-most trustworthy source overall for information on the internet.”
Social Media Examiner states that, “81% of the online population trusts information and advice they get from bloggers and that 61% have made a purchase based on a blogger’s recommendation.”
Marketing has evolved. It is more of a relational approach now, where you connect Person to Person (P2P) rather than Business to Consumer (B2C). Through Blogger Outreach, you can bank on various benefits that it has to offer like:
- They are considered trustworthy and honest sources of information on a product or a service.
- They help increase traffic on your website since bloggers guide them to your website, directly or indirectly.
- They act as help when consumers want to take decisions.
- They fare far better than search campaigns.
- Your website gets benefited because of the high quality fresh content that you get though the process.
Examples of Successful Blogger Outreach Campaigns:
1. Ford
The Goal: Ford wanted to attract the younger consumer segment for its Ford Fiesta launch. It wanted to make this section of the population release just how cool their car was.
The Approach: To do this, they started the Ford Fiesta Movement campaign where they urged all social media users to apply of which they would choose a 100. These 100 candidates would be given a Ford Fiesta, insurance coverage for the car and free fuel for 6 months during which they would have to blog, post or tweet about their experiences using the car along with plenty of pictures.
The Outcome: The results were awesome. Tons of photos, posts, blogs and tweets were received which were about personal experiences and not just how good it felt to drive the car. This drove in loads of engagement and the best part was that 82% of the audience was new to the brand. The brand was also able to make great sales and the impact kept echoing for the coming 2 years.
Dale Buss quoted the Ford Fiesta had, “experienced one of the most hyperbolic sales arcs of any significant new model in recent years”.
2. Ariel
The Goal: Ariel, the detergent brand wanted to give their product a fun angle. They decided that blogger outreach would be the best way.
The Approach: With the help of Agencia Africa in San Paulo Brazil, Ariel launched a campaign where they listed the most influential bloggers of the fashion industry and sent them designer apparel that were completely consumed in stains so much so that their designs couldn’t be recognized. The parcel also contained a pack of Ariel Stain Remover so that they could wash it to reveal the design. They named this line, “The Surprise Collection”.
The Outcome: As expected, the campaign created a huge buzz amongst these fashionistas and got them blogging about the product’s effectiveness and the creativity that went into the campaign. The campaign recorded a reach to over 3 million women, sky-rocketing their sales. What’s more, the campaign went on to become immensely popular; so much so that The Surprise Collection was made available across stores in Brazil along with the Ariel Stain Remover.
It’s pointless to say what potential Blogger Outreach possesses after citing the above examples. It’s just how creative you can get with your approach that lands you phenomenal results such as the above.
3. Craftsy
The Goal: Craftsy provides online classes and training on craft works ranging from painting to knitting to baking cakes in a very creative way. Now, this brand wanted to engage craft bloggers from across the globe to be writing about them so that they can attract more people to sign in for their classes.
The Approach: While they initially began searching for such bloggers manually; later they turned to GroupHigh to filter bloggers by their social media followers, traffic stats and niche. This however helped them find the perfect fit in a much faster and efficient manner.
The Outcome: Over a period of time Craftsy was able to develop good relations with craft bloggers from around the world therefore gaining a lot of credible people to vouch for them. Using this outreach campaign, Craftsy saw over 60% increases in the blogger responses and they were able to get numerous best fits world over.
Craftsy is a good example of a small business’ marketing success using blogger outreach.
Conclusively..
The numerous Google algorithm updates have left businesses bewildered about what would be the best ways to build links. The process of building links has transformed over the past few years and conventional methods of doing it, no longer hold. Consumers today look for brand mentions in trusted platforms like popular blog forums or products recommended by eminent bloggers.
That said, it’s very important for businesses to reach out to such people and get them to speak about you. This is where a good blogger outreach plan would be required. Besides, blogging has been established to be the best means to reach out to a greater audience and a safe form of populating backlinks too.
So what are you waiting for? Unleash the potential of blogger outreach and take your business to the world. What are your thoughts on Blogger Outreach? Have experiences to share? Please post them below; we’d love to hear from you!