Drew Schulthess
Digital Influence Strategist

Tweet – Engage the Blogosphere for Big Brand Awareness – Learn the Three Simple Principles for Success

Blogosphere engagement is the process of connecting, participating and interacting with blogs and bloggers that are relevant to your value proposition. In simple terms, blogosphere engagement is the act of getting influential bloggers to talk about your brand.

But why engage the blogosphere you ask? Did you know that 90% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know and 70% of them trust consumer opinions that are posted online, as found by the Nielsen Company in their latest Global Online Consumer Survey? That’s right, nearly 3/4th of consumers online trust the opinions posted online by other consumers which is higher than all other traditional formats like editorial content, TV, newspapers, magazines and radio. Still not convinced? Here are some compelling facts supporting the value of blogger engagement:

1. Brand mentions on the Internet are the best way to get users to visit your site to learn more about your brand. In a recent study by ARAnet, it was shown that the most likely source for Internet users to read and take further action was seeing your brand in an article format.
2. Ninety-five percent of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs¹
3. Four in five bloggers post brand or product reviews, with 37% of them posting them frequently¹
4. There were 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007²
5. 184 million people world wide have started a blog³
6. Seventy-seven percent of active Internet users read blogs³

Now that we’ve established the immense potential value of engaging the blogosphere, we would like to share three simple principles for success.

1. Respect – you might think this is simple and straightforward but in blog outreach respect can take shape in many forms. Here are a couple manifestations of respect in the world of blogger engagement:
   • Treat every blogger equally
   • Treat each blogger as the expert
   • Take at least 10-15 minutes to read their bio and a few posts
   • Don’t talk above them
   • Encourage transparency
   • Expose yourself, don’t hide your real personality in the shade
2. Delivery – bloggers are connected. Sometimes stuffing an email down their throat isn’t the best way of going about things. Try to figure out the optimal communication medium for connecting with them whether it be commenting on a relevant post, Twitter, Facebook or even picking up the phone (that’s right … phones still exist .
3. Transferable Value – notice how the word “incentive” or “pay-off” isn’t used here? Bloggers aren’t a gumball machine you drop a quarter into. Instead, offer them something that is of relevant value. You should be talking to them because they are of relevance. Therefore, the product , service or development you are sharing should be of interest. Why not send them a package in the mail with your product and a thank you letter, or invite them to your private beta, or Tweet about them to your followers. Be creative here.

Serious about doing some blogger engagement for your brand? We would love to go a step further and work on a customized blogger engagement program for you. Feel free to give us a call or better yet connect right here by leaving us a comment!