As a Blogger, I see the world through new eyes. Sounds pretty profound, huh? When I eat at an amazing burger, I want to blog about it. When my kids create a snow storm with a perfectly good bottle of powder, I want to blog about it. When Holly sees a “made for TV product,” she wants to blog about it. It’s like we cant help ourselves…
Our friends in business are catching on to our obsession, which is why Jay, Holly & I started Business 2 Blogger. But I thought it might be good for us to help the process along some.
Please use the comment form below to contribute some of your brilliant review ideas, “blog for hire” dreams and favorite promotional blogging experiences!
Early next week, I will be sharing this list with over 1100 business contacts – in hopes that we can bring some of these to life!
Drawing will be held on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 by noon. Comments will stay open for contributions after drawing has been held. Winner will be paid $25USD via Paypal by Tuesday, May 15 at 5pm.And as a THANK YOU for contributing, I will be drawing 1 lucky winner to receive $25 in cold hard digital cash via Paypal!
About Shauna
Being a mummy blogger from Malaysia, it’s not easy for me to get review opportunities. I think it would be great if the sponsors can also consider opening up the opportunities to international bloggers as well instead of just limiting the opportunities to within US.
Yes, I know in case of product reviews it is costly to send the products over but think long term. Think of the possibilities of their products being featured/mentioned internationally.
Thanks for the great input, Jenny! I agree that some US products are missing out on some great international promotion!
Brands, PR and ad agencies should think of mom bloggers as a grass-roots, geo-targetable marketing force. It’s quick, easy, and cost-effective to utilize bloggers to attend events and tweet out pics, try a product and write a post about their experience, or drive local readers to a store.
Local businesses: hire mom bloggers in your area to run your twitter and Facebook accounts. They are the experts because a) they know how to use social media and b)they already know and love your business. Let them be your voice in the social media space.
We get tons of pitches in our inbox every single day. To be honest I don’t have time to read through them all like I would like to, and we definitely don’t have time for all of the reviews or free posts that they are asking us to place on our site. I think companies need to be sure when pitching that the title and the first line are catchy if they want to keep the attention of the blogger reading the pitch. They also need to remember that they are paying PR people to pitch the work to us, they should understand that while it is nice to get things for free, bloggers do a lot of work on their end and should be paid for it. We love when companies come back and are willing to offer repeat companies better ad placements and so forth. Building good relationships with bloggers is key.
Also, companies should know that bloggers can get the word out about their products super fast! Not only do moms trust other moms (and sometimes dads) but we tend to work together and help one another out. Often times when I needed help promoting something on my site I turned to my other blogger friends who would gladly help by tweeting, reposting and pinning my content in exchange for the same for theirs.
Thanks for allowing us to share our opinions!
I agree 100% Mandee! Writing review posts takes more time than companies realize. Companies, please keep that in mind that while receiving your product for free to review is great, it takes time for me to use your product, write about your product, tweet about it, and put it up on Facebook.
i agree completely!
Even being smaller, i have a lot on my tight schedule!!
More importantly, just like with books, I like to have specific times that these posts, links, promotions are shared across my social networks. (different ppl at different times, etc etc)
I can’t receive a shipment, and be expected to post this the next day! I am going to research your company, the brand, gather all the info I can, start with linking and sharing and pinning, gather feedback, use the product, read the book, whatever, and then, I will get your review up!
It isn’t going to happen overnight, and I will write you and your review in my planner and when that day comes with your name and info, I will post the review and let you know asap!!
Some of us post on 2 blogs, all the social networks, and communities, and it is time consuming!!
I think more companies should hire a Blog-specific coordinator to form relationships with bloggers and work on different blogger opportunities and programs. That person should be listed as a contact somewhere on their website. Sites like B2B are a great way to get opportunities but there needs to be more like that out there. Many bloggers don’t know how to start the ball rolling on forming relationships with companies. I’m still trying to find out how to get an invite to Disney’s Social Media Moms conference- I can’t find any info anywhere.
Yes! If companies want to work with bloggers, please put it on your site in an easy to see spot.
We’re still trying to find out how to get an invite to Disney’s Social Media Moms conference too
Brands, are you starting a blog as an appendage to your website? Hire a mom blogger to ghost write it for you. We know how to research topics and write blog copy. And because we’re moms, we’ll be more responsible, dedicated, and motivated to do a good job.
My wish and desire is for more companies to begin to realize that properly written reviews will bring them more juice in the long run than a splash that 10000 entries to a contest does for them temporarily. The contests are awesome but it is not the number entries that give them the long term traffic. It is the written review and quality back links. Many Many sponsors look at the entry count as the indicator of working with someone. Read Read and Read what is on the blog and be selective for long term results.
Excellent points are being made by all! I concur!
The truth is a lot of public relations companies have no idea to to go about contacting “bloggers” – the typical mass email and let’s send our product out to all the same circles at once is terribly unflattering. However, I’m getting a bit off topic.
Here’s an easy way to get positive exposure. Ask for bloggers who already love your product to give a more thorough explanation as to why on their site – send them the product to re-review, and maybe a few new ones if you’d like them to sample them as well.
I have a tip for bloggers who are getting swamped with product testing and reviewing requests and can’t give them full consideration. Hire another blogger to test products and write reviews for your site! This is a win-win. It could give a new, but talented blogger exposure and maybe some income, and also keep YOUR blog hopping and full of good and useful content. And it will save you the frustration of having to email businesses and telling them “I’d love to work with you but I’m booked!”
I am a new blogger who has done one review/giveaway on my blog. I actually covered a group of Energizer volunteers when they came to our city with Cal Ripken, Jr. to build a Habitat for Humanity house. This by far has been one of my favorite blogging assignments and I would love to do more. I would be interested in talking with other bloggers who might consider your suggestion, Anne. It could definitely be a win-win situation. Thanks for suggesting this!
Bloggers are freelance copywriters, when they are working on a project for a brand or PR agency. So pay them in money, like you would a freelance copywriter. Don’t pay them in “stuff”. They can’t pay their mortgages with “stuff”.
where is the like button.. lol
I am in total agreement with you there. As much as I enjoy getting free stuff, it doesn’t help me to quit my 8-5 job and become self-employed like I am working towards.
Product reviews are my favorite blogging experiences. Everyone loves receiving a free gift in the mail. So, when I blog on these products, I love it when companies make available a giveaway in addition to the sample provided for review. This way it gets the reader excited about reading the blog and gives them a motivation to interact through comments and become engaged with the product. Often, even those who did not win the giveaway will order a product of interest.
As a special needs mom and a biomedical blogger, I’m very aware of what my community needs and wants – for themselves, for their kids, for their family. Standard companies don’t always address our needs, so I’m building a community to work on that. I’d love to connect moms who are passionate about helping their kids and feeding their family healthy foods with brands that can help them become professional bloggers and brand ambassadors. Special needs mom specialize in multi-tasking, what better way to leverage that than to help a brand that helps your child?
I love doing product reviews and I have changed it up just a bit. Instead of writing my reviews I video them. Everyone gets a dose of my expressions and my readers love the fact they can see my expression instead of reading it. I publish my video on youtube as well as my blog. I also use any urls the company wants in the blog post, under the video, so the companies are still getting their linkbacks and having a wonderful review! All the companies I have reviewed for are amazed at my video and love my creativity.
I would love it if more companies would scour watch their social media fees and approach bloggers that already recommend and write about them. They are the best people to ask to review your products and tell others about them.
Yes x 1000!
Brands, consider long term relationships with bloggers. Call it whatever you want, Ambassadorships, or Sponsors as examples, but instead of writing one product review or running a giveaway, let bloggers use their voice about your products or brand in general for a set number of posts. You and our readers see how we use your products in our every day life. You’ll be thrilled with our authenticity and creativity and our use of multiple social networks.
AMEN!!
When researching how — and why — to work with bloggers who are mothers, go straight to the source for input. Please ignore silly, demeaning infographics like the one published on Mashable this week (http://mashable.com/2012/05/08/mommy-blogger-infographic/) which calls any woman who is a parent and writes a blog a “mommy blogger.” Please also refrain from using graphics depicting women wearing pink and purple aprons. Realize that most of us prefer being referred to simply as bloggers, or –if you must — “mom” bloggers. Avoid the term “mommy” blogger, unless you want to be ignored.
Love this suggestion! It is oh so sadly true!
We get several PR requests each week too. It’s great fun! The only time it’s not is if a company is basically telling us about a product and expecting us to share it for the fun of it. Or when someone wants us to let them guest post in exchange for links – to their site! We write as a business but also because we love it! So guest posting for us with links in your post to your own site isn’t a win-win for us!
We have worked with a few big brands: Martha Stewart/Avery/Staples, Martha Stewart/Plaid, Bogs, Decoart and Home Depot. Home Depot was actually on our Dream Sponsors list, so working with them is a huge thrill.
One way to find contacts for brands is to search out their press releases – there is usually a contact name on those. Also fill out a company’s contact form on their website, asking who their media contact is.
Other dream sponsors of ours are Homesense (Canadian version of Homegoods), Target (when it finally comes to Canada!), Urban Barn, Bouclair, Fabricland, Michael’s. We’d also love to do product reviews for a really great vacuum, siding, driveway paving, and other home related products. We’d love to be on a company’s blog squad (like True Value or Para Paints).
We’ve worked for product (’cause projects keep our blog rollin’), gift cards (even more projects!) and cash payments. We like a mix of all three really.
Thanks for giving us a venue to share!
Shannon Acheson
(www.akadesign.ca)
A well written review is better than any advertisement. It stays there forever. Also, hosting a giveaway is a great way to get people to notice a lot more, and really look into the product!
Recognize the VALUE of having your brand spread across the “blogosphere”. I work with a social media team that has a reach of 250K potential customers. Our rates, when compared to that huge number of contacts is pennies per person! If you were to make a commercial or put up a billboard, you would be paying a TON of money for that, so companies can handle the smaller paycheck a blogger requires. We put in a lot of hard work and effort to write about the company, and then marketing what we have written takes another incredible effort! We love to do it! We want to do!! But it will and should cost you!
For a blog becoming niche can have good and bad points. I get approached to try a lot of allergy free products, which I am grateful for, and which I have maybe not heard of or found before so it is good to be introduced to the. but as you are then seen as niche you dont tend to get offered other goods and items that would still be of interest to you and your family.
I do object to be asked to do a blog post in return for something of low value, or even worse no value, time you use a product, research it, write about and add no follow links to your posts it can take a fair amount of time
I love doing product reviews however the types and numbers are restrictive to me as I am a Singaporean Mom blogger. I would love for more chances of doing international reviews and building up long term relationships with overseas brands with proper renumeration packages.
I like getting book review requests and receiving a copy of the book and getting linked to by the author or publicist is enough payment for me. I also just recently started working for an author PR firm and I’ve been learning a lot about marketing and promotions. I think it’s a great idea to hire someone to do the online marketing and promotions for you. Making personalized emails to blogger is also the way to go. Sure, it’s a lot of work but it sends the message that the blogger is valued and carefully selected for a promotion. Also, I think some book promotional strategies can be adapted for other types of products, too. Strategies like blog tours, free day, blog hops, etc. It’s also nice to thrown in a giveaway for the bloggers’ readers.
I would wager that many brands choose one blogger over another based on headcount (Facebook likes, Twitter followers, etc), when it’s actually a good SEO writer who can bring solid organic traffic to an article or post FOREVER. It’s like some have mentioned above about not going purely by the numbers – it’s the difference between making a splash once or creating a lasting ripple effect. If a brand can find the blogger who can offer both followers and SEO skills to boot, that would be the golden ticket.
I’m new to mom blogging, but not new to SEO. I’m working on building my following for my newest site, WhatMommyDoes, but am hopeful a brand or two will take a chance on me in the meantime.
I have tons of articles that rank on page 1 of Google for a particular set of keywords, but I only have 59 Twitter followers and 31 Facebook likes for my new site. As an example…the Target baby registry review I wrote over 3 years ago as a writer for Suite101.com is still ranked #4 on page 1 of Google results (Google “review of Target baby registry” to check the results) and continues to get at least 1,000 page views every month.
I would encourage brands to consider a blogger’s SEO skills heavily in making their blogger selections. A dedicated blogger with an eye for SEO will create a lasting legacy for any topic and the other desirable stats will eventually follow. And as that blogger’s influence grows online, the strength of their SEO’d pieces will only grow as well.
Oh yeah, I guess I should address the Promotion Ideas portion of this challenge! haha
My latest idea revolves around creating local mom focus groups that tie back to a broader blog. The only reason I haven’t done this yet is due to financial/time constraints (meaning, I can’t yet justify paying my babysitter countless hours to watch my kids while I take a shot at it), but if I knew brands were willing to sponsor local meetups, etc., I could easily justify setting this up.
I imagine my blog would be the central hub for local “satellite” groups that start on Facebook then migrate over to a forum setting on my blog. Locals moms would join the group on Facebook with the promise of receiving free samples for review, etc., and brands could sponsor in-person meetups where I imagine 50-100 moms at a time would sample a product in person. In conjunction with holding in-person meetups, the blogger could coordinate a series of blog posts related to the product(s) and attendance at an event will require participation in the blog post discussions about the pros/cons of using a product, etc. Attendance for all meetups could be capped to where there will eventually be a huge waiting list of interested moms. This way, a TON of local moms who aren’t even invited to the event will be buzzing about the brand. These events would also likely be covered by local mom blogs, enhancing their reach even more. It would be a coordinated blitz of online/offline/social networking impact focused on one local metropolitan area. And this could be repeated at countless locations around the country. One blogger with the right skillset could bring a thousand people into the conversation. And we all know how moms are – get one mom enthusiastic about something, and Bam!, 7 moms will hear the same message.
Not sure if your client list includes many businesses interested in reaching moms, but that’s my idea. It’s what I know.
I really love the opportunity to do review and giveaways! If I am doing a product review, my readers are more interested in the product if they have a chance to win one too!
Can I just say AMEN to all of these previous comments?! Such amazing ideas! I especially love the idea of building ongoing relationships with bloggers and not just for big brands like Huggies (which I have recently seen an ambassador program they are running). If I have a relationship with a brand it will be so much easier (and more satisfying) to promote them as I know I will be able to stand behind the product/brand having the relationship with the brand whereas a one-time, drive-by reviews may run the risk of sounding forced or less authentic.
I love having a giveaway of a product. It would be really fun if a company gave two products to one winner so they could share the winnings with a friend. I also appreciate the bloggers who put together a very simple and easy giveaway contest. I hate the ones where you have to do many mandatory entries. Twitter and Facebook parties are also a fun thing to do with a company, author, etc. Some giveaways during these parties are a must and good, quality questions to ask the audience.
Our vision is to have a scavenger hunt online. Depending on the product, business, and bloggers that you want to streamline we would hide random clues on the pages for these people. They would go page to page providing traffic for businesses and bloggers finding these clues and getting to the final destination. Depending on the prizes you could let the winner choose the prize they would like a chance to win. Our vision helps both businesses and bloggers work together and share traffic for the ultimate goal of providing the business with promotion.
I wish more companies would look at the quality of writing versus numbers and statistics. I have read some really poorly written posts by people who have high numbers because of the giveaways they do.
I have a Master’s degree in English and I believe I write engaging and quality posts. I do not, however, have training in marketing and public relations. I have not done the work to “sell myself” so that I have the higher numbers. I would love to be attached to a company to write more permanently for them and be compensated with more than just free product. I have some very good skills that could be put to good use by a company on a more permanent basis, instead of just writing a single post.
Don’t rule out a blog just because they are “small” and don’t have a large number of followers or page views. Sometimes the smaller blogs can give you better attention.
*Some blogs have high followers because they require a follow to enter contests. Those blogs are falsely inflated. My blog partner and I would rather have 100 real readers than 2000 “followers”.
*Some blogs have high page views because they are contantly holding contests. Again, these pagevies are falsely inflated because people are only coming to the blog for the giveaways and not actually reading the blog.
As Melanie above said, look at the content and quality of the blog over the statistics.
Mass emails pitching multiple bloggers at a time are a turn-off! We want individual emails that show you’ve actually visited our site and want to work with us specifically.
Get to the point in your pitch email. Let us know up front what product you want us to work with, what your expectations for us are, and what our compensation will be. We don’t want to go through 3 emails with you before we find out that it’s not a good fit for us.
Local companies–Being a sponsor for real-life blogging get-togethers is a GREAT way to get your name out in the blogging world. Not only do you get exposure from the blog who is hosting the event, but also from the bloggers who attend the event because they often blog about it and thank the sponsors. Bloggers often talk (word-of-mouth) to their friends about events too.
National/International companies–Sponsoring a twitter party or something like a Spreecast party is a good way to get exposure. Work with one to two blogs to host a large event online!
Send reviews to Canada. I’m right next door, yet I get left out of a lot of opportunities that I’d be happy to promote.
Compensate bloggers! Seriously. If we put in the time and effort to make a post, we should get paid for it. Plus the advertiser is getting access to our contacts and readers, which we’ve spent a lot of time and effort to find and build ourselves. I recently had a big website trying to get me to blog about their product; I said I’d be happy to do a product review for them and they said they couldn’t do that. So I said I couldn’t blog about them and referred them to B2B, and I did later see them here, offering a product for review. Advertisers, if you want something from us, you have to give us something in return.
Sometimes review and giveaway sites where mom bloggers indiscriminately review products here and there and consequently turn off some people because these look too much like a purely money making venture for the mom blogger. I think companies dealing with food. cooking or healthy products should contact niche mom bloggers. Bloggers with large media presence (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc) DON’T necessarily mean these are the best bloggers to review a product. I think companies lose out if they don’t hire mom bloggers with a smaller media presence.
Thank you for the opportunity to voice our opinions. I am thrilled to work with companies and I second the note made about the constant emails asking us to post for free (and I know it’s because newer bloggers who don’t know anybody do it for free but does that mean they should be taken advantage of?)
Ideas for a new type of promotion:
– Pinterest Giveaway or Campaign (ask users to pin items from your website or catalog and submit pin or board for entry into giveaway. Or pay bloggers to create a pinterest board on a certain topic and pin a certain amount of items from your website/catalog to the board.
– Paid Twitter and Facebook Ads. Don’t cost too much and would add #ad to the end of the post for disclosure.
– Work with local bloggers. If I accidentally get extra product (which I can’t afford to ship to a winner) I hold a giveaway at playgroup (see below) Thus spreading the word even more. I’d love to do product parties or local giveaways. (offline)
Also please find a way to include offline influence when you are considering stats and who to work with. When I review an item, I share it with friends (usually other moms) at playgroup and sometimes at Girl Guides (I’m a leader) so I am spreading my thoughts and product information to people who don’t read my blog as well. A fellow Girl Guide leader purchased an item I reviewed after reading my review.
Have more opportunities for Mummies who are NON-US please! I live in Singapore, and I love product reviews for educational toys or apps for kids. It would be awesome to host some giveaways as well.
Super Ideas everyone. One thing I wish companies would consider, is hosting longer campaigns. I’ve had the experience quite a few times where I work with a company – I learn a lot about their product, I fulfill a short term campaign like a Twitter party, review & giveaway etc… and I leave the campaign having really enjoyed myself, and I know I got great results for the company! I wonder if companies realize it’s okay to find a blogger that’s particularly enthused about your brand, and to ask them for more ideas on how you can both work together in the future! Perhaps as a brand spokesperson that posts about the brand quarterly, or what about asking the blogger to tour your facilities and write about it? Do a lot of people find this bloggers reviews when they research your product? Ask the blogger if you can add an ad to their site where people can click through and buy directly. In short – if you find a blogger that really loves your company, has already become familiar with your products, AND does a good job for you…consider further possibilities!
When I started blogging I had no idea that working with brands existed. It has been a joyful discovery for me and one that I still continue to choose carefully which ones to accept. For each one that appears on my site there are probably 50 or more that I pass by. It is a lot of work to do a review, especially because I like to take photographs of the items and write more than just a simple paragraph.
When I am given an opportunity to write a post for a CHANCE to win a gift card or any other item I always, always skip it. I will not take the time on my blog for just a CHANCE to win something. This was the same situation when my blog was small or since it has grown.
Working with brands is a wonderful part of the blogging community, but the generic mass produced emails without so much the mention of my name is completely annoying. If a blogger is addressed by their name, provided quality information about the product, and a decent compensation package there is bound to be a great relationship established. When that happens the blogger will be your biggest fan! Every brand I have worked with through both of my sites has been a brand I would stand behind personally, otherwise they will not appear on my site.
I have only been blogging for 1 year this week, and even as a mom, a very busy mom, of 4, and a pt job outside of the home every weekend, I still work 40+ hrs per week online.
I have had some trouble grabbing the attention of sponsors, brands, etc. (i am small, and I firmly believe that my social networks and blogs are better with quality fans/followers/friends, rather then quanity)
Yes, I would love to earn money, and I am very determined to do so. I have spent more then what I earn just keeping my sites and networks active. I am a slave to my blogs, authors, small business, big business, and affiliate companies I have accounts with. I work non stop to provide actual content, anything from freebies, deals, coupons, book reviews, product reviews, and personal posts. I have strict guidelines and morals, so we may not be as popular, but I intend to be in the long run. I will not post survey sites and programs that offer free trials, with lots of fine print, nor will I tell my readers that they should sign up with a survey site to earn lots of $, just so I earn a few bucks per sign up. Unless, I personally am an active member of that site and have earned something. Honesty is the best policy and with that being said, I also will not accept offers from brands that I can’t say I would use at home. No matter how much they offer, I am not going to lose fans because I am trying to earn money.
But, I must earn some money, and I will somedayL)
What I always offer brands, small business, authors, etc, is ORGANIC SEO’s , indefinitely. SERPS love this, and this is how the brands and businesses will succeed. Through us. We post articles, I always take in account, the service, the brands, the items, the books, the company, and create a true and very real post about my families or my own, personal connection/ties. Include a few backlinks, I offer to post images, of course, I also offer to post a linked ad on my home page of either 1 or both blogs, and I will link throughout my social network a few times a week, different days, times, to hit several different people. Their ad, product, link, image, post, will be pinned, tweeted, posted, shared, etc etc. This is what will gain them higher search engine rankings.
Since I am so small, I offer this for a very small fee, sometimes I get nothing. I am trying to grab as many contacts as I can, and I am willing to indefinitely have their links, repost, go back to their products or services, host giveaways, etc.
Book reviews, I love these, I enjoy reading, helping author’s and I am working on geting higher rankings on book review sites. I offer reviews on my book review/review blog, and those also get posted through the social networks, AND I will host a giveaway AND I will post reviews on Shelfari, Goodreads, Amazon, Librarything, Barnes and Noble, etc etc. (However, make sure you read the terms for each site)
I also offer help running their social media pages. I agree with all of the above and appreciate this site the most, and all of these ideas and suggestions.
My points are:
Give us newbies and smaller bloggers a chance!!
Offer to maybe pay us if you are satisfied!
Don’t just expect to come back to me over and over and over, just for a free book! Please offer a little compensation if you appreciated my work.
Remember, we will be here for a very long time, when we do finally make it big, you may want to have been here from the beginning because you will be forever linked, and written about and shared when my readers triple and triple again!
Get in with us now! But offer more payment, support our mom groups, offer sampling opportunities, and giveaway items, etc.
I recently partnered up with a very cool digital book site. He pays me a few bucks to read and review his books, and now we are partenring in giveaways. The best part is, this specific book site offers a wide range of books about social media, socail advertising, websites, blogging, (among others), so I am in heaven!! I get to choose what I want to read and it can be anything from SEO building, to making my own lip gloss, to sandwich recipes!! I get a small stipend and I am obtaining a life long contact:)
Companies and brands should check out our social media. we can send weekly updates with our links and mentions and tweets and pins and posts!
We can help you, you need us as much if not more then we need you!
Oh, and offer affiliate accounts and sponsor us!
Sorry for the long comment:)
I apologize, i just took notice that I entered both websites in the website section and my link isn’t there:) So here is just 1 in the space:)
Thanks again for all of your help!! Business 2 Blogger has been one of my only places that has allowed me to continue with blogging, and where I get the most offers for reviews!!
I also am insanely grateful for all of the help with my posts on Google+!!
You are truly a delight to work with!
I never fully understood the level or impact of influence bloggers (let alone Mommy Bloggers) had until I recently worked with Nike’s first blogger campaign. They not only took very good care of us (first class airfare, 5-star hotel, NIKE Headquarters tour, $1,000 worth of NIKE gear, and bottomless food trays throughout the day) – they also compensated us for our time there. When I asked one of NIKE’s Branding Managers: “Of all the marketing campaigns you could have spent millions of ad dollars on, why bloggers?” Her response was pretty amazing: “It was simple. We wanted to get the word out to our target market and demographics, and 80%+ of customers we surveyed said they buy based on referrals from other friends, families, and trusted blogs. Guess who the majority of our customers were? Moms! That’s where you come in, and we want to show you NIKE’s passion for our customer – the athlete.” WOW. Ever since my experience with NIKE, I’ve come to the realization of how important our role as Professional Bloggers plays in this world – the impact is great enough for a giant such as NIKE to notice! The cost to hire a top blogger is only about one fourth or less of what they would have spent on other forms of advertising. It’s a win-win situation for all you brand consumers: drawing traffic in, getting the word out of how great you are, and saving money doing it. The more important question now is: Why haven’t you implemented a blogger campaign for YOUR brand yet?
I’m one that hires bloggers to do book reviews and have had great success through B2B. And, yes, I pay the blogger a stipend because I know how much effort and time it takes to read a book and then write/post the review. Some bloggers do minimal, others give the authors full attention and publicity.
The only issue I’ve run into is hiring bloggers, sending books to them, and then never hearing from them again. I’ve sent follow-up emails and they get ignored. I have phoned and the calls never get returned. Some have even taken off their contact information so as not to get contacted. But, in the meantime they have kept the book. The authors I represent are not happy campers and neither am I. I realize there is no guarantee when hiring a blogger.
So…do any of you have suggestions on how to cull out these types of bloggers? There is very little information accessible to us unless we pay for the information and even then there is no way of knowing if the blogger is reliable. At this point I’m estimating that we are out at least 50 books to bloggers that didn’t provide a review. When you consider an average of $19.95 per book plus postage/bubble envelope it ends up being a lot of money.
That said, many of bloggers we hire are extremely reliable, are quick to review the book and post the reviews all over the Internet…we know they love to blog and we appreciate them. I want to be sure the reader of my post knows the appreciation we have for these bloggers.
If you have any suggestions on culling I’m open to hear you!
I always feel so bad for authors when this happens. I completely understand all of the reasons some authors are concerned with this happening, and I often get told by authors that I will get the eBook first, after I post the review, and promote, and review on the other sites, I will receive a hard copy:)
I have no problem with that. Maybe that would be cheaper then shipping all of the books. Then, when the reviews are posted, give us the actual book!
It sometimes takes me a little longer to post the reviews, I try and get them up within 30 days. But when I have 12 books for the first 2 weeks of May, I want each book and author to have their couple days, at the least, in the spotlight. (Home page, 1st post, all attention with linking, pinning, sharing, etc, only for that book/author), so I sometimes feel bad, but I try to let them know this when I accept the review.
I don’t know how quick everybody wants them posted, sometimes after I say 30 days, (I have a strict schedule too), I never hear back from them, and that kind of makes me sad because the book sounded real interesting!!
But I understand when they want immediate results too.
I guess not all books are available in eBook, but maybe the price of formatting that would be cheaper then paying so much for lost books and shipping fees. Then reward us with the actual copy:)
Brandy, thanks for responding with the suggestion of an ebook first and then sending the print copy later. Many of the authors don’t have ebooks of their print books so that causes an issue. We mostly deal with self-published authors and just getting a print book created is almost more than they can handle. Converting it to an ebook isn’t even in their realm or for whatever reason they have no intention of doing so.
I also understand that bloggers could be delayed because, as you say, they have 12 books to review. However, this doesn’t give an excuse not to respond to emails or phone calls. Delays happen for many reasons but lack of communication isn’t acceptable. I was hoping there is a way to hold bloggers that accept the job as responsible but maybe there isn’t a way.
I understand that completely too!
This is something i never thought about as being an issue.
I wish it weren’t, because this is something that ruins it for the rest that do what they promised.
You are right, that is no excuse at all. A response should be the first thing a blogger does!! Communication is key:)
I wish to that there was a way, maybe the companies and authors, people who “hire’ us, could leave reviews of some sort somewhere, or rate us. that way, everybody knows what they may or may not be receiving.
I think if we had a way to give us stars, rate us, or leave a comment, (just like on all the book review sites:), we may be more apt to get job inquiries, promo opportunities, etc.
I agree 100%! There has to be a way to hold us responsible on our end as well!!
Otherwise, this may ruin it for everybody. You shouldn’t be expected to pay us, send us free stuff, and not know, did this person do this to others? That shouldn’t be a factor. We should all be able to pride ourselves in knowing that we work for the best, with the best, and offer the best reviews and advertising you can get anywhere!
I have had, in the past, jobs that I have received for book reviews, and never received the book, few dollars, and the worst is when the giveaway winner doesn’t receive their book. But, I haven’t run into this to much, and if I don’t hear back from the author, I usually figure it had to do with them maybe not being satisfied. I also realized recently, that a lot of the big book review blogs, don’t actually read through the whole book!! I never knew this and I wonder if that is why some take longer to post and get the work done then others. Lol! I always thought we read the book, the whole way through!
I intend on keeping it that way, but I just was curious if maybe this is sometimes what happens when reviews aren’t what exactly was expected or take longer then the previous bloggers…
Dominique @ Dominique’s Desk http://dominiquegoh.com/ is our $25 Paypal winner! Thank you for all of your input and please keep it coming!!!
YAY!! Congrats:P
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Promotional pens are a great idea for this type of thing. they are cheap and can get like 1000 made for a low cost and just give them away to people with your site info on it etc.
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