5 Reasons to Recruit More Bloggers For Your Influencer Marketing Campaigns
Did you know 60% of internet users regularly read and engage with blogs?
Blogging is a long-time Internet staple. What started as a simple yet effective storytelling tactic has grown over the last decade to be highly successful in attracting organic traffic and supporting paid sponsorships from brands. Today, many bloggers partner with brands and get paid to demo products, review services, make recommendations, engage in affiliate marketing, and so much more.
It goes to show that long-form content like blogs provides immense value — both to readers who seek out this content and to advertisers looking to maximize reach. Blog posts have a long lifecycle compared to other content types, showing up in search results for years to come and thus hugely valuable to both content creators and brands. Evergreen blog posts — those featuring a topic that is continually relevant — have a particularly strong SEO shelf life and can garner views, clicks, and conversions years after being first published. In addition, all of these factors have a positive impact on earned media value.
So, with all of this in mind, how do brands activate bloggers to be part of their influencer marketing efforts? Read on as we dig into five ways to help marketers find and activate the bloggers who are best for them.
How To Find The Right Blogger
1. Go with a dynamic search approach.
Our go-to method to find the right blogger begins with looking at a content creator’s social media presence. This is a crucial first step, as the blogging world is highly saturated, with over 600 million blogs existing worldwide today. Well-rounded creators who have a diverse collection of popular social media accounts are an immediate win for brands.
This usually indicates that brands can take advantage of not only the long-term benefits of a long-form blog post but also benefit from social posts posted on the creator’s social channels to promote that blog content. Keep in mind that blogs tend to perform better when they are at least 2,000 words long.
By utilizing social accounts alongside blogs, the content is amplified and much more visible than if only a blog was published and not shared across social media channels.
2. Pay attention to your target audience.
Is your primary audience in a certain age demographic, location, or life phase? Get specific on what kind of consumer you’re targeting with branded content — and look for a blogger in a space that aligns with your target audience.
Some brands want to target moms. Some want Gen Zers who live in urban areas. Regardless, after you identify this audience it’s time to find bloggers who not only reach this audience but who are also creating content that aligns with your brand.
If your brand is just launching a program that involves activating bloggers, don’t be afraid to cast a wide net when searching and narrow it down as you go.
Consider this example: an eco-conscious fashion brand could go a variety of different directions, such as partnering with fashionistas, sustainably-focused lifestyle bloggers, or even mom bloggers. By identifying a diverse pool of creator partners, brands can evaluate individual performance and see which bloggers are the best brand lift.
You’ll also want to pay close attention to the influencer’s past content. Think about why your consumers love your brand and align your content strategy in a way that capitalizes on a genuine passion for what your brand stands for. If you can see that a prospective influencer partner has existing content that would fit your content strategy based on your target audience’s interests, you’ve likely got a great match.
3. Build the relationship early.
Crafting a solid relationship with creators is the best way to nurture a long-term commitment from the get-go. Make your outreach messaging simple and engaging, plus remember to showcase how a partnership with your brand is mutually beneficial. Talk about the ways in which your brand already aligns with the blogger’s values and content style.
Be sure to communicate frequently, especially when you begin partnering on a more consistent basis. Make sure that your relationship doesn’t end once the partnership is over; share their content, praise your blogger, and keep them up-to-date on new opportunities!
You can also scale the number of bloggers you work with by leveraging influencer marketing tools like Mavrck. Not only does Mavrck have a robust list of potential creator partners to make it easier for brands looking for influencers, but our teams’ wealth of industry knowledge and experience makes it easy to communicate and form strong relationships.
4. Make sure your bloggers have every resource they need.
Set up your creator partners for success by providing them with as much detail as they need to create the best content on behalf of your brand. Communicate timelines, content requirements, goals, and creative themes well ahead of time — and check in consistently to see if you can help throughout the process. We also recommend building a resource library that is easy for bloggers to access and that illustrates all relevant campaign information. For example, brands can provide a mood board, a brand book of dos and don’ts, imagery guidance, high-res logo files, and even anchor text for calls-to-action.
After the campaign has concluded, keep your creators up-to-date on the performance. It’ll help you as a marketer as you optimize for future campaigns and will also help support creators as they pursue other work and brand collaborations. If there is room for improvement, make that clear as well — and empower creators to understand if and how their content falls short.
5. Repurpose content and extend its life.
Don’t hold back from repurposing blog content across additional channels as much as possible! Use a blog to inspire social media graphics, additional reading, website enhancements, and more. Leveraging creator content on product pages is especially helpful and benefits both your website and the creator’s social media presence.
Repurposing content isn’t just a best practice to follow when it comes to bloggers. Any quality content from influencer marketing campaigns should be repurposed and utilized across other marketing initiatives as much as possible!
Ready To Work With A Blogger?
Blog posts serve as a valuable long-form content channel and inspire results years after their initial publish date. By working with bloggers, brands can benefit from long-form content and subsequent social media content alike. Though it takes time and diligence to activate the right blogger for your brand, the effort is well worth the results.
Ready to get started? Learn more about how Mavrck can help you select the best bloggers for your next campaign. Book a free demo here.
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