Blogger Engagement - Just Be You
Not even going to try and link to all that has been said, claimed, yelled, screamed, or prophesized about how to engage bloggers, but will only say that, yes, transparency is an indisputable must, but also that it’s not just about transparency …
I don’t mean to dehumanize members of the MSM, the structure is just too formal, but when engaging with bloggers it’s about reminding yourself that, at the end of the day, you’re simply dealing with a normal person - so make a connection. Stating the obvious but, bloggers are just people. People with no real motives, responisibilities, or cares (generally speaking) - except about the topics they write about. This holds true, of course, for the traditional media, but there’s more hierarchy and that changes the interaction quite significantly.
Transparency + personality + dropping the PR speak = good blogosphere outreach - or so it would seem.
But what do I know.
[...] Lack of Motivation: Blogger Engagement - Just Be You Some great advice on how to interact with bloggers - or pitch bloggers - from a blogger. Be you. You gotta be you. Be honest, be forthright, get rid of the PR speak. [...]
[...] Point is, with bloggers sharing so much personal information on their blog (I do it too) – the window for relating to them on a more personal level is much bigger than that of an online traditional journalist. Whether you want to use this personal information to break the ice and leverage a relationship with the blogger is up to you, but the fact is that it’s there. If you’re looking to build a relationship with a blogger for the long haul than this information may be useful to you to help break the ice with them, but if you’re looking for a quick blog hit for a client – forgetaboutit. All I ask is that if you are going to use a bloggers personal information to reach out to them – do so because you sincerely want to build a relationship with this person, not because you have an upcoming launch you want them to cover (for example). While blogger engagement is a tough one to figure out, a few things I have come to realize is that you need to be honest and genuine, or better yet – just be you. [...]