The world of online business has changed dramatically from the early days of “build and they shall come.” Now it’s somewhere along the lines of “work really hard and maybe, if you’re lucky, they will come.” So how can businesses work harder to promote their brands?

Engage with Blogger Influencers

Number one benefit:
Bloggers are natural-born storytellers who can capture your brand’s image and essence in a blog post – without sounding promotional. (Because, really, who likes being sold to?) Social media influencers also offer an “organic” feel (and face!) that their readers trust. The trust that these bloggers have built with their audience is what makes them so valuable to you! And audiences will share content virally to their friends and followers as well. 92% of people buy because of recommendations of others!

Essentially, this process allows you to “tap into” their audience via the blogger’s posts.

How to start:
Finding a blogger who writes about specific topics is relatively easy to do. Do a precursory search on social media platforms for something like #prfriendly or #sponsored. This will give you proof that they’re not only willing to work with you, but openly asking for invites to work with you. You can also work with companies such as Izea, TapInfluence, Social Fabric, Pollinate Media and Weave Media to match you to the right blogger.

Most bloggers have a page or a PDF called a “media kit” that will offer you all of the information you would want to know about working with them. Information like prices, types of sponsorship opportunities, blog following, size of their email list, and contact information. From here, you can compile a list of blogs to visit.

Paid versus unpaid:
Some bloggers offer sponsored posts for a set rate, some for a PPC rate, and some even free. Here are some points to know on each of these pricing options:

• Set rate: bloggers who offer sponsored posts for a set rate often publish these rates in their media kit, sometimes even offering “packages.” The rates can go from $100 (usually standard) to thousands depending on how engaged their audience is, how large their audience is, and how well their campaigns usually go. Expect social media heavy promotion and probably email promotion as well.
• PPC rate: some bloggers will offer a special link (like bit.ly) where both parties can track how many clicks the link is getting, as well as how many unique visitors have been driven through the link. Typically both parties have access to this information and the sponsor (you) will pay the blogger a set amount per click. Again, the rate varies from blog to blog and this type of arrangement is hard to find unless you’ve worked with the blogger before. Expect social media heavy promotion and probably email promotion as well.
• Free: It is rare that bloggers will promote your content for free. If they are not being paid to promote you, it is highly unlikely that they will share the post heavily (if at all) on social media.

Other benefits of engaging influencers:

It improves your site’s visibility by driving traffic to your site or landing page. More people will be clicking on the links in the blogger’s posts.

 

• Because of your blogger’s influence, your social media connections (likes and followers) will increase, causing your engagement to increase.
• Blogger’s recommendations can remove the “promotional” side of a campaign, which can turn some consumers off.

By engaging a blogging influencer, you are leveraging the trust and hard work the blogger has already done by building their network  –  which gives you an advantage in the marketing world. So get out there and find the right blogger for you!