The Reality Check Guide To Blogger Outreach
Heidi Sullivan @hksullyVice President, Global Media ResearchCision
Why Bloggers?
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The Conversation Shift
Traditional Media Model
The Public
The Media
PR/Marketing
Us
Social Media Model
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Bloggers and voices on social sites vie for influence directly with traditional media.
If the news is that important, it will find me.
college student quoted in New York Times, March 2008
Facebook now drives more traffic to PerezHilton and the Huffington Post than Google does. WebProNews, May 2009
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Case Study
Goal – increase beta users by 100K Method – Targeted Blogger Outreach
&
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I saw your post a couple weeks ago, “Think Before You Voicemail,” so I know how you feel about voicemail, and I agree with you on all points. I try to avoid leaving people voicemails, at work and in my personal life, and would much rather send and receive emails or texts. But, as you mentioned, sometimes you need to use voicemail – to convey tone or emotion, or because you’re on the road and need to relay more information than you can type while driving or otherwise multi-tasking…
Case Study&
- Pitch to
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I work for a PR agency and have a client that just launched a new service today. I thought of you because this service has the potential to make the celeb dating scene a lot more interesting, if that’s even possible! It even has a cool name – slydial!
If LC could leave Heidi a voicemail without the possibility of Heidi picking up the phone, what do you think she would say? What about Mario Lopez? He got caught cheating on his long-time girlfriend….
Case Study&
- Pitch to
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Case Study
Resulted in 381 Blog Posts in 1 Month (including TechCrunch and Perez Hilton)ROI: “By hitting online consumers from all angles, the
program helped boost slydial’s 5,000 private alpha users to more than 200,000 beta users in less than two weeks.”
&
Section Divider
The Niche Nature of Blogging
I’ve got blogs whose target audience is 100 people – the right 100 people.
Chris Anderson Author of The Long Tail
and Free
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Using social data for long-range predictive analytics
Acceleration of conversations on blogs often precedes both the manifestation of a trend and its news coverage
By identifying new opportunities for investors, bloggers helped bring green tech investing out of its 2009 slump
Q3 2008 Q3 2009 Q3 2010
166 VC in-vestments
61,300 blog mentions
8,540 main-stream news
mentions
“Green technology” investment, blog discussion and news coverageSources: Cision Media Research, Treehugger.com & Cleantech Group
Solar-powered coffee maker
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Why are blogs ahead of the curve?
Many blogs are focused on niche topics which news outlets tend to cover more sporadically and reactively
Blogs are where industry tastemakers lay out their thoughts and predictions, which get re-circulated on Twitter and Facebook
Influential blogs are updated constantly
Photo courtesy Alan Levine via Flickr
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The devil is in the detailsAbout one quarter of bloggers tracked in Cision’s media database cover one of 26 “first tier” general topics. The rest cover more specific topics.
General 23%
Specific 77%
Source: Cision Media Research
Section DividerThe Who, Why & How
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Blogger Outreach The Four “R”s:
ResearchRelationshipsRelevance Respect
“Tailor to how we cover beauty. Demonstrate that you get our approach.”
– Lesa Hannah, Beauty Director for FASHION
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Research
Look at writing style, voice and tone
Research past coverage (bylines, reports, posts)
Know what they DON’T cover
Be aware what they’re looking for
Update your lists
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Relationships
Compliments never hurt!
Follow them on Twitter/social networks
Comment on blog posts
Connect IRL
It takes time, nurtureand maintain them
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Relevance
Better to send out fewer, personalized messages
Never send a pitch without some introduction
Make it clear, keep it brief
Only send material you know they’ll read
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Respect Know their preferred method of contact
Don’t leave long voicemails or follow up via phone If you haven’t heard back, don’t panic
Know when to step back and when to push
When in doubt, include an opt-out
Keep your word!
Section DividerDo Bloggers Really
Influence Opinions?
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of any population will be active content creators
will be participants
will simply "consume" that content online
1%
9%90%
Data from:
It used to be that in order to have a powerful voice in the Momosphere, you had to do what I did: write four books, appear on dozens of national morning shows, speak at parenting groups and more…
Now thanks to social media, moms have been able to - from the basement in their house in Iowa, to the deck in their backyard in San Diego - build an audience not by going to traditional media or writing a book, but gather audience based on the power of their voice, the clarity of what their expressing and the resonance it has with their audience.
Stacey DeBroff @momcentral
Anyone Can Be an Influencer
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Do bloggers truly influence the masses?
Gladwell’s Law of the Few
“The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.”
Duncan Watts: Trends are Unpredictable
“A rare bunch of cool people just don’t have that power. And when you test the way marketers say the world works, it falls apart.”
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Who is right: Watts or Gladwell?
Both. Trends still begin with a small few and are spread by those with connections.
Bloggers can change over time – and anyone can become an influencer.
However, a general rule of thumb is that bloggers and influencers tend to talk to each other.
Immersing yourself in that community will help you spot trends as they emerge.
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Remember the 10%
Regardless of whether or not bloggers truly influence, only 1 out of 10 people is truly sharing and creating content online.
Spreading the word makes them influential.• Know your community.• Read, read, read!• Identify what’s new.
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Heidi SullivanVice President, Global Media Research
Email: [email protected]
Homepage: us.cision.comBlog: blog.cision.com
Facebook: facebook.com/hksullyTwitter: @hksullyLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/heidisullivan
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