With bloggers being the new breed of journalists, the same conventional rules that PR companies use with journalists don’t apply, leaving a lot of people not quite knowing how to treat bloggers. Many companies have embraced bloggers and have been treating them very well, while others still don’t even acknowledge their existence in relation to their brand.
As a fashion blogger who’s been blogging for over 2 years, I’ve worked with a great deal of brands: big and small, and have dealt with a wide range of PR teams from across the globe, most being exceptionally fantastic to work with. The key to maintain a good relationship is down to both sides, not just PR Teams or bloggers. Working together to promote brands works very well.
There are general rules on how to interact with bloggers and these don’t differ too much from how to work with journalists from large magazines. Bloggers tend to reply more favourably to those emails that clearly show that the blog has been read and where the email is relevant to the content of the blog. I’ve had some very unrelated emails and can’t even understand why these companies think I would work with them.
It’s great working with companies that know what they’re doing and are fun to work with. I’ve had some great experiences when reviewing products and going to events. Holding a good event is very important. If you make it fun for the blogger and treat them well, you’re well under way to maintaining a good relationship. Events are also a great way for bloggers and PR teams to meet and get to know each other. In terms of reviewing products, I’ve always been sent amazing products, so have very rarely had to write anything bad. I’m able to choose what I want and have even been asked in store for a high profile brand, where I was able to try one and choose a product. The thing that casts bloggers aside from journalists is integrity and honesty. We write for ourselves, and not under an editor, so really are free to be as honest as we want.
There have, however, been bad experiences that I, and other bloggers, have had to face. Some brands still don’t treat bloggers with the same respect as others and often ignore our emails or don’t send the best products. I have had an experience where I didn’t 100% like a product I was sent and made this clear, only to find myself removed from their press list. Or in another case, dealt with very bad PR from a very high profile British store, who firstly sent a very poor product and then didn’t treat anyone with respect during a press day. I’ve also seen bloggers being asked to remove negative posts about this brand. Bloggers should be able to write what they want as it’s their website and no company, no matter how big, has the right to tell us what to write.
Sherin Malick is a Politics Graduate who is currently running her own fashion website: The Hi Fashion Site. The blog helps her express her love for anything fashion related, with a hint of music.
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Great post. I’m a blogger working full-time for a well-known multi-channel retailer (we sell outdoor gear, clothing, footwear, etc.). Part of my job is to put together a network of bloggers who I can work with to better promote our brand. Any advice on ways to find bloggers who would be compatible brand advocates? How much consideration should I give a blog’s traffic numbers before agreeing to work with them? Are smaller blogs still worthwhile to my network?