A winning solution for brands working with bloggers

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Last Thursday we hosted The Blogger Relations Forum. It was an event for bloggers, brands, and agencies to discuss working together and what’s happening in this online space.

The question “What makes a blogger want to write about a brand or campaign?” was asked during the mummy blogger panel. The panelists referred to what they called a “win, win, win” scenario in blogger relations, meaning a win for the brand, the blogger and the blog readers.

Mummy blogger Kristyn of MummyK says that a win for her readers must not be overlooked. She enjoys doing reviews, but doesn’t want to inundate her readers with constant reviews. If brands want to be featured on her main blog, they need to include a reader giveaway. If it’s just a product review Kristyn will post it on her “reviews only” blog to help her balance content.

“A win, win, win, scenario for me would be that I get something out of it, my readers get a prize out of the post and the brand gets a review and awareness through the post. Plus a product placed in someone else’ household after the giveaway finishes. If that winner loves the product, they’ll rave about it to their friends and that’s another one on one interaction the brand will get through that process,” explained Kristyn.

I asked a few bloggers to share past “winning” examples of working with brands or companies.

“I had an experience working with ErgoPouch which I thought ended up being a win, win, win outcome. They approached me to do a review on their new Cocoon Air Swaddle for babies. I went back to them and asked if I could have another product to be able to run a giveaway with. They generously gave me another sleeping bag for a giveaway. I wasn’t sure what the response for the contest would be, but got great feedback from my readers with more than 100 entries, an increase in email subscriptions, increase in my Facebook page likes and the Ergo Pouch Facebook page also saw an increase. I won as my review and blog were retweeted by Ergo, and a few of their retail outlets. The brand won as they increased their number of page ‘likes’ and gained brand exposure, and subsequently my readers won as one of them received the sleeping bag as a prize, and she was thrilled about that!”

- Sara, Tis The Life

“The win, win, win scenario has a lot to do with empathy.  Really understanding what the other is hoping to achieve.  I wrote a post for RUOK day. The win for RUOK organisation was being able to reach more people (readers) with their cause. It was a win for me because I got to write something I was passionate about. It was also a win for the readers because I created a platform on my blog for discussion – which is the whole point of the RUOK cause; to promote discussion.  I haven’t ventured into the world of sponsored posts and giveaways. I’m hoping to steer my blog more towards charities and causes. I know, not a lot of money to be made there but the tone of my blog is more about making people think.”

- Maria, Mum’s Word

“For me, a win, win, win situation would be if a blogger who has a specific niche can transfer that into a project that a brand can endorse or sponsor. As the niche would be something familiar as well as relevant to the blogger’s readers. For instance, I’m big on nutrition and health. I write posts based on my learnings in my Nutrition class. If I could do a 14 day challenge like how to make every dinner a healthy one, I could have a brand (a supermarket or a health foods brand) sponsoring that (providing the products etc.) and that would also engage my readers because they already know that eating healthily (or at least try to) is something that’s important to me.”

- Grace, Musing of Mama Grace

As companies start to think about working with bloggers, we encourage both bloggers and brands to reflect on winning scenarios for all involved.

What “win, win, win” examples can you share from your own blog or from a brand perspective?

December 12, 2011 by Hannah DeMilta Filed in Featured, Social Media