Last week, Mack Collier, popular Social Media Blogger at The Viral Garden, continued his discussion on How to Launch a Successful Blogger Outreach Program in One Day. This edition of the conversation focused on how companies can approach bloggers if there is currently little to no online chatter about the brand. As Mack states, adding value for your audience can have an immediate impact on conversations about your brand. Some of you may be scratching your head and wondering what that means. How can you add value beyond the value your product or company currently provides?
Your first instinct may be to utilize traditional PR materials and redistribute them to the blog to increase exposure and drive traffic back to company news. Another idea may be to take previously distributed content and post it up on the blog to see if it generates a conversation. Don’t be disappointed when your audience doesn’t get excited about materials they can find elsewhere on your site or have seen before in the past.
Adding value means providing content, materials and conversation that expands upon your existing brand presence. Use this venue to let people inside the operation and understand what makes the company tick. I’m not suggesting that you give away the company “secret sauce,” but be passionate about the industry and ask yourself, “what do our customers need to know?”
If your company makes performance apparel for athletes that keeps you cool in hot weather, blog about all of the sports that could benefit from your offering. I’m much more likely to talk to you if I believe that you use the products and they work. Ask me what products I’d like to see you develop using your “state of the art technology” and you’ll have me hooked! Don’t paint yourself into a corner by focusing solely on the technology that makes your clothes superior and news from the company. Your customers don’t really care how it works; only that it does.
There will always be an opportunity to mention a new product, discuss the addition of a new team member or even announce that you had a great quarter, but the primary focus should be on getting the people to your blog and keeping them involved in the conversation. And most importantly, the conversation needs to come from a real person.
*Important Note: Start thinking about who you want your customers and potential customers to be conversing with before you launch the blog.
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