I didn’t really fall into blogging like most of my friends have done. Although I’ve only been running this blog for a few years, I’ve been involved in the social media sphere for over 5 years now. My first job following my media degree was for a reputable Word of Mouth (a.k.a dedicated social media) agency based in London, and although I moved from agency to agency, I stayed within the industry until I decided to have my children and take a much-needed career break.

There are loads of reasons why a brand will choose to collaborate with a swanky London media agency. Sometimes it takes real objectivity to create a direct channel between a brand and its consumers - objectivity that can be difficult to maintain if you have a strong emotional attachment to the brand (i.e. you work for them!). I liken the internet to a dense and overgrown forest - it takes real work to clear a path through the chaos and it’s always handy if there’s a guide on hand with intimate knowledge of the landscape.

Seth Godin on the potential of brand to consumer communication & engagement

It’s agencies like my former employers, who first understood that conversations, be they in the real or digital world, have a social and economic currency. Tapping in to (and indeed listening and participating in) these conversations can be invaluable to a brand. If you’d like to better understand how, I’d recommend just about any book by Seth Godin.

I’ve worn a number of hats in my agency career. At first I was responsible for reading, interpreting and grouping digital conversations. I became a mini detective - scouring social media for chatter, and interrogating every brand mention. Is it positive or negative? Who said it? What prompted them to say it? How many people have been exposed to that conversation? How many people participated? The list is endless.

Then came a brief foray into discovering emerging and influential ‘voices’ to engage for brand campaigns. One day I might have been looking for technology bloggers, the next I might be searching for Twitter addicts who happen to be British expats in Spain, or even compiling a list of parenting bloggers (oh the irony!).

The goal of any brand is to create a tribe of brand ambassadors to initiate conversation, influence others, & grow brand advocacy organically - NOWHERE is this better possible than via parents

Then I was bumped up into the analyst team where I began to quantify conversations and report directly to the client on their relevance. Far from being a boring number-cruncher, it’s in this role you’ll get to fully appreciate just how vital the role of social media is to a brand. You’ll track online advocacy against direct sales & be the first to spot any PR disasters.

It was certainly an eye-opener working in social media. It’s a fast-moving world where brands continually fall in, and out of, favour with their consumers. One negative review of a product or service can reach thousands of potential consumers. It’s true to say that nowadays most of us will check out online reviews before parting with our cash. Before, we might have headed on over to Which? and skimmed the user feedback for any huge flaws or to see if another brand came more highly recommended. Now we’ll type our product into Google and have a choice of forums, blogs, twitter conversations, images, and many more to help inform our choices.

Now I’m a blogger - my whole motivation has changed. I’m no longer paid to decipher, participate in, or even promote other people’s conversations - I’m now a conversation-starter. I get to dip in and out of conversations freely, create debates of my own, and offer brutally honest feedback on my experiences. It turns out I’m an opinionated little so-and-so and am never short of things to say! Funnily enough, this makes me (and all of us) a powerful marketing commodity.

So what are the top three things I’ve learnt transitioning from agency to blogger?

Don’t take it personally

I’ve lost count of the number of times that bloggers have directly approached a brand only to be told “I’m afraid your blog doesn’t quite fit our preferred blogger profile” - It’s a common theme in blogger forums, and I should point out I’ve heard it said far less politely than this in my time too!

Far from being a reaction to low stats, the reason this brand might not consider you the ‘right fit’ might be that they are ideally looking for bloggers with more (or indeed less) emphasis on arts and crafts, or that they wanted a blogger who has a passion for prams & pushchairs, or that you weren’t in their preferred age range or location. This could be because they intend on following a long-term creative strategy that requires them to partner with bloggers who meet a certain set of criteria. It’s certainly nothing to be worried, frustrated, or upset by. You might not be right for one brand, but you will be right for countless others.

Poor outreach is never acceptable

This really gets on my nerves, and has been articulated by other bloggers far more elegantly than I intend to. In short, there’s no excuse for impersonal outreach. If my name is clearly there for all to see on my profile page, I expect to be addressed with the correct salutation and forename. It’s also now (thankfully) common practice to receive outreach that shows me that PR’s have read at least previous post of mine - something along the lines of “I read your post about Dexter’s eventful trip to the supermarket the other day. You must have been so embarrassed, but I couldn’t help but laugh…”…

Remember the true cost of blogger outreach, and prove your worth

The cost of working with a blogger on a review, is not merely the cost of the product you have received. If I receive a £50 ride-on toy, there is also the cost of the delivery, and the cost of the contract with the PR agency that reached out to me and engaged me in a review. Usually, no physical contract exists so there’s a fair amount of trust that has to exist between brand and /or agency, and the blogger concerned.

If you really want to form long-lasting relationships with brands, make sure you do a good job. It’s not about flattering the brand with a dishonest appraisal if you didn’t like the product - but be constructive with your wording. Always link to their additional social media channels, and (if appropriate) showcase a few select other products from the brand. Ensure any stock photos from the site click-through to the brand’s website, and otherwise use your own pictures to show the products in a home setting. Finally make sure you use a SEO plugin such as Yoast to ensure you’ve maximised every opportunity to get your post noticed. It’s then a case of sharing across all your social media profiles. If it’s a brand I really enjoyed working with, I might then send an email in a few weeks to share just how many hits the post has had, and send them links to any particularly interesting comments (be they on the post itself, or Facebook, Twitter or G+).

So that’s it really. I don’t position myself as any more (or less) knowledgeable than any other blogger, I definitely learn a little more everyday, am never too proud to ask a question, and make mistakes daily. But keep it fun, friendly and professional and you won’t go too far wrong.

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