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@sradick points out the most important part...the influence is the most important element there. I've read plenty of blog posts from low traffic bloggers that had a big influence on me.
But the looming question all the traditional marketers want answered is how to measure this new pr.
There is lots of evidence to show that cultivating good relationships with bloggers can get you more bang for the buck than traditional PR, especially if you're in the technology arena.
Best,
Minda Zetlin
Nowadays there is a new measurement, that both high PR and low PR bloggers, tweeters, and Facebookers add to just by mentioning a companies name.
Social Capital Measurement - how much is said about a company online, what is the sentiment of the conversation, and what value does that bring to the Brand.
Social Capital Value Add.
Neat.
I've been blogging (hobby) for over three years. Little to know AdSense or referral revenue -- it wasn't the point. I wanted a way to share what I know about the E-Learning field in a way that my organization (at the time) just couldn't share. So in an effort to be a responsible member of the community and for my own narcissm, I started blogging. I'm not great at it, but after 3+ years, I've established my voice.
Two weeks ago I blogged that I was interested in taking sidework, and that was the first time I've pitched trying to grab some work on the blog. The results have been overwhelming. My blog gets about 150 hits a day from subscribers and about 50-150 hits from search, based on activity. I've gone from having no side projects to six clients in a matter of two weeks with no advertising other than the blog.
When you build a relationship with a blogger, you become the hammer that blogger uses for every nail of a certain kind. As a blogger, when you establish a relationship with an audience, they are chomping at the bit to collaborate with you more and more -- and the tools you bring with you.
Your comments about blogger relationship confirms what I was thinking all along. Build rapport with your community and it's much easier to get people buzzing about your products or services. It's all about connection.
When talking to marketers (primarilly b2b) the first thing I advise is that to appreciate the value of bloggers and blogging or for that matter any social media they need a different mindset from that they use for traditional marketing.. It's hard for them to grasp this particularly when under pressure to justify spend/budget and being asked "well how do you know it will work?".
Having been a corporate marketer it often comes down to knowing how to prove your business case.Therefore more numbers/comments becomes an easy measureable (if misguided) target of sorts. But there is much that marketers can do, and here's where I believe social media practitioners can assist them to understand and to help convince others in their organization. This is some of what I do when I'm asked about blogging (or social media in general).
1. I begin with their business goals and strategy, not the SM tool. For each goal try to show ways that blogging (or twitter/other) can enhance or help them reach those goals.. such as the points you mention above. Then they need to have a strategy for blogging or whatever tool they choose to use. That strategy needs to have the customer in the centre.
2. I ask them what investment they initially plan to make. Most know that setting up a blog is "free" but don't factor in the time and resources needed to maintain it. One of the biggest ways for companies to get attention is through participation. I also encourage a "pilot project" approach
3.I brainstorm as many potential "success measures" as possible, because some things are easier to measure than others. I suggest it's done with as many key decision makers as possible. I try and pick " meaningful quick wins." If I am looking at how a blog can help a client in lead generation, for example, I might think of including # of new newsletter subscriptions, or research paper downloads from the blog, or how much traffic is driven to their website, or page rank increases... I think there are many ways to show ROI, but it has to start with their strategy and plan.
I find that the "proof" required is often a very well crafted plan that answers all the key strategic questions. If increasing revenue is a goal then there does need to be a plan showing how this will be achieved even if this is long term.
We did a post just to follow up on your discussion. Here it is:
http://news.buzzgain.com/?p=71
Let us know what you think?
I also warn that this space is not for everyone. The management type that's genuinely interested in connecting with their target audience will see plenty of value in blogger relations: free market research, relationship development, word of mouth marketing, innovation, etc.
When talking to marketers (primarilly b2b) the first thing I advise is that to appreciate the value of bloggers and blogging or for that matter any social media they need a different mindset from that they use for traditional marketing.. It's hard for them to grasp this particularly when under pressure to justify spend/budget and being asked "well how do you know it will work?".
Having been a corporate marketer it often comes down to knowing how to prove your business case.Therefore more numbers/comments becomes an easy measureable (if misguided) target of sorts. But there is much that marketers can do, and here's where I believe social media practitioners can assist them to understand and to help convince others in their organization. This is some of what I do when I'm asked about blogging (or social media in general).
1. I begin with their business goals and strategy, not the SM tool. For each goal try to show ways th
I've been blogging (hobby) for over three years. Little to know AdSense or referral revenue -- it wasn't the point. I wanted a way to share what I know about the E-Learning field in a way that my organization (at the time) just couldn't share. So in an effort to be a responsible member of the community and for my own narcissm, I started blogging. I'm not great at it, but after 3+ years, I've established my voice.
Two weeks ago I blogged that I was interested in taking sidework, and that was the first time I've pitched trying to grab some work on the blog. The results have been overwhelming. My blog gets about 150 hits a day from subscribers and about 50-150 hits from search, based on activity. I've gone from having no side projects to six clients in a matter of two weeks with no advertising other than the blog.
When you build a relationship with a blogger, you become the hammer that blogger uses
When talking to marketers (primarilly b2b) the first thing I advise is that to appreciate the value of bloggers and blogging or for that matter any social media they need a different mindset from that they use for traditional marketing.. It's hard for them to grasp this particularly when under pressure to justify spend/budget and being asked "well how do you know it will work?".
Having been a corporate marketer it often comes down to knowing how to prove your business case.Therefore more numbers/comments becomes an easy measureable (if misguided) target of sorts. But there is much that marketers can do, and here's where I believe social media practitioners can assist them to understand and to help convince others in their organization. This is some of what I do when I'm asked about blogging (or social media in general).
1. I begin with their business goals and strategy, not the SM tool. For each goal try to show ways th
I've been blogging (hobby) for over three years. Little to know AdSense or referral revenue -- it wasn't the point. I wanted a way to share what I know about the E-Learning field in a way that my organization (at the time) just couldn't share. So in an effort to be a responsible member of the community and for my own narcissm, I started blogging. I'm not great at it, but after 3+ years, I've established my voice.
Two weeks ago I blogged that I was interested in taking sidework, and that was the first time I've pitched trying to grab some work on the blog. The results have been overwhelming. My blog gets about 150 hits a day from subscribers and about 50-150 hits from search, based on activity. I've gone from having no side projects to six clients in a matter of two weeks with no advertising other than the blog.
When you build a relationship with a blogger, you become the hammer that blogger uses
When talking to marketers (primarilly b2b) the first thing I advise is that to appreciate the value of bloggers and blogging or for that matter any social media they need a different mindset from that they use for traditional marketing.. It's hard for them to grasp this particularly when under pressure to justify spend/budget and being asked "well how do you know it will work?".
Having been a corporate marketer it often comes down to knowing how to prove your business case.Therefore more numbers/comments becomes an easy measureable (if misguided) target of sorts. But there is much that marketers can do, and here's where I believe social media practitioners can assist them to understand and to help convince others in their organization. This is some of what I do when I'm asked about blogging (or social media in general).
1. I begin with their business goals and strategy, not the SM tool. For each goal try to show ways th
I've been blogging (hobby) for over three years. Little to know AdSense or referral revenue -- it wasn't the point. I wanted a way to share what I know about the E-Learning field in a way that my organization (at the time) just couldn't share. So in an effort to be a responsible member of the community and for my own narcissm, I started blogging. I'm not great at it, but after 3+ years, I've established my voice.
Two weeks ago I blogged that I was interested in taking sidework, and that was the first time I've pitched trying to grab some work on the blog. The results have been overwhelming. My blog gets about 150 hits a day from subscribers and about 50-150 hits from search, based on activity. I've gone from having no side projects to six clients in a matter of two weeks with no advertising other than the blog.
When you build a relationship with a blogger, you become the hammer that blogger uses
When talking to marketers (primarilly b2b) the first thing I advise is that to appreciate the value of bloggers and blogging or for that matter any social media they need a different mindset from that they use for traditional marketing.. It's hard for them to grasp this particularly when under pressure to justify spend/budget and being asked "well how do you know it will work?".
Having been a corporate marketer it often comes down to knowing how to prove your business case.Therefore more numbers/comments becomes an easy measureable (if misguided) target of sorts. But there is much that marketers can do, and here's where I believe social media practitioners can assist them to understand and to help convince others in their organization. This is some of what I do when I'm asked about blogging (or social media in general).
1. I begin with their business goals and strategy, not the SM tool. For each goal try to show ways th
I've been blogging (hobby) for over three years. Little to know AdSense or referral revenue -- it wasn't the point. I wanted a way to share what I know about the E-Learning field in a way that my organization (at the time) just couldn't share. So in an effort to be a responsible member of the community and for my own narcissm, I started blogging. I'm not great at it, but after 3+ years, I've established my voice.
Two weeks ago I blogged that I was interested in taking sidework, and that was the first time I've pitched trying to grab some work on the blog. The results have been overwhelming. My blog gets about 150 hits a day from subscribers and about 50-150 hits from search, based on activity. I've gone from having no side projects to six clients in a matter of two weeks with no advertising other than the blog.
When you build a relationship with a blogger, you become the hammer that blogger uses
When talking to marketers (primarilly b2b) the first thing I advise is that to appreciate the value of bloggers and blogging or for that matter any social media they need a different mindset from that they use for traditional marketing.. It's hard for them to grasp this particularly when under pressure to justify spend/budget and being asked "well how do you know it will work?".
Having been a corporate marketer it often comes down to knowing how to prove your business case.Therefore more numbers/comments becomes an easy measureable (if misguided) target of sorts. But there is much that marketers can do, and here's where I believe social media practitioners can assist them to understand and to help convince others in their organization. This is some of what I do when I'm asked about blogging (or social media in general).
1. I begin with their business goals and strategy, not the SM tool. For each goal try to show ways th
I've been blogging (hobby) for over three years. Little to know AdSense or referral revenue -- it wasn't the point. I wanted a way to share what I know about the E-Learning field in a way that my organization (at the time) just couldn't share. So in an effort to be a responsible member of the community and for my own narcissm, I started blogging. I'm not great at it, but after 3+ years, I've established my voice.
Two weeks ago I blogged that I was interested in taking sidework, and that was the first time I've pitched trying to grab some work on the blog. The results have been overwhelming. My blog gets about 150 hits a day from subscribers and about 50-150 hits from search, based on activity. I've gone from having no side projects to six clients in a matter of two weeks with no advertising other than the blog.
When you build a relationship with a blogger, you become the hammer that blogger uses
When talking to marketers (primarilly b2b) the first thing I advise is that to appreciate the value of bloggers and blogging or for that matter any social media they need a different mindset from that they use for traditional marketing.. It's hard for them to grasp this particularly when under pressure to justify spend/budget and being asked "well how do you know it will work?".
Having been a corporate marketer it often comes down to knowing how to prove your business case.Therefore more numbers/comments becomes an easy measureable (if misguided) target of sorts. But there is much that marketers can do, and here's where I believe social media practitioners can assist them to understand and to help convince others in their organization. This is some of what I do when I'm asked about blogging (or social media in general).
1. I begin with their business goals and strategy, not the SM tool. For each goal try to show ways th
I've been blogging (hobby) for over three years. Little to know AdSense or referral revenue -- it wasn't the point. I wanted a way to share what I know about the E-Learning field in a way that my organization (at the time) just couldn't share. So in an effort to be a responsible member of the community and for my own narcissm, I started blogging. I'm not great at it, but after 3+ years, I've established my voice.
Two weeks ago I blogged that I was interested in taking sidework, and that was the first time I've pitched trying to grab some work on the blog. The results have been overwhelming. My blog gets about 150 hits a day from subscribers and about 50-150 hits from search, based on activity. I've gone from having no side projects to six clients in a matter of two weeks with no advertising other than the blog.
When you build a relationship with a blogger, you become the hammer that blogger uses
When talking to marketers (primarilly b2b) the first thing I advise is that to appreciate the value of bloggers and blogging or for that matter any social media they need a different mindset from that they use for traditional marketing.. It's hard for them to grasp this particularly when under pressure to justify spend/budget and being asked "well how do you know it will work?".
Having been a corporate marketer it often comes down to knowing how to prove your business case.Therefore more numbers/comments becomes an easy measureable (if misguided) target of sorts. But there is much that marketers can do, and here's where I believe social media practitioners can assist them to understand and to help convince others in their organization. This is some of what I do when I'm asked about blogging (or social media in general).
1. I begin with their business goals and strategy, not the SM tool. For each goal try to show ways th
I've been blogging (hobby) for over three years. Little to know AdSense or referral revenue -- it wasn't the point. I wanted a way to share what I know about the E-Learning field in a way that my organization (at the time) just couldn't share. So in an effort to be a responsible member of the community and for my own narcissm, I started blogging. I'm not great at it, but after 3+ years, I've established my voice.
Two weeks ago I blogged that I was interested in taking sidework, and that was the first time I've pitched trying to grab some work on the blog. The results have been overwhelming. My blog gets about 150 hits a day from subscribers and about 50-150 hits from search, based on activity. I've gone from having no side projects to six clients in a matter of two weeks with no advertising other than the blog.
When you build a relationship with a blogger, you become the hammer that blogger uses
When talking to marketers (primarilly b2b) the first thing I advise is that to appreciate the value of bloggers and blogging or for that matter any social media they need a different mindset from that they use for traditional marketing.. It's hard for them to grasp this particularly when under pressure to justify spend/budget and being asked "well how do you know it will work?".
Having been a corporate marketer it often comes down to knowing how to prove your business case.Therefore more numbers/comments becomes an easy measureable (if misguided) target of sorts. But there is much that marketers can do, and here's where I believe social media practitioners can assist them to understand and to help convince others in their organization. This is some of what I do when I'm asked about blogging (or social media in general).
1. I begin with their business goals and strategy, not the SM tool. For each goal try to show ways th
I've been blogging (hobby) for over three years. Little to know AdSense or referral revenue -- it wasn't the point. I wanted a way to share what I know about the E-Learning field in a way that my organization (at the time) just couldn't share. So in an effort to be a responsible member of the community and for my own narcissm, I started blogging. I'm not great at it, but after 3+ years, I've established my voice.
Two weeks ago I blogged that I was interested in taking sidework, and that was the first time I've pitched trying to grab some work on the blog. The results have been overwhelming. My blog gets about 150 hits a day from subscribers and about 50-150 hits from search, based on activity. I've gone from having no side projects to six clients in a matter of two weeks with no advertising other than the blog.
When you build a relationship with a blogger, you become the hammer that blogger uses
When talking to marketers (primarilly b2b) the first thing I advise is that to appreciate the value of bloggers and blogging or for that matter any social media they need a different mindset from that they use for traditional marketing.. It's hard for them to grasp this particularly when under pressure to justify spend/budget and being asked "well how do you know it will work?".
Having been a corporate marketer it often comes down to knowing how to prove your business case.Therefore more numbers/comments becomes an easy measureable (if misguided) target of sorts. But there is much that marketers can do, and here's where I believe social media practitioners can assist them to understand and to help convince others in their organization. This is some of what I do when I'm asked about blogging (or social media in general).
1. I begin with their business goals and strategy, not the SM tool. For each goal try to show ways th
I've been blogging (hobby) for over three years. Little to know AdSense or referral revenue -- it wasn't the point. I wanted a way to share what I know about the E-Learning field in a way that my organization (at the time) just couldn't share. So in an effort to be a responsible member of the community and for my own narcissm, I started blogging. I'm not great at it, but after 3+ years, I've established my voice.
Two weeks ago I blogged that I was interested in taking sidework, and that was the first time I've pitched trying to grab some work on the blog. The results have been overwhelming. My blog gets about 150 hits a day from subscribers and about 50-150 hits from search, based on activity. I've gone from having no side projects to six clients in a matter of two weeks with no advertising other than the blog.
When you build a relationship with a blogger, you become the hammer that blogger uses
When talking to marketers (primarilly b2b) the first thing I advise is that to appreciate the value of bloggers and blogging or for that matter any social media they need a different mindset from that they use for traditional marketing.. It's hard for them to grasp this particularly when under pressure to justify spend/budget and being asked "well how do you know it will work?".
Having been a corporate marketer it often comes down to knowing how to prove your business case.Therefore more numbers/comments becomes an easy measureable (if misguided) target of sorts. But there is much that marketers can do, and here's where I believe social media practitioners can assist them to understand and to help convince others in their organization. This is some of what I do when I'm asked about blogging (or social media in general).
1. I begin with their business goals and strategy, not the SM tool. For each goal try to show ways th
I've been blogging (hobby) for over three years. Little to know AdSense or referral revenue -- it wasn't the point. I wanted a way to share what I know about the E-Learning field in a way that my organization (at the time) just couldn't share. So in an effort to be a responsible member of the community and for my own narcissm, I started blogging. I'm not great at it, but after 3+ years, I've established my voice.
Two weeks ago I blogged that I was interested in taking sidework, and that was the first time I've pitched trying to grab some work on the blog. The results have been overwhelming. My blog gets about 150 hits a day from subscribers and about 50-150 hits from search, based on activity. I've gone from having no side projects to six clients in a matter of two weeks with no advertising other than the blog.
When you build a relationship with a blogger, you become the hammer that blogger uses