When I started working at FraizerHeiby last year, I was anxious to dive in and put my love for blogging, social media and event planning to good use. You can imagine my excitement when I found out that one of my first projects was to plan a series of blogger events. After hours of research, countless emails and many months of planning, I can now tell you what it takes to plan and execute a successful blogger campaign:
Create a game plan: When it comes to planning an event, you can never be too prepared. Before you start the research phase, set clear goals for yourself and your team. Know what you're trying to accomplish with your blogger event and plan accordingly.
Research and read: Finding the right bloggers to help spread the word about your cause or product is key to any blogger event. With literally millions of bloggers in the United States, you might have a hard time figuring out where to start. Hop on a blog search website such as Alltop.com to give you a boost. Once you find 20 or so bloggers you're interested in, subscribe to their weekly blog updates and follow them on social media. It's important that you get to know the bloggers and their content before you narrow down your list and send them a pitch.
Provide valuable & interesting content: Whether you're giving bloggers a product or providing them with an opportunity to learn more about a certain topic -make it worth their time. A blogger is going to be more likely to attend your event if they think the content is worthy of being shared with their readers. Remember that bloggers are different from journalists and they should not be treated as if they are the same.
Build relationships through social media: Social media is one of the main platforms bloggers use to connect with their readers and drive traffic to their websites. Get on their level and promote your event using a hashtag. You might find that even if a blogger can't attend your event, they may help spread the word to other bloggers using Twitter or Facebook. Bloggers are not only connected to their readers, they are usually just as connected to other bloggers who write about similar topics.