Is your company thinking of organizing a social media blogger outreach event with influential mom bloggers? I’ve been lucky enough to have been invited to several blogger outreach events, and watched others from afar. When a mom blogger is invited to an event, she often wonders why exactly was she chosen to participate, while other mom bloggers wonder why they haven’t. Getting the invitation list is important, so how should companies proceed?
First, decide what the purpose of the event is
Are you looking to learn more about the world of social media (especially as it is used by moms)? Do you want buzz for your campaign/event/product/service? Are you looking for insightful opinions about your product/service/campaign? Most companies, I’d assume are looking for a variety of these items, but careful thought about the purpose is important in developing the invitation list.
If you want to learn more about social media, consider inviting bloggers with a large following, who use Twitter, Facebook, and other social media regularly. For buzz, avoid the trap of only inviting super popular bloggers, because they may be too busy to attend, or too busy to provide buzz to you (although including some popular bloggers is always recommendated). Finally, if you want a robust discussion and meaningful insights, look carefully at inviting a diverse blend of bloggers – from different cultures, socio-economic backgrounds, geographic areas, education levels, and opinions.
Learn about the bloggers you are considering
Once you have a list of bloggers that you are considering, learn more about them. Read their blogs, follow them on Twitter, and learn about their points of view, their attitudes, and their influence within social media. This can help make sure that you are getting a great variety of viewpoints.
Get help if you need it
There are a variety of mom bloggers who also serve as social media consultants, and there are also PR firms that are experts in doing this. It’s hard to come up with the perfect invitation list without participating in the ongoing conversation.
Any more opinions? I’d love to hear them in the comments below.
Photo credit: Jen DeCesari
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is actually a great, concise, insightful assessment I wish every company would read before inviting me (I’m a mommy blogger) to an event. I often get invited to things that my readers and I have no interest in, and get overlooked for the events that would be perfect for us. If PR folks spent a bit more time getting to know the RIGHT bloggers instead of just going after the BIGGEST blogger, they’d get a far greater bang for their buck!
Thanks for this.
I especially like the point you made about not always inviting the ‘biggest’ bloggers. It seems most of the time big companies look for who has the largest following, and I think that is often a mistake. I know several of the ‘big’ ones were invited to certain events that I hear VERY LITTLE about after the fact. Knowing that thousands of dollars were spent to fly them there, wine and dine them, and give them a really great experience…I don’t think the return on the investment is there! I have seen that happen more than once, and it’s frustrating. It comes across as the blogger thinking they are so important they don’t have to bother with it. Alternatively, had a lesser known blogger been invited to that same event, it would be such a big deal to them that they would blog, twitter, facebook, and myspace the heck out of it, so that everyone would hear.
In my opinion, a blogger with a smaller following who tells everyone all the details of that great event will have far more impact than one with a large following who mentions the event in passing.