Lifestyle

Everything Bloggers Need To Know About Influencer Marketing

A special thanks to Socialix for sponsoring today’s conversation. All of the thoughts and opinions expressed in this conversation are honest and 100% my very own.

marketing

My inbox was bombarded with email notifications from LinkedIn yesterday! Apparently it was my three year anniversary since starting my blog and people were congratulating me left and right. Wow… has it truly been three years already? Seems like yesterday I was struggling to find work and couldn’t make a dime from my blog. I have come a long ways since I began this blog, learned many valuable lessons, gained amazing relationships with brands and I am finally able to stay home with my children and make a living from my blog. I owe all of that due to influencer marketing, something that has helped me grow so much as a blogger. Influencer marketing is a partnership between brands and bloggers where we assist companies in driving their message. Influencer marketing focuses on marketing through influencers (such as bloggers) whom can give a more authentic and unique message. Whether it is through social media or creating content for a brand, you as the blogger are expected to spread the word through your own social media networks. I have worked on countless campaigns and it has really helped me to find my voice and express the brand’s message in my own way. Whether you are a seasoned influencer or just beginning, I have created a list of topics that every blogger needs to know about when it comes it influencer marketing!

What Do Bloggers Get Out Of Working With Brands?

Brands want to pay you for your time and monetary compensation is always something a brand will provide. Some may also send you their products, vouchers to purchase their products, or offer you an affiliate option and potential to continue earning money from them. Some brands I have worked with were really great on social media and shared my blog post on their accounts. I have even had several companies purchase facebook, twitter and pinterest ads for my blog posts and social media shares. There are so many perks and advantages when working with companies, so much opportunity to grow a great relationship while working together to advertise their brand.

What Brands Should You Work With & What Brands Shouldn’t You Work With?

I believe that this is a very personal decision and you absolutely do not have to accept every offer that comes your way. If you work with every type of brand out there then you are going to lose your authentic voice, your audience is going to be confused as to what you really stand for. Be true to yourself and only work with brands that you support and would actually purchase their products. Do some research on the brand, see what other have to say and how customers are rating their products. I was presented with an opportunity one time, but after doing a little research I discovered the brand was getting terrible reviews from customers. That was something I simply did not want to represent and kindly declined.

How To Prepare For Working With Brands

Creating a media page on your blog is a must, brands want to know your numbers! Every single campaign you apply for is going to ask your social media follow numbers and many will want to know your traffic via Google analytics. You need to make sure you have Google Analytics installed on your blog to keep track of your traffic. You are also going to need to have a media kit on your blog, this will make it one step easier and you can always direct brands to it when they request the information.

How To Secure Brand Deals

When working with blogger networks that connect brands with influencers, it is important that you completely fill out your profile. This is the first thing brands are going to look at when deciding who to choose for their campaigns. Fill out your bio with relevant information about yourself and your blog, plus make sure you connect all of your social media accounts. If you are required to fill out an application for a campaign, make sure that your answers are meaningful so that brands know you are actually serious about working with them.

Benefits of Blogger Networks

90% of my income comes from blogger networks and there are so many reasons why I prefer working through them rather than directly with the brands. I’ve been taken advantage of several times in the past while with brands directly and some have even cut off communications once it came to making a payment. You never have to worry about that while working through a network. Blogger networks, such as Socialix, is beneficial because they stand in as the middle man for all campaigns, making sure both parties are doing their part and ensuring bloggers get paid. All of the hard work is done for you, the only responsibility on your end is to complete to the campaign directions and submit your links on time.

Best Practices For Writing Sponsored Posts

The first thing you want to decide is how often you want to work with brands and create sponsored posts, this is also something I believe to be a personal choice. If you are creating engaging and authentic blog posts through your sponsored posts, then I see no problem with doing them often. However, if you are creating posts that come off too much as advertisement, you will probably want to limit that to once a week, or every other week. Once you have established how often, make sure you are only applying and accepting campaigns that you have thoroughly read through. Don’t just apply to everything, make sure the message the brand is wanting to send it actually something your audience will be interested in. You don’t want to be working on a campaign that is promoting men’s shoes when the majority of your audience is women.

I hope this post has been useful to you and has given you a better understanding of how influencer marking works. Please feel free to comment with any advice you would like to offer other bloggers trying to get more acquainted with this fun and exciting way of earning money on their blog!

 

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