by By: Danielle Horn
Bloggers have become the wanted insider and trustful voice instead of the unwanted guest, which they were viewed as a few years back. Recently bloggers have been must haves at runway shows and grand opening parties as bloggers have become the new influencers. Influencers are people with a mass amount of followers on any social media platform that have the ability to influence those who follow them. Personally, my daily routine has consisted of waking up with a plenty of time before class to catch up with my favorite bloggers on their websites and social media accounts to see what fabulous events they have been invited to and what they are wearing. I don’t know about you, but after reading some of my favorite bloggers new post it’s hard for me not to go shopping and buy the newest outfit that they were rocking.
Once bloggers have started pairing up with brands and writing posts, creating videos, and taking pictures on the designers behalf on social media platforms it has become easier to see the numbers and how bloggers are influencing their readers to buy what they post. According to Jonha Revesenico at Huffington Post, the top 6 ways to maintain an influential blog are:
- Watch the agenda–pushing
Readers want to be sold on your honest opinion of the brand and what they sent you, instead of feeling the need to write a post that you don’t even support because you feel pressured by the brand to really sell them.
- Partner with a brand
Brands and designers are wanting to work with major bloggers who speak honestly, have a loyal following, and can create amazing visual content. For winter Chiara Ferragni of the Blonde Salad made a video with Cartier promoting their “Winter Dream.”
- Share every blog post with other social media
Blogging is now seen as a full time job, so you mine as well have your work be posted on as many social media platforms as you can to get your work seen.
- Email newsletters
This is a low cost and effective way to get readers to your blog and a way for followers to know the exact moment you post something new. Your blog is now a brand so you mine as well treat it like it’s one with this effective branding marketing strategy.
- Pay attention to detail
As previously mentioned, this blog is now a brand and needs to be seen professionally. Try to make a minimal amount of typos as possible.
- Focus on the visual
Visual content allows for more engagement. Not everyone can read a lengthy blog post with full attention. Readers need posts to be engaging.
Follow all of those rules and you might just become the next big influencer. Your blog could become the next Sincerely Jules with a clothing line launched and being sold at Revolve stores around the world, have a New York Times best seller book like Cupcakes and Cashmere, or have a Harvard Business School case study written about the empire The Blonde Salad built around her blog.
Twitter: @danielleeehorn
Instagram: @danielleeehorn
Website: danielleshorn.com
I love this article, Danielle. I like its simplicity and step-by-step guidelines for successful blogging. As we are mostly PR students, I think blogging is a very important topic to discuss. Most of us have blogging experience but some of us don’t know how to launch our own blog outside of the classroom. I think that your insight and consideration are perfect. I liked how you spent a good amount of time [in this article] discussing the importance of visuals. It is so true that people are more drawn to the visual aspects of a post and from their will read will continue to read, based not their liking. I also enjoyed your discussion of how to reach a larger audience after the blogs have been written. But how much advertising and emailing is too much? Is there a limit? Over all, the post is well written and I really enjoyed it! Good job!
Sophie,
Thank you for the comment! After following and subscribing to several bloggers for a few years now I personally feel that one email a day brings me to their website. If it goes over that I have to unsubscribe, because I feel that I end up spending more time on their website reading than I do with finishing my homework and being productive. Personally, I feel that whowhatwear.com is one of the worse offenders as I used to get like five emails a day from them.
I agree that blogs are becoming more resourceful for brands and advertising for those brands. Personally, I don’t follow that many blogs regularly but I think it’s interesting to see how much power and influence they can have on a large amount of people at one time. I’m not super interested in fashion but I would be interested in following a food blogger, especially one that lives in my city so I can hear about the best spots. If I read a blog raving about a restaurant and how great the chef is, it 100% entices me to go there. I definitely see the power of the blogger!
Bryna-
I totally agree with you. I follow a few food bloggers myself and absolutely need to go wherever they recommend. This Huffington Post article is great if you want to start following some food bloggers. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/11/food-bloggers-_n_5796948.html If you don’t have the time whatsgabycooking is an amazing snapchat account that shows killer food.
This is an interesting article to me because I hadn’t really thought about the power of the blogger. Now that it has been mentioned, I am thinking of all the excellent home-making and photography blogs I have come across which are always producing new content. I remember thinking in my head, “how on earth do these people have time to do this and a full time job?” I guess that probably was their full time job!
You also made note that many brands team up with bloggers in order to receive promotion. This worries me because a lot of the bloggers I admire will mention certain products, and I wonder if their opinion is truly “honest”, or perhaps skewed in some way.
Something that came to mind when reading this post is Nike’s interaction with video blogger Casey Neistat. Nike gave him money to do something with their Fuelband, and what he came up with was great marketing!
If you are interested in reading the story behind it click here.
And Casey’s video can be found here.
Hi Jennifer,
I had seen Casey’s video before and was blown away at how creative he is and how successful he has become from blogging. I didn’t think that blogging could be a full time job either but after reading all of the hard work and planning that go into each post I realized how dedicated they are to their creativity and helping others along the way.
Thanks for reading!
Danielle,
I enjoyed reading your blog post. The step-by-step process was easy to follow and helpful for someone like me who has little experience with blog writing. You mention that when you wake up, you check your favorite blogs. What type of blogs do you read? What are your favorite blogs and why?
Natalie,
I read all types of different blogs. Thanks to this website and app called bloglovin I was able to find so many different people to read. All the blogs I subscribe to our DIY, recipes, food and health, travel and style. After going back to my bloglovin account I realized I follow so many different people that it’s amazing how the internet can bring people across the world together under common interests. My favorite blogger by far is The Londoner. I live vicariously through her posh Notting Hill life which includes so many different restaurants posts and envy worthy trips.
Danielle,
This is an interesting article to look at it especially for some new learners of being a blogger, like me. Personally, I don’t follow that many bloggers and go through blogs everyday. But it’s indeed that bloggers are becoming a powerful influencers and tools on today’s digital media era. Readers need the bloggers’ resources and first-hand experience. For most of time, they trust the information what their most trustable bloggers send out.
Also, I love the part you talk a lot about visual contents. Personally, I usually skip very long and dry blogs. They just look like essays. Pictures and videos will make me more be engaging.
In a word, this is a very good guidelines for people who are interested in being a blogger.
Thank you Sijie! I love how you pointed out that blog posts without any visual content just look like essays. There are too many times when I am looking at blog posts that have millions of subscribers with nothing entertaining to look at. If I don’t see an image on the post right away I most likely will not read what they spent so much time writing about. Thanks for your thoughts!
Danielle,
I really loved reading the different steps that it takes to have a blog that works and correlating that to how I’ve seen blogs or bloggers be successful. I don’t spend nearly enough time reading personal blogs as I should, but it is so true when it comes to being influenced or wanting to know what to buy that bloggers are the people to turn to. I have a weird obsession with following beauty bloggers on YouTube and seeing what products they use in different tutorials, what they like best, what works best for them etc. and I cannot even begin to explain the amount of amazing products I’ve come across simply because of that. I also take notice to when I’m watching videos and can tell that they’re sponsored or not. There’s nothing more frustrating that bloggers who blog about products that they’re getting for free or are sponsored for and they don’t even necessarily like it. It’s important for people out there who want to get into following bloggers who pick the ones who stay authentic and transparent about what they are talking about.
Christina,
I look at a lot of video bloggers on YouTube too! It’s very interesting to see how different people who share the same interests as you live their life all around the world. Video bloggers on YouTube have become wildly successful and are considered influencers as well. I feel like in a video blog it is a little harder to tell if they genuinely love the product that they have been sponsored to talk about since they are so used to being in front of a camera at all times. Thanks for reading!
I thought this blog post was interesting! What initially caught my attention was the first two tips: To watch for agenda pushers and to partner with a brand. Do you feel that if you partner with a brand you have to disclose that relationship? And if you do partner with someone, and disclose that relationship, how to you make sure that brand is not overtly pushing their agenda? Do you have any tips or suggestions on how those maintain that independence while still attempting to be more successful by partnering with a brand?
Kira –
Thank you for all of your great questions! Firstly, I do think that it is extremely important as a blogger to disclose if they have partnered up with a brand. It allows you as a reader to understand why they selected this brand to partner up with and to see if they truly respect them and their products. I think it’s great to be honest and create content that doesn’t take away from your one work, to not create content that is no longer focused on who you are as a personal brand. I think in order to remain independent while still being successful with partnering brands is to remain honest and create content that relates to yourself, your readers and the brand. I believe in order to do this one must partner up with a brand that they believe represents their and their readers lifestyle.
I loved this! I think that bloggers don’t get enough credit especially knowing how much they can influence a brand and sway opinions back and forth. As a video blogger myself, I was reading this pretending I had never started before and wanted to start something millions of people already do. I feel like anyone can blog, anyone can be a creator and post content online but to make yourself truly standout, you have to be creative and yourself. I think the biggest thing companies don’t utilize enough is the power of bloggers and their social media following. Just have to make sure that the disclosure section of the blog post is clear and states the facts about partnerships, funding, or PR samples.
Deanna,
Thank you for your kind words! I hope this related to you and your successful video blogging career. I think the most important thing a blogger as an influencer can do is to be honest and open about products and brands they believe in, partnership or not. Thanks for reading!
Danielle,
I love the simplicity and content in this post! While all these steps are very important, agenda pushing stands out the most to me. With the increasing power that bloggers have in swaying the opinions of consumers, I am skeptical that honesty is being replaced with sponsorships. With many brands teaming up with bloggers to promote products, it has become unclear whether or not some bloggers are truly expressing their own opinion or that of the company. Do you think that companies are going to oversaturate bloggers with product reviews to a level at which all credibility is lost?
Bri-
Thank you for your thoughtful feedback! I don’t think that companies are going to oversaturate bloggers to a level at which all credibility is lost. I think this happens as brands allow bloggers to write and talk about their honest opinion without being forced to lie about something they do not believe in. I also think it’s great that companies are hiring people to blog directly to their sites, which allow greater insight. Thanks for reading!
As you said, blogging is becoming a more well liked than frowned upon. Given that, I think it’s really interesting that there are now detailed steps on how to make your blog more successful. Personally, I am not a big fan of blogging, so seeing this post really opened my eyes to how much influence bloggers have on our day-to-day lives. When I think about it, i think almost every innovative recipe I have tried recently has come from a blogger.
If I ever change my mind and want to keep up with a personal blog, I will defiantly be looking at these steps to make it successful.
Lauren,
I’m glad these tips will be useful for you if you ever decide to start a blog. I definitely lost inspiration for starting up my own, but after writing this I realized how amazing it is. It’s crazy to think how bloggers, whether you like them or not, have influenced our lives daily. Thanks for reading!
Great Post! Blogs are everywhere. If you are interested in something, there is probably a blog about that topic. Which is absolutely amazing! I think it is so incredible that the people publishing these blogs are able to hold so much influence over their audience. As future PR pros, or communicators in general, this is something we definitely need to pay attention to. Personally, I love Tumblr, and I see on a daily basis the huge influence that individual bloggers have. I love all of your tips for making blogs more influential. As an amateur blogger, I find these tips extremely helpful, and can not wait to start building my influence!
Love this post. I have tried to keep my blog (it was on Blogspot) active multiple times, but I failed. I find it difficult to keep a blog alive especially when you are busy with work.
I personally agree that visual content is important because I am not fond of blog posts that are too verbose, so visual graphics are the way to go. I feel like blog posts that have too much text give me an impression that the blogger is rambling! But on the other hand, my close friend, who is a freelance writer, is a fan of wordy, lengthy posts. So I guess it all depends on personal preferences after all.
I have recently started a blog but I’ve had a hard time keeping it active. But I think your tips and tricks are so important to follow in the blogger sphere! Great job Danielle!
I loved your post Danielle! Though I have no interest in blogging myself, I also leave enough time every morning before starting my day to catch up with all of my favorite bloggers. I also find that the bloggers I like to follow, and tend to respond to most are the bloggers who you can tell how truly passionate they are about a product they are advertising, use good grammar, post very frequently, and represent a strong, solidified, personal brand. Some of the bloggers I follow because of this are Arielle Charnas of SomethingNavy, Courtney Trop of Always Judging, and Danielle Bernstein of weWoreWhat. My favorite tip is #6 because for me visuals are the most important part, especially for fashion bloggers because as much as I want to hear about an event or about a new item of clothing, I want to see it more.