Quick Summary: Read about how to run an effective blogger review program across a wide variety of product and services categories.
Background: While blogger review/ blogger relation programs have become popular internationally over the last two years, they are virtually unheard of in the Indian context. At the @MumbaiTwit tweetup last Sunday, I was speaking to a friend about setting up a blogger review program, and decided that it will be useful to put down my thoughts in the form of a how-to guide.
Scope: In this how-to guide, I’ll focus on running an effective blogger review program, not a blogger relations program. A blogger review program is typically a tactical, short-term, time-bound campaign focused on getting bloggers to review your new product or service. A blogger relations program involves building more strategic, longer-term, open-ended relationships with bloggers who are influential in your product or service niche. In terms of applicability, blogger review programs can be effective across a wide variety of product and services categories, including books, music CDs, movie DVDs, websites, gadgets and restaurants.
Step 1: Set up the blogger review program
I’m assuming that if you are planning to run a blogger review program, you already have a website, and probably a blog, for your product. If not, you should create both, and also consider creating a profile (or page) on social networks like Facebook/ MySpace/ Orkut.
While the specifics of a blogger review program will vary according to your product and your objectives, the following elements would work well for most blogger review programs –
- Offer bloggers an incentive in return for a review on their blogs. The incentive may be a complimentary copy of a book/ music CD/ movie DVD, a sneak preview of a new gadget/ website, discount coupons for a restaurant, or the chance to meet a celebrity. Ideally, offer a non-monetary incentive that is directly related to the product being reviewed, not money, as many bloggers are likely be offended by a monetary offer. In any case, specify that the blogger is expected to give an unbiased opinion on the product and disclose the receipt of the incentive.
- Clearly define who and how many are eligible to participate in the program. If you are giving away expensive gadgets, you would want to restrict participation to a few dozen influential bloggers on a “by invitation only” basis. If you are giving away free books/ CDs/ DVDs, you can restrict participation to the “first 100″ bloggers who request to participate in the program. If you are inviting requests, you should consider putting up a form that asks for details about blog URL, blog description, blog authority, apart from contact details.
- To make the program even more attractive to bloggers, offer to link back to their review on your own “review blog”, so that the blogger gets both the freebie and a linkback in return for a review.
- Set up a separate (easy to link) page on your website or blog for the blogger review program and prominently display a link to the page on your homepage. Structure the programs page as a social media newsroom, and include additional resources that will be useful in writing the review, including background information and easily embeddable photos (book cover, CD/ DVD jackets, or author/ artist/ executive pictures, possibly hosted on Flickr), videos (movie clips, music videos, or author/ artist/ executive interviews, possibly hosted on YouTube), and presentations (product/ website demo, or restaurant menu, possibly hosted on SlideShare).
Step 2: Announce the blogger review program on your website or blog
After you have set up the blogger review page on your website or blog, announce the blogger review program on your blog. Include a link to the program page but also include details of the program and links to the embeddable resources instead of just saying “click for more details”.
Step 3: Request influential bloggers to participate in, or promote, the program
After you have announced the program on your own blog, approach influential bloggers in your niche via e-mail and request them to either participate in the program, or help you promote the program by announcing it on their own blogs.
Take care to only approach bloggers who already write such posts on their blogs on a regular basis. For instance, it doesn’t make sense to approach a business blogger to review your restaurant, but it may make sense to approach him to promote your blogger review program.
Also take care to personalize your e-mail, address the blogger by name, and include links to a few posts written by the blogger on similar topics, which show that the blogger is indeed likely to be interested in your product.
Step 4: Ensure a hassle-free experience for the blogger
Once a blogger has shown interest in reviewing your product, ensure a hassle-free experience for the blogger. Respond to e-mails promptly, clarify doubts or give additional details wherever required, ship books/ CDs/ DVDs/ gadgets on time, give demos on time and in the manner promised — in short, don’t give the blogger a reason to have a negative impression of the program or the product.
Step 5: Set up a “review blog” to compile all the reviews
Finally, once the blogger has experienced your product and reviewed it on his blog, link to the review on your own “review blog”. The blogger benefits because he gets a linkback and you benefit because you have a record of dozens of (positive) reviews in one place. If you want to be super-smart, send a thank-you note to the blogger, after you have linked to his review on your review blog.
Also see:-
- Nokia N-series blogger review program: N90, N95, N91, N70, Washington Post, Matthew Miller at ZDNet.
- Eldelman’s WalMart blogger relations program: Shel Holtz 1, Shel Holtz 2, Richard Edelman 1, Richard Edelman 2, Jeff Jarvis, Dan Gillmor, New York Times.
