22 Years Ago Today and Some Advice About How Not to Pitch Bloggers

Celebrating 22 Years!

Twenty two years ago on this date (September 14th),  my husband and I got married!   We've been together for 29 nine years!  I celebrated my 20th anniversary in Flickr and with this video (darn the gown doesn't fit this year!) as well as a  post marking our long term relationship.  Today, I posted on Twitter and got lots of good wishes.   There isn't any thing specific on the geek anniversary gift list to mark the 22nd, so we'll toast the date with flowers, a donation to the Sharing Foundation, and a nice dinner out someplace.

Blogger relations (not to be confused with blogger relationships like I'm describing above) that is blogger outreach came up as a topic in a workshop I did on social media and the arts earlier this week. Given the interest in this topic by many of my nonprofit readers, and since I'm started off this post with a story about relationships, I thought I'd share some advice about how to NOT to pitch bloggers to write about your organization, product, service, or event.   

1.   Don't have your office intern hapzardly send out a canned pitches, get to know the bloggers first.    While I write about nonprofits and social media, I try to approach the topic with a bit of personality - and that means sharing information about me - like the fact I'm celebrating my 22nd Wedding Anniversary.  So, why would someone send me a story pitch and press release and invite me to write about social network designed for women who are divorced?   I got a good laugh before hitting the delete button.

I got the impression that someone just scraped this list and send out pitches blinding without, at minimum, clicking through to a Facebook profile or perhaps evening reading the blog.  So, before you begin blasting out your pitch happardly to bloggers, read some of what the blogger has written and see if your pitch is relevant.

2.  Don't have your first point of interaction be a request to blog about your program or whatever.   My husband didn't ask me to marry him on our first date - we had a great courtship, getting to know each other before we said "I do."  The best first date with a blogger is to leave a meaningful comment on their blog. Something more than "this is great" or "write about my project," but something that leaves the impression that you've taken the time to read the blogger's previous posts and add something with your comment.  Kevin Bondelli has more advice.

3.  Don't overwhelm the blogger with requests and information.   Once you've developed a relationship with trust and respect, then you can begin to pitch.  But don't ask them to write about every little thing and don't swamp them with pages and pages of material.   Be succinct and make a clear connection between what the blogger is interested in writing about and your program or organization or whatever your pitching.

There's lots of great advice about blogger relations and outreach.  Here's a few choice links:

• Connecting With Bloggers from Free Range Graphics Studio (written for the nonprofit reader)
• Bloggers Talk To PR Agencies by Toby Bloomberg
• Blogger Outreach 101 by Kevin Bondelli
• Definitive Guide to Social Media Releases by Brian Solis
• Blogger Outreach: New Study Attempts to Define Success by Kami Huyse
• Are Bloggers Media? by Todd Defren
• Put Away Your Shot Guns by Chris Brogan
• The Secret Sauce of the Perfect Pitch by Susan Getgood
• Blogger Relations by Lee Oden

What tricks or tips have you learned about approaching bloggers and getting them to write about your nonprofit's programs or services?  If you're a blogger, what advice would you give to nonprofits?  What are some of the best resources?

Comments

[Alex Berger]

Beth,

First - Congratulations on 22 years and 29 together! A truly wonderful achievement, especially in the modern marital climate.

Second - Great post, can't wait to get into those links you posted.

My only immediate thought to add is that people, fundamentally, want to help and engage in each other. However, they're typically overloaded and need to overcome cultural messages/obstacles first. Reach out to them, engage them, and they will almost always be eager to help you - often to a surprising degree.

[Stephanie McAuliffe]

Congratulations on your journey together, wonderful photo

[Michael Hoffman]

Beth

Mazal Tov! Not too far behind you. Great advice on the bloggers. I will be speaking at Blog World Expo in Vegas next weekend and hopefully will come back with more ideas.

Michael Hoffman

[Donna]

congrats!

[frank]

I think it all comes down to building real relationships with the blogger and not just trying to get them to push your stuff.

What do most bloggers want ... people to enjoy what their content and contribute to their blog by COMMENTING on their posts and keeping the conversation going.

I've found that top notch bloggers will respect you if you spend time reading their posts and making thoughtful comments. And i know there are lot's of people saying that this is important, but it's amazing how little people actually spend the time to write meaningful comments.

Once you start the relationship through commenting, it then becomes easier to connect with them in places like twitter - allowing you to take the relationship to the next level.

My feeling is that you should only 'pitch' a blogger once you have started connecting with them consistently.

---
http://twitter.com/franswaa

[Ashley Messick]

First I echo everyone in offering sincere congrats to you! What a truly amazing accomplishment and one that should be applauded.

My thought to add might be to your third point:

"Be succinct and make a clear connection between what the blogger is interested in writing about and your program or organization or whatever your pitching."

A way to also aid in building the connection is that when you do get to the point of making the pitch encourage the blogger to collaborate with you on finding the final topic for the contributed piece. Not that you should go in without an idea of their interests and what suggestions you may have for them - but a good brainstorming session can often not only come up with an even better topic for the contributed piece but can also strengthen that relationship that you have already been diligently building.

[Eugene Chan]

Happy Anniversary! My wife and I just celebrated our tenth!

[Lauren O'Grady]

Congratulations wow 22 years as a 28 year old. I am very impressed and happy for you both. Congratulations !

[Danielle]

Great post! I think it's always important to focus on the golden rule when you are talking social media. Respect is crucial even online. Begging for blog posts isn't very attractive. But I'll always help a friend if they ask...

[Chris Brogan...]

Happy happy happy Anniversary! : )

[Toby]

Happy anniversary! Thanks for continuing the conversation about this issue. One word that was repeated multiple times in the research I did and that was "respect." Without that there is no relationship.

[Erin Stojan Ruccolo]

Great post--and congrats on the anniversary. That wedding picture is just adorable :)

[Shailesh Ghimire]

Beth,

First of all congratulations on your 22dn anniversary. So, happy for you guys!

Your post was very timely for me. I'm working with several businesses that are trying to do some kind of blogger outreach and as a blogger I certainly know the way I'd like to be approached and certainly that is true for other bloggers as well.

I think the main mistake companies can make is thinking that bloggers are just like newspapers guys from the olden days. They're not, we blog because we're passionate about the topic we are dealing with and love it, so if the pitch is just a pitch then we're not interested. It's like a relationship, which you've so beautifully demonstrated in your post.

[chelpixie]

Great comparison between relationships and pitching. I especially like the not asking someone to marry you on a first date! Hee.