Blogger outreach and viral content: 100 visitors and an infographic “I found your blog and saw that you were interested in the art and science of modern marketing. My team is promoting an infographic on the topic and I thought your readers might be interested in a relevant follow-up post. The infographic is called The Modern Marketer: Part Artist, Part Scientist and it’s located here“. An example of blogger outreach.
It’s better than the usual link swapping proposals (no, thank you) and it’s better prepared as most cases of blogger outreach. That’s what it’s called, isn’t it? Blogger outreach. Reaching out to a blogger. I guess I’m a blogger indeed.
I usually don’t like blogger outreach too much to be honest. I like guest bloggers and people sharing the same passion. I also like to see some feedback on a blog post or some form of return. Such as: “hey, not bad”, “liked that piece” or even “can we talk?” (or take a walk, for that matter).
I understand why people do blogger outreach and it’s not something I’m against. It’s just the way it’s often done, you know. And the priorities. I would prefer businesses to listen more to their customers, act upon that, blog, create and be relevant first. But we all have our roles I guess.
As said, I especially don’t like the way most outreach happens. The mail continued: “If you decide to blog about it, I will send a hundred relevant visitors directly to your post from our social media campaign as a way of saying thank you. Just email me a link to your post and I will send the traffic. If you have no time to write a post, I would really appreciate if you could help by sharing it on Twitter and Facebook”. The infographic: artists, scientists and the so what question
A hundred “relevant” visitors, imagine that. The infographic? Check it out below. It’s from Salesforce and Pardo. Two big companies. I don’t know who pays the person doing the outreach. I do guess they have quite a budget to get it all done though. But what about the homework? Why do we think all bloggers are blogging for the same reasons (“one hundred visitors”) and approach them in similar ways as if they’re merely channels?
So, what are we looking at? An infographic that says the modern marketer is part scientist, part artist. Hasn’t marketing always been a mix of the gut feeling on one hand and measurement on the other as I wrote in my blog post on marketing ROI? The artist part consists of written content, visual assets, social media and email marketing. Weird. Isn’t written content a matter of science as well in many cases nowadays? And email marketing: lots of science there. Operations are on the science part. I can tell you that sometimes you need to be an artist to run operations and get people collaborating and processes running.
The modern marketer must be multi-faceted, the infographic. So did the not modern marketer. To be honest, I don’t like the infographic at all. And that opinion is probably co-created by the way the blogger outreach is done. Timing is bad as well. I have some posts in the pipeline on myths regarding the distinction between paid, earned and owned media. And on the lies and myths regarding viral content. The blogger outreach currency: eyeballs and “visibility”
Lots of the so-called viral successes are really supported by all kinds of techniques and big media or “blogger outreach” budgets. Hey, it’s marketing, remember? But let’s be a bit open, shall we?
Look at those sharing numbers, however: 967 LinkedIn shares, 128 times G+, 170 Likes. And that for a small blog post with an infographic and a call-to-action for an eBook. I wonder in how many cases the blogger outreach worked. Or did all those sharing and commenting really liked it? Dunne. I also wonder what the cost of the whole operation is, including designing the infographic, putting it online, maybe some media buying. And of course blogger outreach. What would be the ROI?
I don’t blame anyone and I apologize to the marketing content expert announcing the infographic in a blog post and the outreaches. Back in the days when we organized digital marketing awards, the gap between what people believed to be good and effective viral marketing and the reality (contestants needed to share data, see), the marketing truth behind many campaigns quickly became clear.
Infographics and blogger outreach are part of the new viral. It’s not less transparent than it used to be. And it’s not more transparent than it used to be. It is what it is. Can I get those 100 visitors now? Oops, forgot to send the mail. Just kidding. Traffic and social shares, the currency of blogger outreach. Visibility (or is it ego and influence?). And eyeballs. Lucky me. Lucky us. Too bad we still pretend it’s owned and earned. And organic. And the power of visuals. This is not even a rant. It’s a case of sending the wrong email to the wrong, old and nagging guy. Am I too hard again?
Well, back to writing and working. And marketing. And isn’t all attention free publicity? I passed the link juice and eyeballs. And now what? Back to the traffic-building mindset?
If you feel that viral urge and want to satisfy it with an infographic: learn from the master. Just ask yourself who needs to be satisfied. And here are a few reasons why content doesn’t get shared, just a few. Infographic below. Update: either it’s a joke, either Salesforce is really going for massive blogger outreach. Just got another email: “Hi there, I saw that you were interested in social media ROI. I’m promoting a step-by-step guide on social media for lead generation and thought your readers might be interested. As you can see, it gives a ton of useful ideas. You could blog about the entire thing, or to make it shorter I put a few of my favorite tips in what I call a ‘Tweet Sheet’ – Crowdsource content and credit your community as a way of giving back – Make ads visually appealing for Pinterest pins since this market is growing fast! – Integrate keywords into your LinkedIn page(s) – Monitor Twitter tags for new and relevant conversations – Reach out to industry leaders with a Google Hangout – Host a video webinar answering questions for your customers I would really appreciate it if you could blog about this piece. If you are swamped, however, sharing it on Twitter or Facebook would be much appreciated as well. “Again, either it’s a joke either it’s just more blogger outreach by Salesforce.
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