I have been blogging on and off now for over 10 years and so I think it’s safe to say I know a thing or two about working with brands on different types of campaigns. You often see guides on how to work with brands, showing bloggers how to pitch and win over brands for coveted opportunities, but I realised you don’t often see a guide on the do’s and don’ts of working with bloggers. Today I wanted to share with you the different types of blogger-brand partnerships and some tips on how both parties can get the most out of ongoing campaigns!
It’s widely accepted that there are 3 main ways to work with bloggers, namely:
Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is usually either: copy already written and uploaded on a bloggers website or content that is written by the blogger with a theme and links provided by the brand. It’s a very common way of working with bloggers as it allows brands to have slightly great control of the direction of the content and can be a fun way for bloggers to get creative with a specific theme or idea to work with. UK beauty bloggers can find sponsored opportunities for niche outreach companies as well as from direct contact either by the brand or by pitching directly to the brand themselves. The Get Blogged Marketplace is a fantastic example of this, it allows brands to work directly with bloggers on specific campaigns. Get Blogged has all of the bloggers information compiled so things like their DA are already filtered to allow the brand to access bloggers that have the required following and reach they need for their campaign. I have personally worked with Get Blogged for over a year and find that for beauty bloggers uk based they always have really engaging campaigns to work on that allow your creativity to shine through, as well as being really professional and easy to work with!
Product Reviews
Arguably the most common type of blogger-brand collaboration, products are sent by brands for bloggers to trial. This particular type of collaboration is often used by brands before they commit to spending larger amounts of money on sponsored content or paying for product placements. It’s down the individual blogger and the brand to decide if the product will be featured (some brands ask that a product is featured within a certain time frame up front, some bloggers will not commit to a time frame and state that there is no guarantee of coverage for any products sent in pr) and so it offers brands less control over the promotion they will receive. The benefits often outweigh this though, for example a blogger with a large audience may write a post raving about a product launch which could result in a massive increase in sales!
Product Placement
Think of product placement as a mixture of the 2 previously mentions types of collaborations. Brands with reach out with a specific product or service they are hoping to promote, this could be a new launch, a seasonal offering or a product that they are trying to increase awareness of. They will provide the blogger with both the product and a specific brief of what they need (it could be anything from a youtube video, instagram content, blog content or a mixture of all of these) and will pay the blogger for creating this content for them. With sponsored content the brand has a large amount of control over the content, the blogger will usually need to send the content over to them before it goes live to have it ‘signed off’ and the brand can ask for adjustments to be made if they aren’t happy.
Do’s and Don’ts of working with beauty bloggers:
DO make it clear what the campaign entails, in detail! If you want specific link placements, product images or shares on social media platforms it’s important to let the blogger know this in advance so they can factor this in.
DO work with the blogger to ensure the content is a natural fit for the site. It can be tempting to want specific taglines included in the bloggers content that match up to big marketing campaigns, but bloggers know their audiences so if something doesn’t work with the content trust their instincts on how to provide both fantastic and authentic content that their readers will want to engage with!
Don’t micro manage. As a brand it’s easy to forget there is a person behind the content and if you are expecting them to review, say, skincare it’s unfair to expect content within a week. This ties in with making it clear about campaign needs as we all have different deadlines that need to be met and so it’s important to make sure the blogger is aware if you have a specific deadline so they can get on with creating great content!
Don’t forget to pay! It’s a bit of controversial one but we’ve all worked with brands that are very keen to make sure you have content published but maybe not as keen to pay for the content once it’s live! It’s actually one of the reasons I really enjoy working with Get Blogged as this has never been an issue! It’s true what they say, bloggers talk…
Beauty blogging has always been my number one passion, it’s why I started my site over 10 years ago and I still get the same buzz when I try a new product for the first time or spot a new launch in the drugstore. I thought I would share my top 5 beauty bloggers with you and if you have any reocmmendations for me please make sure to leave them in the comments!
- ReallyRee the queen on new product launches, as soon as something is out I am immediately on Ree’s site checking her review. They are always in depth, they always feature actual unedited photos of the products in action and they are never biased, my number one beauty blog!
- Lisa Eldridge more than just a blogger, she is a true artist and her blog is packed full of expert tips and tricks that I use nearly every day! The woman can do no wrong, although I am yet to master her perfect red lip!
- Britishbeautyblogger the original no nonsense reviewer and one of my favourite sites for finding out about any upcoming promotions or product launches.
- Gemma etc Gemma never shies away from giving both good and bad product reviews and so I always feel like I can truly trust her opinion, she also keeps her photos informative over the typical blogger aesthetic which I actually prefer for reviews as it feels less ‘ad like’
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Caroline Hirons There’s a reason she has one of the most visited blogs int he world, the woman knows her stuff when it comes to skincare! When I first hit 30 and started panic buying anti-ageing products her site was recommended to me and I was hooked, she makes skincare easy to understand and my face has never looked better (still want that baby botox though!)
I really hope this guide was an interesting read for both bloggers and brands, it’s so important to get that balance right when working together, after all both of us want the same result and I can honestly say, there is not greater feeling then creating beautiful content that both the brand and your readers love!
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