The Future Of Blogging Events
A couple of weeks ago I was asked to give a talk to a group of household name fashion and beauty brands about effective working relationships with bloggers. If you're a fellow blogger, you can probably hazard a guess about the most pressing issues and occurrences I mentioned to them, everything from payment for posts to those wretched competitions. I also talked about blogger events - what's great about them, what's not, and what brands can do with events to make better connections with bloggers. It's definitely a subject close to my heart as I've worked a lot with brands to organise blogger events, and set up Bloggeration to help change the way that brands use events to reach out to and engage with bloggers. In October and November this year I ran three workshops, and rather than write-up what happened at each one, I thought I'd summarise all three and explain to brands and blogger event organisers why I used this model, and how it works well. Just to be clear, this isn't me saying I'm the future of blogger events whilst doing jazz hands, I'm just pointing out some things that could work better over on the commercial side of the Blogosphere.
1.) Have small groups
It's widely understood in the PR and marketing world that blogger events should be as big as possible in order to get maximum coverage for a brand. For example, if you have fifty bloggers at an event, it will probably mean at least thirty blog write ups, whereas if you have ten bloggers you risk only having four write-ups - which isn't a lot to show your client in terms of brand exposure. However, guest numbers have a huge effect on the atmosphere and outcome of an event. It's fine to go big for a party, but for a workshop, meal, or afternoon tea, for example, a huge group of thirty or more sat round one table, or squashed into one room to stare at a projector means your bloggers lose out on networking opportunities; they'll probably only talk to the people they're immediately sat next to, and they won't feel that they're seen as individuals.
I'm not saying that some of the bigger events that fellow bloggers-who-organise-blogger-events events are doing are not worthwhile - the meetups, retreats and conferences - there are numerous benefits to spending a whole weekend, or being in a party-style scenario with a lot of bloggers. It's just that as a blogger myself I've come away from so many events feeling like I'd been nothing more than a number on a spreadsheet to a brand, and that in a workshop scenario I'd not been able to connect with as many fellow bloggers as I'd have liked. With Bloggeration I wanted a maximum of ten bloggers in each workshop, and to prove to brands that this can be more beneficial to them in the long run because that relationship is being built and fostered. Each and every blogger can be seen, heard, engaged, and talking to everyone there. The feedback from the attendees was that they liked the intimacy; several felt like they'd made new friends rather than just having a fleeting chat, and that they felt more relaxed in a small group.
2.) Help bloggers fully engage with your brand
The three workshops I ran were craft, health & fitness, and book themed, and attendees were a mixture of bloggers from those niches, and lifestyle bloggers who cover a range of things. The main sponsor was Zazzle, an American online retailer that specialises in customised items like stationary and phone cases, and Penguin Books also sponsored the book event (obviously). Personally, I've always felt more engaged with and connected to brands when the event was smaller; I could properly talk to brand representatives or PRs. A recent example of this is the Paperchase Christmas blogger event where there were fifteen bloggers in each session (and they ran two or three of them I think, this is something I pointed out to the brands I gave a talk to; it's better to keep groups small and run multiple sessions). We had an introduction from Paperchase about their 2016 items, and got to carry on talking to them whilst doing some fun Christmas crafting as a group.
This is a huge difference from another blogger event I went to for a diamond company. The invite had labelled this as a party with a guest from Made in Chelsea coming to talk about the diamond industry. In actual fact it was a small room at the end of a long, narrow bar where bloggers were allowed in (in very small numbers) to take photos of the diamonds whilst a fierce bodyguard glared at us, and then we shuffled out. We did get a free cocktail, but seeing as most bloggers just left after realising they'd been duped, there weren't many people to drink and chat with. I'm guessing not many bloggers wrote this up as myself and a couple of blogger chums I went with were hounded for days by the PR asking for our write-up, and eventually demanding it. To help bloggers properly engage with a brand you need time (and space) and activities, and most importantly a two-way dialogue. Unfortunately Zazzle couldn't physically attend the workshops, but I acted as a middle person to tell the bloggers about the brand, and their UK marketing manager gave them all her email and asked them to get in touch to discuss ways in which they could work together. The activities for the craft workshop used Zazzle's products and the bloggers were impressed with the range and what they might be able to do with them.
Having Penguin Books (or Penguin Random House as they are now) come in and meet with bloggers was a brilliant opportunity, and it was no wonder that the ten places on this workshop went in a flash and I had a waiting list. One of the marketing team, Stephenie (below), came in on a Saturday to spend two whole hours having tea and cake with the bloggers and talking about everything from how to work in publishing, to how things are run at Penguin and what a typical day is like. Stephenie told them how Penguin like to work with bloggers and booktubers, what their future plans for this are, and, rather brilliantly, she asked the bloggers what does and doesn't work for them about brand collaborations and what they might like to do with Penguin. From the write-ups bloggers have done of this event I can see that they got so much out of this discussion, and ended up completely knowing where they stand with a brand, and how they can go forward. Instead of treating attendees like irritants who now owed her some blog exposure, Stephenie also made them feel special by gifting each blogger a huge bag of books, telling them to contact her if they wanted work experience and she'd just put them in the diary without them having to go through a stressful application process, AND she invited them to the Penguin influencer Christmas party. Result!
3.) Find ways for bloggers to work on their blog goals and skills
There's been a trend for a while in brand-run events to provide training and workshop-style events for bloggers. As London Beauty Queen says, a cupcake and a drink made bloggers feel special at events three years ago, but this is no longer enough. Not that this means bloggers are more demanding, they're just more in demand and can pick and choose events. Brands have learnt that they have more of a chance of a full turn out if they can offer bloggers the chance to learn valuable skills (work on their photography, get better at using their social media channels, advance their writing skills, etc) so what I was doing with Bloggeration in this respect is nothing new. However, I wanted the workshops to be a space in which bloggers could really reflect on their progress and what they wanted to achieve, to think about the contacts they may already have, and to set some goals. At each workshop this led to really long discussions around the table, with everyone offering advice and talking about their best and worst blogging experiences. With full time work, family, and everyday worries and concerns, there's often barely enough time to write a blog post, let alone give some serious reflection to growing your blog or how to achieve your aims. This was really important for me to be able to include this, and everyone had so much to say.
4.) Allow for a working relationship to develop between blogger and brand
One of the most frequent complaints I've heard from bloggers is that they never hear back from brands who ask them to an event, or even brands that they've written a sponsored post for. There's no surer way for a brand to make a blogger feel under-appreciated and like a stat in a marketing report than to initiate a connection that they don't follow up on. Ongoing working relationships can be hugely beneficial for both brand and blogger, and events could become a way to not just reach out to bloggers, but to properly start a connection. My idea with Bloggeration was to facilitate this by allowing all attendees to propose an idea for a collaboration to a brand, and to get feedback from them. When I pitched this to a range of brands, many of them were like, er... no thanks, we just want a blog post out of an event. Luckily there are lots of brands keen to try new ways to develop and maintain good working relationships with bloggers - including Zazzle and Penguin.
5.) Broaden bloggers' horizons
As each of my three workshops lasted a whole day I wanted to make sure that time wasn't entirely spent sitting round a table discussing blogging - though I felt that the bloggers could have happily done this! I arranged an activity that was relevant for the workshop theme, and I wanted bloggers to not only learn something new, but to have something extra to blog about if they so wished. For example, the health bloggers had three speakers come and talk to them about massage, Tai Chi, and life coaching, and this could have been an opportunity for them to write about the workshop (again, if they wanted to) and then to do a separate post for their readers with information about wellness using these techniques. I blog full time now, but I remember how difficult it can be to juggle a job with a blog, and having content ideas handed to you on a plate can be a blessing - especially if it's going to provide relevant, relatable content that people are going to be searching for. At the book blogger workshop we did a bit of a book club, with everyone sharing their favourite reads, and then had Penguin come in. I was delighted to have some guest instructors for the other two workshops; Hannah Cox of Crafternoon Cabaret helped bloggers at the craft workshop to create step-by-step Halloween and Christmas craft tutorials for their blogs, giving them two extra blog posts with this!
Che Dyer, a blogger and yoga teacher (oh my days, try her yoga and prosecco workshops!) came in to wake the bloggers up with some gentle stretching at the health workshop.
In the afternoon Zannah Merricks of Beta Ki taught bloggers several massage techniques, including useful ones to eliminate headaches and period pain. Jake taught us that Tai Chi is way more active than people think it is, and took us all through a squatting exercise that made my glutes ache for days. Alice Martin then took everyone through a life coaching task to help sort out a particular issue that was troubling each blogger (and gave everyone eight free sessions with her!). All four of these instructors taught the bloggers about the background and purpose to their fitness or wellness area, and I felt like bloggers' heads were exploding with information by the end of the day.
6.) Make brand promotion less of a chore
There's no way that an events organiser can make a blogger write about something or mention it on social media, and it's bad practice to demand or guilt trip anyone before, during or after an event into doing so. On the other hand, I do think that more bloggers need to be aware of how they get to have these lovely experiences for free, and the commercial aspect that enables their existence. For the first time ever I've had to email bloggers before each workshop and ask them nicely to give me notice of cancellation, and this is a sign of the times of the, shall we say, relaxed attitude to attending blogger events these days (I've gone into much more detail about that in my blog post called Bloggers Will Be Blacklisted). All bloggers know that the PR email saying "would you like any further information" is PR talk for hurry up with your blog post, and that's about all you can do to get something out of a blogger. As I mentioned with that diamond event, no blogger wants a demand for a blog post, or to be told that it's owed of them. Some brands and digital agencies are now even saying "we'd like to invite you to an event if you agree to write about it", but how does the blogger know at that stage if it's something they'll write favourably about, if at all?
As an events organiser you need to make it so good that bloggers will want to write about it, and I think if a brand focuses on all the other things I mentioned: forging a proper connection, helping bloggers learn and develop skills, and offer extra activities to blog about, then the promotional aspects will become less of a focus and therefore, a chore. Of course, some persuasion in the guise of competitions always helps. I was lucky to have some great brands helping me out with this by sponsoring photo competitions, and they get something back by having social media promotion during the event.
A huge benefit of small blogger events is that brands can afford to give more when it comes to goody bag sponsorship. If it's only ten items they need to give, they can give something impressive, and I pride myself on always curating great goody bags. I love it when bloggers include them in their write-ups and tweet or instagram about them - but, again, an organiser cannot make people give coverage to the goody bag sponsors, and you should never promise brands that you can definitely get this for them - it will risk both your professional reputation with brands, and the tolerance bloggers have for you if you demand from them.
Whilst we're on the subject, a shoutout to the goody bag and refreshment sponsors - Tiger Stores, Yoohoo HQ, DRINKmaple, Drinki, Hobbycraft, Anges de Sucre, Bloom and Wild, Basilico Pizza, Ringtons Tea, Ginger & Mint Fresh Juice, Lindt, Upbeat, We Are Tea, Rock Rose Gin, Literary Gift Company, Literary Emporium, Nibboxx, Honestly Healthy, and Sukrin.
7.) Make the event fun
As well as a learning and networking experience, I wanted Bloggeration to be a community-building, fun experience. Believe it or not, I have been to brand-organised workshops that were helpful in teaching me how to use my DSLR or use Google Analytics, but were as dry as a bloody desert in terms of fun-factor. You can strike a balance between fun and learning, and maybe it's the ex-teacher in me, but you need to develop strategies for engagement as well as for knowledge development. Reading the blog posts of attendees has shown me that bloggers enjoyed being in a little hub all day and revelling in the world of blogging, and that they felt like they made connections with other bloggers as well as with brands. By the way, cake is okay - don't rely solely on cupcakes to win over bloggers, but some cake is good. And pizza. When is pizza not a good idea?
If you're a brand looking for a small, quality workshop at a very minimal cost then get in touch. If you're a blogger interested in attending a Bloggeration workshop in 2016 then follow @Bloggeration_ and @Sairey_bearey to make me aware of your blog, and to be kept in the loop.
A huge thank you to The O-Bag Factory, our venue in north London. This is an amazing shop, with a beautiful studio space downstairs that's easily adaptable, and available to hire.
Here's some of the blog posts from lovely ladies who attended these Bloggeration workshops -