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I was honored to co-host a webinar on this subject with Gini Dietrich, founder of Arment Dietrich and author of the must-read blog Spin Sucks. We had a great discussion regarding bloggers influencing experience. We discussed how to pitch bloggers in the best ways, and Gini had a slew of examples of the good, bad and ugly. If you missed it, write to Giniand ask her to do it again. Someone (cough, cough, sorry!) may have forgotten to record it.

When examining this subject a few things became very clear to me. Gini and I had great discussions around the following topics:

1. Bloggers help set expectations.

Whether you are launching a new service like Spotify or considering a spin-off product, bloggers help reach your audience in a powerful way. We like to think of bloggers as our friends, our peers and our trusted advisors. Reaching out to them helps you set the expectations you want.

Gini expressed a great message about blogger outreach: Be real. Don’t send form messages. Get to know your blogger. If you send a mass email and include information on the latest technology gadget when you’re addressing a PR blogger, don’t expect to have a long-term relationship.

2. Bloggers facilitate conversation.

Lately, the holy grail of any campaign is that key component. Bloggers get your community – the old guard and the rookies – discussing issues central to your brand. Invite them into the conversation.

Another key point from Gini – provide enough information to bloggers so they can do this. If you are sending a book for review, why not highlight which chapter/chapters this particular blogger should investigate? Personalize the pitch to allow for better conversation.

3. Bloggers allow you to return to the community and ask for opinions.

Exploring a few different offers for your customers? Ask your trusted bloggers to help you explore this issue. Do things transparently and join the discussion.

Worth repeating – this only works if you have a relationship with said blogger. Don’t try this if you’re not on a first-name basis with the blogger (for real)!

For anyone who knows Gini and me, you know that the webinar was filled with laughter and silly jokes. It was FUN. I hope to do it again. But more than that, exploring this topic made me consider yet ANOTHER part of the customer experience. The customer experience is tricky and broad and gets bigger every day. I love lifting up one more rock to shed light on another piece of the journey.

If you couldn’t join us, I hope you can make my next webinar in the Customer Experience And…series. The topic is Innovation and I’ll be announcing the date and co-host SOON.

Thanks, Gini and everyone who participated last week. (I’ll never think of pens the same way.) ;-)

Photo Credit: DIUSGOVUK via Creative Commons license

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Jeannie Walters, CCXP
Jeannie Walters is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP,) a charter member of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA,) a globally recognized speaker, a LinkedIn Learning and Lynda.com instructor, and a Tedx speaker. She’s a very active writer and blogger, contributing to leading publications from Forbes to Pearson college textbooks. Her mission is “To Create Fewer Ruined Days for Customers.”

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