Every time I write a blog post, I post it on Twitter and Facebook. Most of us do this with our content because we want our news and opinions to be shared with all of our communities and extended circles; it gives our brands a better chance of getting noticed.
But should it just end at social sites?
Pitching Blog Posts To Bloggers
Just as, traditionally, you might email out a press release to 300 media contacts and maybe 1,000 relevant bloggers — today more businesses and bloggers are sharing specific blog posts they want to be reposted or covered on other blogs.
Best case scenario you get coverage or guest posts on other online publications. And often, even if coverage does not result, you will likely get more social shares from those emailed. Assuming your content is compelling.
While this has likely been going on since blogging existed, the practice is getting more popular and more refined, and for good reason.
More and more brands (and individual bloggers) have started pitching their own blog posts to bloggers. In a way, it’s a twist on guest posts; bloggers are looking for new content all the time. And blog posts are typically less promotional and in a format that’s more attractive to most bloggers than a traditional email press release or pitch.
PR and marketing uses to be about earned and paid media, but are increasingly about owned and shared media (company blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) This means that marketers are original content creators more than ever and finding new communities where that content can be shared is a crucial piece of our success.
Best practices to implement and pitfalls to avoid
- 1. Roundups – Keep an eye out for blogs that do regular aggregated round-ups of their favorite posts across the web. (Check out Social Media Today or Sarah Evans’ Commentz email newsletter; they aggregrate news every day.) Highlighting your posts to these blogs is a great way to get your most interesting blog posts noticed by new communities!
- 2. Target – Only pitch particular posts that individual bloggers might deem relevant for their own blogs. (Target, target, target!)
- 3. Be Selective – Respect bloggers and their time. Don’t slam their inboxes every day…. choose purposeful posts and send only occasionally to the bloggers on your list to avoid getting ignored.
- 4. Tell A Story – Write compelling, relevant content; tell your story. Cision just announced our new Social Publish feature as part of our partnership with PitchEngine; if you take a look at a lot of the pitches on PitchEngine, they are looking more and more like blog posts and less like traditional press releases.
- 5. Share The Love – Practice social karma. Highlight other bloggers’ posts that you love on your own social pages and in your own blog round-ups. What goes around comes around.
Today in PR and marketing, we are all the kings and queens of content creation; the key is to find new ways for people to discover our story across the social web and sharing with other bloggers is a great way to do so.
What other ways do you share your content?