I’ve never called myself a blogger, even though I write blogs. Why not? Because, let’s face it, the word blogger has a bit of a bad reputation in some circles. I still see people looking for bloggers and influencers and it works really well in some industries. In other places, well…
What is a blogger?
Personally, I have nothing against bloggers. I just don’t want to be one. If you work in the travel industry you’ll hear an awful lot about influencer marketing. It’s common in other sectors too, for example if you want to promote a product in a market where there’s a strong blogger presence.
This kind of marketing works incredibly well where there’s a relationship between the blogger/influencer and the customer. Influencers tend to be people who have a strong social media following in a particular niche. For example, you might have someone who loves to travel off the beaten track or get involved in adventure sports. Equally there are lots of ‘Mummy bloggers’. Some of them are just funny but others will write sponsored posts for products or experiences they love alongside their more personal posts. These relationships work because a blogger’s followers trust them to only talk about things that they’ll enjoy and a business can tap into an audience that will like what they do.
On the other hand, there’s huge potential for it all to go wrong…