tapinfluence digital impact conference "reaching female consumers through women bloggers"

Reaching Female Consumers Through Women Bloggers

formerly

Holly Hamann Co-founder, TapInfluence

This is not your target audience.

This is.

She has 2.3 of these,

One of these,

Probably one of these,

And maybe one of these.

OK, not everyone has one of those.

But it’s all good.

Because she relies on these.

And guess where they go for info?

To online influencers. (a.k.a. my gratuitous influencer graphic)

Women bloggers

93% of women bloggers have purchased a product based on brand information found

on a blog or online community.

What do women bloggers want?

We asked 65,000 of them.

2011 Brands and Women Bloggers Influencer Partnership Study

Copyright TapInfluence, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Holly HamannCo-founder, TapInfluenceholly@tapinfluence.com

Wendy SchererPartner, The Social Studies Groupwscherer@socialstudiesgroup.com

• What does the ideal brand partnership look like?• Which product category campaigns are most

desirable?• How does trust and social good influence bloggers’

partnership choices?• How effective are brands at connecting, pitching, and

compensating women bloggers?• Which brands are the most successful at forming

women blogger partnerships?

We wanted to know:

Survey Demographics

Survey Demographics

73% of all bloggers surveyed are moms with children (under 18) living at home.

Core Blog Categories

Top “Other” categories:• Personal• Beauty• Books• Faith/Religion

This is where thousands of untapped powerful niche communities live

Mobile Use

Time spent PER DAY engaged in social media from mobile phone

To keep in touch with these.

Hours per week spent working on own blog

Hours per week spent engaged with other blogs

Hours per week

Bloggers who spend 6 or more hours per week commenting on other blog communities show a correlated increase in revenue.

When does she do all that?

Blog traffic: unique visitors per month

Blogging as a Business67% of respondents think revenue generation is somewhat or very important.

Top revenue-generating blog categories:1. Deal/Frugal2. Family/Parenting3. Food4. Lifestyle

For the 21% earning $1,000 or more, almost all are spending at least 30 hours a week working on their blogs.

Remember, she has one of these.

Bloggers favor brand-sponsored social media and blog campaigns!

• 60% respected brands who wanted to interact with bloggers, thought campaigns were fun, validated their blogs, or thought they were great opportunities to earn revenue.

• Less than 2% disliked brand-sponsored social media or blog campaigns.

93% have purchased a product based on information they found on a blog or online

community.

What bloggers want in a brand relationship

90% of bloggers surveyed were somewhat or very interested in working with brands, provided they were compensated.

Most popular brand categories (view 1)

Most popular brand categories (view 2)

What’s TRUST got to do with it?

• 70% of bloggers trust a brand more when that brand is promoted or recommended by someone they know from a blog or social media.

• 56% of bloggers trust a brand more when a campaign includes an element of “social good” (raising money or awareness for a non-profit or social cause).

How brands are reaching out to bloggers

58% of bloggers have never been approached by a brand to work on a

campaign

In-person relationship opportunities may be under-utilized.

• Nearly 2/3 of bloggers reject at least half of the brand pitches they receive.

• 87% said personal feelings about a brand influences whether they will work with that brand.

Number of brand pitched received by bloggers each year

Effectiveness of brand pitches

Elements of a good pitch

• Personal• Targeted• Relevant • Compensation• Clear• Organized• Concise

Remember, she has one of these.

What types of campaigns were accepted?

Most common forms of compensation: 1. Free or discounted products 2. Traffic to blog 3. Money

What product category campaigns were accepted?

Reasons for negative experiences

12% of bloggers had a negative experience working on a brand

campaign.

Brands creating successful partnerships

Just like any perfect relationship…

Photo source: Warner Bros.

Women bloggers want:

Commitment

Relevant Products

Balance

ClarityRespect

Compensation

Partnership

Social Engagement

Copyright TapInfluence, Inc. All Rights Reserved

How do you get it?What bloggers want How to get it

Commitment Engage bloggers for multiple campaigns to create relationships you can rely on for years.

Partnership Products and trends evolve over time. Take the time to ask bloggers about your brand and product. Then listen.

Respect Be as professional as you would with any business colleague.

Compensation Asking bloggers to work for free is short-sighted. Create powerful partnerships by providing mutual benefit and compensation.

Clarity Be clear about campaign scope (amount of work required, deadlines, compensation, non-competes, etc). Make it easy to say yes or no.

To champion valuable products

Provide a high-quality product that is appropriately targeted (i.e. don’t ask a diabetic blogger to write about your chocolate bar).

Social engagement Follow bloggers on Twitter and Facebook, join their community discussions, comment on their blogs, get to know them.

Balance Create campaigns that accommodate family-oriented lifestyles.

Copyright TapInfluence, Inc. All Rights Reserved

You’ll create influential partners,

And millions of these will thank you.

Thank You!Holly Hamann

Co-founder, TapInfluenceholly@tapinfluence.com