Think before you act in the blogosphere, because it is important that people understand that bloggers are people too.
It might seem obvious when you think about it, but this simple fact is often ignored. Every single blog which exists online is written and managed by a real life person. This person sleeps, eats, breathes, feels, bleeds and cries just like you. Their blog might be their business; it might be their hobby, or perhaps their side-gig. However, for whatever reason motivates them they have chosen to write about their topic of interest and place it on the World Wide Web for all to see.
Make sure that you remember this fact when interacting with bloggers, especially in these situations:
Before Trying to Use Them as Marketing Skills
Blogger outreach is when businesses use the influence that a blogger has on a particular audience to promote their products or services. They know that if they can get the blogger to mention, review or promote their products this will turn into marketing gold. Consumers look to what their peers and their role models recommend and so a testimonial from an influential blogger is highly desirable to a company.
However, many businesses tend to forget that bloggers are people and simply start to see them as marketing opportunities. This is why so many bloggers get promotional emails which are impersonal, inappropriate and irrelevant to them.
If you really want to harness the power of blog outreach, start respecting bloggers for whom they are and they will be much more eager to promote your product. Offer them something that they are actually interested in and make it worth their while to help you. Do a bit of research and find out their name before you send them an email. It takes a bit more time but it will make a world of difference in the success of your blogger outreach campaign.
When Posting Nasty Comments
When bloggers write about their lives and their opinions on the Internet, they really put themselves out there in a vulnerable way. Especially if they are writing about controversial topics or have strong opinions, there are going to be readers who disagree with them.
If you read a blog that you disagree with it is perfectly acceptable to write a comment in response. However, so many blog owners find that their posts are sometimes bombarded with angry, cruel and nasty comments from readers.
Remember that when you are commenting you are directing your words towards a real person with feelings! Even though you can’t see them, your rude words hurt. When you disagree with someone there is no need to call them names, insult them or say that you hope horrible things happen to them.
Feel free to disagree, but simply express your argument in respectful way without being abusive. It’s not that difficult.
When Using Their Content
If you have a blog or a website, you might one day see something on someone else’s blog that you want to reference or include, whether it is a quote, a photo or a graphic. If you do so, always link back to their blog.
The blogger spent hours creating that content and it belongs to them, so referencing it without giving them credit undermines their hard work and is a huge insult. A little link and a note of thanks goes a long way to showing a blogger that you respect them.
Basically, the main thing to remember is to treat bloggers the way that you would want to be treated, because when it comes down to it they are people too.
What must be remembered in all forms of blogger outreach and interacting with bloggers is that they are not just a website, but real people.
