There is much talk today about the relationship between PR agencies/advertisers and bloggers and as with any relationship there is a disconnect on understanding each others objectives and expectations. Both have one common goal though and that is TO TELL A STORY.
I've often been asked by both PR agencies and advertisers how to choose bloggers when they have events. I always tell them that the best way is to immerse themselves in the blogosphere so they can handpick based on their requirements. Some choose by doing a search on Google using keywords that relate to their product/service and this actually helps especially if you want to limit your list.
Here are some tips on choosing talented bloggers (if you want to do it on your own or you want to make sure that your agency doesn't resort to choosing the usual ones):
1. Define your objectives on why you want to utilize bloggers for your campaign. Is it to increase traffic on your site? Add more content about your product/service online? Make reviews? Try out your product/service?
2. Do a search on Google using keywords related to your product/service. You can also use Google Blog Search for this.
3. Check out the content of the blogs that you found and relate them to your objectives.
4. Also check whether the blog's content parallels your target market. You can do this by checking the blog's content. The more interesting blogs are those that have original content (text and photos and videos even).
5. And (optional) you may also wish to do a check on a blogger's reputation.
Blog traffic is something that most bloggers won't disclose and in my opinion this should only work if you compare based on the niche and not the totality. After all people read blogs depending on the passions and interests that they pursue online.
Some related content you may be interested in:
Instructions by Jayvee Fernandez
The Nightingale, Bloggers, Press & PR by Juned Sonido
