Camping with the Mediocre Dad

Camping tips, tricks and advice from a fairly average parent and a reformed dad blogger

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Camping
  • Family Days Out
  • Sponsorship
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Why celebrate mediocrity?
Menu

Fatherhood²: The Pleasure and Pain of “Blogger Engagement”

Posted on April 25, 2011April 27, 2011 by Henry Elliss

As both a blogger and a social media… person, I regularly come in to contact with people hoping to form relationships with bloggers. I’ve even done it myself a few times – though I’m by no means an expert. But the concept of “blogger engagement” is a very interesting one to me, and – I must admit – one of the many reasons I got in to blogging.

As a new father, I’d be more than happy to get some free stuff occasionally – whether it’s products to review, or just freebies as promotional items. But how do you get in to that game in the first place? I’m still trying to figure it out – which is ironic, as part of my own job includes identifying relevant bloggers to “engage” with. So how do I join the two up? How do I tell brands and PR folk that I’m happy to consider their offers, and how do I as a marketeer find out whether bloggers I identify are going to be open to my “advances”?

Well, hopefully a solution might be on the horizon….

A friend and industry-colleague, Andy Merchant, is working on a scheme whereby bloggers can easily show whether they do or do not welcome pitches from PR people – and if they do, what sort of thing they want to consider. It’s bascially a digital version of that sign you see on people’s door (if you’ve ever delivered newspapers, you’ll know it well):

Here’s the down-low on it from Andy himself:

“The embeddable universal blog pitching image visually symbolises the fact that you welcome, or do not welcome brand or product news pitches to your blog. Additional the “We welcome pitches” symbol can also guide the agency to the fact you welcome pitches for particular categories or products.”

So essentially you just host the image somewhere obvious on your blog, the PR or brand stumbles across your site, and they instantly know whether or not to pester you. Seems like a fairly easy solution to the hassle of annoying pitches or wasted opportunities…

I for one think this is a great idea – though of course these things only work if they get enough take-up for it to be worthwhile using. I’m very interested to hear from other bloggers though, whether you think it’s a good idea or not – and how often you get pitched to. Let me know in the comments, or on Twitter…

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Print
  • Blogger
  • blogging
  • Fatherhood²
  • PR
  • Reviews
  • social media
  • 2 thoughts on “Fatherhood²: The Pleasure and Pain of “Blogger Engagement””

    1. BloggerFather says:
      April 26, 2011 at 12:47 am

      I’m still not sure where I stand. I don’t want my blog to turn into a giveaway blog, which might happen (especially because I don’t post that often). I get a few pitches, but honestly, I don’t answer most of them. It seems strange to do the same giveaway every other blogger is doing for some Dove soap or something strangle like that. Still, I felt a little left out last week when the entire Internet received Green Lantern toys to review and I didn’t…

    2. Andy Merchant says:
      April 26, 2011 at 9:42 am

      Hi Henry, thanks for highlighting the scheme. The spamming of bloggers remains a hot topic within the industry; “spray and pray” is still happening, and a visual symbol within your blog could easily help combat this.

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    henweb

    henweb

    Pun-loving, 👨‍👦‍👦 dad-blogging, 📷 photo-taking, 🏰 Lego-making, 🎅🏿 beard-wearing, 👶 child-caring dad of 2. 💍 Husband of 1. 💩 Strategist

    View Full Profile →

    Instagram Gallery

    A few photos from my slightly hair-raising morning A few photos from my slightly hair-raising morning walk. Some lovely sunrises, lots of ice on the canal and a couple of rivers and lakes that were quickly merging together, at the expense of the newly-laid track. At least my wellies stayed strong!
    Instagram post 18021846115464989 Instagram post 18021846115464989
    A photo from my Thursday morning walk. One good th A photo from my Thursday morning walk. One good thing to come from this week’s rail strikes (and the subsequent week WFH) was my daily sunrise walks - something I really miss when I have to go into London. Fingers crossed that 2023 allows for a few more of them.
    Merry Christmas, instagram family and friends. Ple Merry Christmas, instagram family and friends. Please enjoy this photo of our beautiful but low-key Christmas decorations, hung in the splendor of our delightful Tudor home.
    Good morning from Somerset #NoFilter Good morning from Somerset #NoFilter
    Lovely moonrise this morning 😍 Lovely moonrise this morning 😍
    Load More… Follow on Instagram

    A little ad for some stuff




    Subscribe by RSS

    RSS Feed RSS – Posts

    Recent posts

    • 5 Tips to Make Family Travel Easier December 2, 2022
    • 5 Great Camping Blogs You Should Follow August 18, 2022
    • Summer Holidays in the Mountains? 4 Reasons Why You Should Go for it! June 7, 2022
    • Family Camping for Beginners – A Guide to Buying a New Tent May 31, 2022
    • The Best New Beauty Treatments to Prepare for Summer May 31, 2022

    A bigger ad for some stuff

    Recent Comments

    • Family Camping for Beginners - The Ultimate Guide for first time campers | Camping with the Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for beginners – Food, glorious food
    • Tiana on Fatherhood²: The Ultimate Octonauts Quiz
    • The best camping gadgets for your next trip with the family | The Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers
    • Dynamite dad blogs | Samuel Windsor on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers
    • Family Camping for Beginners - The Ultimate Guide for first time campers | The Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for beginners – Camping with Babies & Toddlers

    My Brimpton Village history website

    My Mastodon profile

    © 2023 Camping with the Mediocre Dad | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme
    Find me on Mastodon