Digital Marketing Specialist, Social Media Consultant,
and Tech Geek at Heart

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How to Use Social Media Strategy to Reach Mommy Blogs

September 8, 2011

This is a guest post by Vanessa Van Petten.

If you have a brand or product for parents, targeting and partnering with mommy bloggers is a great way to get exposure. I run a website for parents written by kids called RadicalParenting.com, and when we first started, we had 2 unique visitors: me and my mom. Since I had no marketing budget, I decided to spend all of my efforts partnering with other mom blogs and asking them to post about us. This increased our traffic to over 200,000 uniques per month and exposure through guest posts got us on a number of media outlets like CNN, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal — no PR person involved.

Here is how you can reach out to Mom Blogs:

Make a Target List

You want to start with a list of mom blogs that you like — ones that jive with your brand, are in your target demo, and look like they get medium to high traffic. For example, if you have a product for teenagers you would not want to pick a pregnancy blogger. Here is the list I use. You are welcome to start with this list.

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3 Golden Business Rules for Social Media Engagement

August 25, 2010

If you’re doing social media for your business, there’s nothing better than to do it right. Many companies partake in this “shiny toy syndrome” and do it all without a plan or strategy in place. Worse, many don’t really understand what to do once they start. They hear about tools, put forth a miserable effort, and are either too busy or just lazy.

With social media, an abundance of resources are at your fingertips. However, without a successful plan and any adequate preparation, your social media efforts will fail. Here are three dos and don’ts you should think about before you move forward.

Don’t self promote.

Okay, so this should be obvious, but there are so many businesses that don’t get it. On a particular forum I am active on (yes, I still use them!), I noticed someone asking for advice. A response came from a business owner who had the perfect answer on her website and directed the original poster to the website for a detailed reply. Sadly, this person’s post was pulled by the strict moderators on that forum; the post was purely self-promotional and nothing but. When I reviewed the poster’s account, I understood why. I noticed that she had done the same thing on other discussions on the same forum over a period of several months and all of them were pulled!

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The Nightmare Public Relations Professional and How to Stop Him

September 29, 2009

This is a guest post I wrote for new media and PR expert Brian Solis, but I also wanted to share it with my readers. Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge just published an excellent book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations. It’s a must read for any PR professional moving into or active in this space.

As bloggers, we’ve all experienced it: the completely off topic pitch. After pouring blood, sweat, and tears into our blog that clearly is known for addressing a specific subject matter, we get an email from a public relations agency that takes us for someone completely different. Where do they come off doing that?

A few months ago, Brian Solis talked about an off-topic pitch about a social network for plants. (Somehow, I think nature lovers would be more interested in socializing shrubbery.) I’m sure you can relate. With some of these pitches, I scratch my head. With others who address me as Jennifer or Dakash, I wonder if these individuals representing both small and large companies really realize that their lack of research reflects poorly on their clients.

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Contest: Make a Wish for Someone Else this Holiday Season (and the Power of Blogger Outreach)

December 15, 2008

This is a sponsored post by Sears but the thoughts within are mine and mine alone.

As a blogger, you have the potential to reach a tremendous audience. As an individual, perhaps a company or an entrepreneur who is looking to spread the word about a new product launch, you have the potential to keep marketing costs down by reaching out to bloggers and having them talk about your product. One of the best ways to achieve this goal is through blogger outreach, which typically includes more than just sending out your press release: give the blogger the opportunity to try your product. Send them your book. Or your beanbag chair. Or give them full download rights to your new software product without restrictions.

You can do something else entirely. As part of the Don’t Just Give a Gift, Grant a Wish campaign by the Sears department store, I had the opportunity to participate in a shopping spree to help me or someone else realize our dreams. The idea behind this initiative was that I was given a $500 Sears gift card to “Grant a Wish” for myself, a loved one, or charity. At the same time, I was to photograph my experience in the store.

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