Q&A with a Blogger: Authentic Pitching, Authentic Blogging
The topic of pitching bloggers comes up a lot in our industry. Every social media and/or blogging expert you talk to will probably give you a different answer on how to best work with bloggers. We thought we’d go straight to the source on this one to settle a few questions once and for all.
Gina the Fitnessita
I recently interviewed my friend Gina the Fitnessista, arguably the most popular and recognized fitness and lifestyle blogger in the whole blogosphere on the topic and here’s what she had to say.
Q1: How do you prefer to be approached by a brand? Email, Twitter, comments on your posts, etc?
A1: Email is great I think, just don’t start your email with “Dear Blogger,”. Twitter is fine too, it can be a little aggressive but it depends on how they approach the conversation. Sometimes I will mention a brand or product and they will instantly start sending me tons of tweets expecting more conversation or tweets. It is fine to initiate conversation authentically, but don’t look at a blogger as a means to promote your brand just because they mentioned you. And please do not leave a pitch in my comment section, you will be spammed.
Q2: What in a subject line will actually make you open an email?
A2: My name, or mentioning something about my blog that is authentic and not just a pitch. Brands always approach bloggers to re-post or retweet their branded content. The savvy bloggers avoid this to maintain the integrity of their blog.
Q3: Would you rather brands send you information on a product/event/etc. and let you decide if you want to be involved, or a full pitch telling you exactly what they’d love to see in a partnership?
A3: It depends, but mostly just send me the information, and let me decide if it’s something I’d like to work with. I will follow up with you if it is intriguing.
Q4: What should brands be looking at in terms of compensation?
A4: I don’t think a lot of companies realize that they ask too much of us. They want to send us something, and then they want specific blog posts, tweets, videos and so forth and that irks me a little bit. At the end of the day, we are driving traffic to their site and we would rather be compensated than receive free product with huge expectations. I’d rather spend $20 on my own coconut water than to pimp you out on every channel I have.
Q5: If you could tell brands one thing about approaching you to work with them what would it be?
A5: Make it personal, at least give me a hint that you’ve read my blog, don’t just look at my high traffic and reach out to me. We don’t want our blogs to be content focused from brands, if it is an authentic fit we’re more eager to work with you.
Q5: Name Three brands you’d die to work with?
A5: Women’s Health Magazine, Shape Magazine, and Clean Eating Magazine.
Q6: One of the things I love about your blog is your humbleness and authenticity. How do you maintain this, and what advice would you give other bloggers to stay true to their voice and beliefs?
A6: The biggest thing I believe is to write what you want to write about, and not write what you think people want to read about. If you write about what you love, then the audience will follow. They can tell if your passionate or faking it. Be authentic. Do you. Don’t let others dictate how you want to write for your blog, that’s what keeps.
To sum it up, be authentic as a brand AND as a blogger. Don’t just pitch a blogger because you want their traffic, pitch a blogger because what they write about and how they write truly fits with your brand. Remember, they did not get to thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of daily pageviews simply because they know how to take a picture of their daily meals and upload them to Wordpress, they build communities. Something we as brand catalysts strive for daily, so treat them just like the experts that they are. Oh, and try out Fitnessista’s Breakfast Cookie, it is to die for.










