Think Beyond The Blog Trip - Pro Blogger Think Tank

the independent integrated agencythe independent integrated agency

Ruth HaffendenRuth Haffenden

@ruth_elizabeth@ruth_elizabeth

““Thinking beyond the blog Thinking beyond the blog trip”trip”

Pro-blogger think tankPro-blogger think tank

May 2013 – TBU May 2013 – TBU RotterdamRotterdam

the independent integrated agency

Did you hear about bgb?

Specialists in

travel & tourism

Specialists in

travel & tourism

PR, Representation, Culture, Luxury

and Online

PR, Representation, Culture, Luxury

and Online

Full range of

in-house services

Full range of

in-house services

Team of 20

in travel & tourism

Team of 20

in travel & tourism

Leaders in digital and social

media

Leaders in digital and social

media

Foundingmember of the

Pangaea Network

Foundingmember of the

Pangaea Network

Established in

1991Established in

1991

Part of Four Communication

s Group:Culture,

campaigning, sports,

sponsorship, marketing,

media planning & buying

Part of Four Communication

s Group:Culture,

campaigning, sports,

sponsorship, marketing,

media planning & buying


But what do you know about Four?

Corporate PRCorporate PR Public affairsPublic affairs Social mediaSocial media Consumer PRConsumer PR

Crisis and issues

Crisis and issues

Media planning & buying

Media planning & buyingSports & ArtsSports & ArtsCommunity

consultationCommunity consultation

SponsorshipSponsorship CSRCSR DesignDesign Multi platform content

Multi platform content

Property marketingProperty

marketingDigitalDigitalCopywritingCopywritingTravel PR & Representation

Travel PR & Representation


So you were PR and now you’re... what then?

Website design Website design Content

management systems

Content management

systemsSocial mediaSocial media Intranets and

extranetsIntranets and

extranets

Digital documents & presentations

Digital documents & presentations

SEOSEOE-newslettersE-newslettersBlogger relationsBlogger relations

Audio (e.g. podcasts,

interviews)

Audio (e.g. podcasts,

interviews)Micro-sitesMicro-sites Online media

buyingOnline media

buyingBanner

advertising Banner

advertising

Video filming, editing and post

production

Video filming, editing and post

productionAnimations Animations Online

monitoring Online

monitoring Mobile

developmentMobile

development


Our clients include…

So who do you work for?


Four the future: Meet the grads!

Rosie Beaument –Thomas, Graduate Executive - @rosiefourbgb

Clients: Stena Line, Exodus, Red Funnel,

Random bar chat fodder: Penchant for pasties and the like, rogue scotch eggs frequently found rolling around in handbag. Total bike geek, spends many mornings on the way to work pretending she’s Bradley Wiggins, commentating her own brilliance as she goes. Once over heard saying: “Live fast die young?! Nah, live slow, have a sit down and a pasty love”

Emma Liasides, Graduate Executive - @emmaliasides

Clients: County Durham, Atlantis, The Palm, Barbados, Red Funnel, Destinology

Random bar chat fodder: Stupendous bar banter, Emma could talk for England. Was a pantomime child star, once locked in a dressing room as a giant peach rabbit for over an hour whilst her curly red hair once caused a group of thirty monks to chase her through the streets of Bangkok for a photo.

Three Fours, to meet in one weekend – see what I did there?


Carolyn Van Vliet, Senior Account Executive - @carolynvanvliet Ok she’s not a grad anymore but she was once and I had a theme going here...

Clients: Visit Wales, Caribbean Tourism Organisation, South Tyrol, Sun International. Cruise Association

Random bar chat fodder: Grew up in South Africa, spent her childhood removing various snakes from her shoes most mornings, can fly fish and is one of the smartest cookies you’ll *ever* meet

Three Fours, to meet in one weekend – see what I did there?


So what do I do now?

Social media director at Four, covering travel, property, arts, culture, sports, consumer and corporate, with a bit of digital tech, SEO and social media buying thrown in to keep me awake at night

Clients at Four: See super duper print out

Random bar chat fodder:

• I have the a world map tattooed across the soles of my feet, I’m scared of bananas, I’m told dance like I’m riding a tiny horse, chilli gives me hiccups and the sun makes me sneeze. I hate emoticons as much as when people say ‘lol’ aloud. It’s not ironic it’s idiocy.

Some things you should know:• I know you’re all hung over! • I loathe smart art and bloomin’ obvious annotations...

So enjoy the accompanying lol cats/ baby gurns

Me! She was bgb and now she’s Four? Wtf?


Session style

Show me the money!

Open forum

Think tank style approach

Best practice

and ideas sharing

Professional

discussions and idea

sharing

Campaign

profiling


•Thinking beyond the “blog trip equals blog review post” set up

•Moving thoughts from coverage to content

•Positioning you as an expert

•Extended campaigns – what can you offer and for how much?

•Methods of tracking – Moving thoughts on tracking from you to them

•Think tank: Sharing best practice, brainstorming for real upcoming bgb campaign proposals, ideas for industry reform

•Discussions of professionalism, the power to handle agreements when things go bad and the knowledge to ensure they don’t

Desired outcomes


Let’s think about you shall we?


Stop thinking in terms of ‘coverage’

Start thinking about content creation

•What can you offer? •What are your strengths?

•Where is your skill set in terms of content creation?

•What do your readers engage with?

•Which channels do you really excel on?

Content creation


1. Content you host• Video• Images• Podcasts• Posts• Pre, during and post• Interviews and

profiles• Behind the scenes

1.Reader generated content• Surveys and polls

• Live coverage across channels• Where are your

strengths?• Reader generated

Content creation


2. Content they host• Video sets• Image sets/ galleries• Guest blog posts• Social media channel take- overs

3. Content that is third party hosted• Networks and affiliations• Other campaign partners• Additional commissions• Online chats

4. Content that links you to them • Banners• Widgets

• Instagram walls• Live twitter/ Facebook feeds• Competitions• Home page/social feed take-overs• DMs• Reader offers• Promoted posts• Facebook advertising

THINK TANK: What do you offer? What other content can we add to this list? How much are you prepared to commercialise?

Content creation


•The basics – tracking for you:o Unique users, social media reach etc

•The next move – tracking for them o How many views did their content

get? How many re-tweets, likes, comments shares, clickthroughs, # impressions

o What can you add to track for them? Tracking links, widgets, reader offers, PR call numbers

•How much to track? Every campaign element or just on site?

•Produce a report: o Content createdo Numbers reachedo Engagement generated

Tracking, reporting and evaluation


So what do you charge? Or more likely, how much do you accept for a job?

o Where are you in your career, do you need the case studies?

o Is the trip worth the pay off?o How many pieces of content are you offering?o How much reporting are you giving?o How long will you be in destination?o What is the length of the campaign?o What else are you bringing to the party? i.e. other

sponsors? Strategy?o How many work hours will that take you to create?o How much site time are you handing over?

Think tank: How much do you charge? Are you willing to share? What have you heard others charging? Should their be an industry standard?

Show me the money!


Let’s think about them


•Negotiating an agreemento Who are you talking to and what’s the

difference?• Marketing• Online manager• SEO• PR• Advertising

o Understanding their needs• Their business objectives• Their marketing objectives• Their social media objectives

o The contract: include the collateral you agreed to produce and when and what they offered in exchange. Reiterate their objectives and desired outcomes! *lets take a look at a contract

o Invoicing: Be clear on who to invoice, how and when you will get paid

Step 2 – lets think about them


Consumer partnerships

What else can you bring to the agreement in terms of collateral?

Brining brand partners together can give your campaign weight and seem more appealing as well as providing mutual budget benefits

But who?•Cameras•Cars•Clothing brands•Sports brands

Think thank: who else? Have you worked with non-travel partners? How did you negotiate it and how could you turn it into something bigger?

How?Social media competition tie-ins?Partnered campaign to split costs?


Campaigns that have moved beyond the blog trip:

-SVG

-Exodus

-South Africa

-Jordan

Thinktank: Which campaigns have you seen that were impressive? Why were they different?

Inspire me!


Having a contract in place should avoid issues of misunderstanding/ differing expectations, but what if things go wrong on the trip?

•Speak directly to your contact – early

•Can you change the itinerary?

•Can you change the content plan?

•Ensure you are both in full agreement.

•Returning from a trip empty handed with an excuse is not an option.

Think Tank: What has gone wrong and how did you deal with it? What concerns you about more commercial arrangements?

When things go bad


•The art of becoming an industry event ho!o Get on the circuit, get yourself known,

one event will quickly lead to another

•How and when to follow upo Immediately, get on their radar, o send your media kit,o add to your subscription list. o Suggest a business meeting. o Nothing? Leave it for a while until you

have some news

•Declines that don't close the dooro Be positiveo Explain your circumstanceso Suggest ways you could get involved

or they type of campaign you would be keen on

Forming relationships


Ideas think tank:

•What are you currently working on?

•What has worked and what hasn’t?

•What can we create together? A look at the bgb client list and upcoming projects

o Case study: Atlantis, The Palm

•Professional associations, are they worth it?

•What do you need from the industry? What can we put in place?

What next? Brainstorm

Think Beyond The Blog Trip - Pro Blogger Think Tank

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Transcript of Think Beyond The Blog Trip - Pro Blogger Think Tank