With blogs now being recognised as an established media outlet its time we had the chance to gain a greater understanding of the UK blogosphere. Who are UK bloggers? How are they working? What do they want to achieve?
Consumers are particularly drawn to blogs as they can seek out specialist knowledge to go back to again and again, whether that be about the latest fashion trends, top tips for a family staycation or the ideal way to edit your photographs.
Blogs are also a key way for brands to tap into a particular market and with thousands of people in the UK reading blogs every day you dont want to miss out.
Heres what we learnt from Vuelios UK bloggers survey 2016
Fashion & Beauty First
The survey of more than 500 UK bloggers found that fashion and beauty dominate the blogging categories and with 77% of respondents being female, this is an unsurprising correlation. Lifestyle, parenting and family topics are up next with female bloggers preferring to focus on one specific subject, whilst male bloggers have more variety with the topics they write about.
Bloggers know their stuff
Most consider blogging as a hobby or as an extension of personal interest. Bloggers have a passion for their subject and are highly engaged with their own content which shows in their writing. This is then translated through their readership, who come back time again to engage with the content.
For brands this is great news, connecting with a blogger also means you are able to connect with their audience and if you have done your research, it should be a perfect match.
PR pitches
It was really interesting to read that a third of bloggers are pitched to by PRs seven or more times per week, thats at least once a day. Despite this, 70% of bloggers say that only one pitch a week or less resulted in content on their blog. We can only speculate as to why this may be, but Vuelios survey suggested PRs are using blanket approaches to connect with bloggers.
When brands connect with blogging influencers it may be obvious to say but research is key. Get to know the blogger, their likes, dislikes and you will get to know what will work for them and their readers resulting in a successful pitch and content outcome.
What to work on
Relationships with PRs were seen to be good but there is still some work to do, over half of bloggers felt undervalued by PR as opposed to traditional media but hope trust will grow in the future and they will be seen on a level playing field to traditional journalists.
It is worth highlighting again the influence that bloggers have on an audience and particular subject. This popularity is something that can really be harnessed by brands, whether that is as part of a PR plan combined with traditional media or a stand along blogger outreach campaign.
If you want to know how blogger outreach could work for you? Get in touch.
