Top 5 Tips from Sports Bloggers at #DSLondon

Last night saw the first of our new monthly Digital Sport London events as we took over part of Vibe Bar on Brick Lane in Shoreditch, London.  We had two distinct sections of the night with the first being a Skype interview and the second a panel session on blogger outreach, from a blogger point of view.

The first section of the night, despite slight worries over the technology, went seamlessly with a great conversation had with AS Roma’s Head of Digital Shergul Arshad.  He was joining us from his office in Boston, USA where the owners of the Italian team – who are currently top of the Serie A table – are based.

He gave us an interesting insight into how the club has developed digitally since he joined just over 2 years ago.  Going from a basic flash website which displayed scores and little else, to a leading light in the digital space with a solid ecommerce strategy, presence on most of the big social platforms and CRM at its heart.

We also touched about their plans as they move onto the US centric platform Tumblr, recently bought by Yahoo for close to $1bn.  On top of their recent US tour it shows how they are looking to attract a young, digital savvy audience in the country.  Something the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and AC Milan has also locked onto, though not through use of Tumblr.

Following this great chat with Shergul, and a short break, we moved onto the main topic of the evening and Blogger Outreach.  It’s a subject close to my heart being a blogger of almost 4 years and having been on the other side of the fence at We Are Social.  It’s a really interesting area that many PR and digital agencies still sadly don’t get.

Almost on daily basis I receive emails from SEO firms offering to write content for my site if they can place a link into it.  It’s something I’ve never done and hopefully won’t ever do.  If I get these then imagine what the bigger sports blogs get on a daily basis and it can be a real issue for those who run the blogs as well as those looking to work with them.

James from Matchchat set it up well whilst discussing the issues they faced when approaching bloggers, even with something that costs nothing and has the opportunity to make them revenue in return.  This was covered during the main session as well.

Our guests, Lynsey Hooper (The Offside Rule podcast), Karis Buckingham-Jones (GirlsSportTalk) and Gary Andrews (blogger and blog outreach specialist) gave us insights into why the blog in the first place, what makes a blog standout in a very crowded space and how to potentially work with them.

These are my top 5 tips that came out from the session (and some of my own thoughts) led by host Richard Gillis;

  1. Find Your Niche   –  there are some 170m blogs of various kinds around the internet, so you need to find an angle that gives people something they don’t get elsewhere.  It could be the way you deliver it (your tone, methods) or the topic you speak about.
  2. Be Patient  –  most bloggers quit after a few short months after growing disheartened when only a few people visit their site, and they are probably their family/friends.  It takes time to build up an audience and reach that tipping point when growth moves rapidly upwards.  This also counts when you are reaching out to bloggers when working for a PR/digital agency or brand.  Bloggers are in it for the love and generally have full-time jobs so don’t expect immediate replies or contact them with a ‘this is exclusive for the next 2 hours’ type content.
  3. Make It Relevant  –  another key when looking to work with bloggers is to ensure your targeting is good and you have done your research into the content already being posted.  Bloggers are keen to deliver awesome content that is important to their readers and will help them grow their site.  By working on a personal basis and taking the time to find out about them gives you opportunities to engage with their audiences in new ways and get the best possible results.  It’s about partnerships rather than advertising ‘pushes’.
  4. It’s Not About The Money  –  as mentioned earlier, bloggers started not because they see it as a way to make money but is a passion that enjoy doing.  Gary mentioned something that was a key for my starting and keeping going UKSN over the last few years, that is raising your profile with the aim of gaining job opportunities.  This could be freelance roles, contracts or a dream full-time role.  The best way to understand bloggers is to be a blogger yourself.  At We Are Social, they took the line of employing bloggers and social media enthusiasts as they best understand the space and how to work with others (and have the connections).  Should more PR/digital agencies do this?
  5. Be Authentic  –  one thing that bloggers are very precious about is how they are perceived by their readers.  They have spent time and a lot of energy building their site up and don’t want to lose that trust they have built up.  Placing lots of brand content and PR releases will seriously damage that relationship.  Keep your tone on your blog and stick to your virtues.  As an agency/brand, be aware of this when speaking to them.

There were many other things covered during the close to 1 hour session last night.  You see more of them on Koozai’s blog post http://www.koozai.com/blog/news/events-news/digital-sport-london-blogger-outreach – there are some great take-outs in there.

Thanks to everyone who came along, we look forward to seeing you again on the 11th December when we look ahead to 2014 and what the trends will be within digital sport.  Book your places now at https://digitalsportlondon3.eventbrite.co.uk

About author

Daniel McLaren
Daniel McLaren 820 posts

Dan is the Founder & CEO of Digital Sport. Can be found at sports industry events and heard every week on the Digital Sport Insider podcast. @DanielMcLaren

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