Bloggers & Influencers
Blogger and influencer relations are an important part of communication work today. Used consciously, they can make a valuable contribution to brand awareness, image and, to a certain extent, sales, and complement or reinforce other communication activities, for example via the company's own channels (website, social media, newsletters, print products, live events) or as part of traditional media work. In contrast to media relations, blogger and influencer relations have a shorter lead time in terms of reporting (faster presence/visibility to the outside world) and more potential for interaction with the target group.
At the same time, when planning and implementing activities with bloggers and influencers, it is important to keep their specific needs in mind (e.g. more time for the production of content - such as images and film, for example, when planning a visit or a trip). If you want your hotel to be found more easily online via search engines in the long term, you should make sure when selecting and working with influencers that they also have their own blog.
Important: When evaluating influencers and bloggers, the reach (number of followers) alone is not a very meaningful criterion. The quality of the followers, the overlap between followers and your own target group or the interaction rate of the influencers/bloggers with their followers is much more important.
Information on working with bloggers:
1. Dos & don'ts
3. Blogger/influencer selection
4. Blogger/influencer cooperation
Dos & Don'ts
Your own social media channels should be set up properly and actively managed. It is also important to define (standardised) hashtags and communicate them. Resources should be made available for the collaboration with bloggers, both in terms of personnel (e.g. on-site support when influencers/bloggers visit, own social media team continuously shares stories on own channels during visits) and financially (e.g. provide a fee for collaborations or prizes for raffles via influencer/blogger channels)
In general, it is important to develop a clear stance and criteria for influencer/blogger relations.
Expectation management
Expectation management:
- Set goals (what do you want to show/communicate)
- Clarify needs: What do you specifically want to achieve with an influencer/blogger project?
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What is hoped for (e.g. influencer trip/barter deal, no fixed agreed services) or expected (cooperation with fee, contractual relationship with concrete service agreement, see example form)
- Clean analysis of the account and followers in advance (criteria: no purchased followers, origin, interaction rate) and selection (suitability) of influencers and bloggers as a prerequisite for cooperation
Blogger/influencer selection
When selecting suitable bloggers and influencers for a collaboration, you should familiarise yourself with the bloggers' profiles. The following checklist will help you find the right blogger for your organisation.
We will be happy to help you and check the bloggers and influencers for you. Simply contact us by email at presse@romantikhotels.com.
What is a blogger collaboration?
Influencer cooperation describes the collaboration between at least two parties: a person or a company as the client and an influencer as the contractor, who work together to achieve a goal. If a collaboration is established, a contractual agreement is concluded in which the remuneration or consideration by the company and the performance of the influencer are set out.
What is a blogger trip?
A blogger/influencer trip is related to the media trip, but is aimed at bloggers and influencers. Several participants are invited on a blogger/influencer trip, all of whom find the same conditions and the same experience. The aim of the influencer trip is for the participants to experience a specific destination, product or offer and report on it on their channels and platforms. The trip serves to achieve a greater reach and generate positive attention through authentic and personal reports and images.
How do I use the content?
You can benefit from collaborating with influencers and bloggers in the long term by also using the content created for your own channels. It is therefore important to contractually stipulate the use of the material in advance, see point 2f). Social media offer various options for sharing or posting content together. On Facebook, you can use the share function to post content to your own profile. On Instagram, there are so-called collaboration posts where both profiles (hotel and influencer) are named as post hosts. These posts help you to benefit from the blogger's reach.
Be active during the collaboration and use the moment to interact with the bloggers' posts online: share, like, comment, joint collaboration posts. This is the only way to get the most out of the collaboration.
Checklist:
- Have I contractually stipulated that the content created may be used by me to a certain extent?
- Have I agreed with the bloggers when posts will be posted so that they can be shared and interacted with on my channels?
Be active during the collaboration and use the moment to interact with the bloggers' posts online: share, like, comment, share collaboration posts. This is the only way to get the most out of the collaboration.
Checklist:
- Have I contractually stipulated that the content created may be used by me to a certain extent?
- Have I agreed with the bloggers when posts will be posted so that they can be shared and interacted with on my channels?
Contract templates
Collaborating with bloggers and influencers is a cooperation just like with any other partner. You should therefore set out in writing what you expect from the collaboration, what the blogger will receive in return and whether the content can continue to be used after the collaboration.
A contract agreement will help you to keep an overview and then check exactly whether all services have been fulfilled.
Here you will find sample forms for influencer trips and collaborations. You can use these as templates and adapt them to your needs:
Examples & programme ideas
Give the bloggers concrete suggestions for experiences that you would like to organise at your location and in the surrounding area. Leave enough room for creativity.
For influencer trips, we recommend a fixed programme that can be expanded with optional activities. Always allow enough time for content creation.
We have put together an example programme for an influencer trip here:
Your Romantik® press contact
If you have any questions about PR and media relations, please contact our Corporate Communications Manager Anabel Joksch directly. By e-mail to anabel.joksch@romantikhotels.com or by telephone on +49 (0) 69 66 1234 13.