Blogger Outreach: Sally O’Shea

Speedy Spotlight with Sally O’Shea, author of the beauty, fashion and lifestyle blog, Sweetie Sal. Sally spoke to us about what makes a successful blog, the best practices PRs need to follow when working with bloggers, attending the Handpicked Media Blogger Suite at London Fashion Week and an exciting collaboration in the pipeline as she gets ready to document her 30^th birthday bash and the run up to it.

Why should people read your blog? What makes it different? I’d like people to read my blog because I write about a mix of topics that I think people can relate to. Lifestyle seems to be the area where I get the most interaction with readers as I write very honestly, and as I am just your average 20-something woman with a full time job, I consider my blog to be somewhat like having a chat with a friend.
How do you measure the success of your website? For me, success is the interaction and when I achieve something that has pushed me outside my comfort zone. I have enjoyed some amazing experiences as a result of my blog and having my to-do list published means I make more of an effort to tick things off. I also think that the support I have received from my weightloss story has meant that my posts might help people, which I find incredible!

What’s your favourite blog and why? My favourite blog is Tanya Burr’s Blog, I find Tanya’s mix of beauty and lifestyle and what she gets up to really interesting, and I like how grateful she is of all the opportunities that have arisen as a result of her blog and Youtube channel. She is proof that a hobby can turn into a career!

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a blog? My advice would be that should write because the subject is something you are passionate about, don’t expect lots of freebies immediately and you have to be interactive with other bloggers in the community. I started mine purely as a hobby and it still remains to be a nice creative outlet for me to enjoy, yes I enjoy a certain amount of perks from it but I do it because I genuinely love talking about the topics I write about.

How do you work with marketers and PRs? I don’t tend to reach out to marketers or PRs unless I am responding to requests via Twitter. I do work with certain PRs and try and keep in touch via email and Twitter just to remind them I am still around but I appreciate that they will be inundated with requests so I am quite passive in that respect!

Who do you work with in brand marketing? PRs? SEOs? Anyone else? Apart from PRs I don’t really work with any other people within brand marketing, that doesn’t mean I am averse to it just haven’t had the opportunity as yet!

Can you list five best practices for blogger outreach?

My five best practices for blogger outreach would be:

1. Don’t just reach out to the usual suspects, if you want to create a buzz, why not take a chance on ‘smaller’ bloggers who will have more time to get their post live in a shorter timescale. Some of the bigger bloggers receive samples day on day so their turnaround might not be as quick. I also think it is nice to remain engaged with a spread of bloggers, by doing so you might reach people you may not have done otherwise.

2. Personalise the outreach as much as feasibly possible. Nothing is worse than getting an email saying dear blogger – it’s lazy and likely to be filed under B.I.N…

3. Competitions – Dear Blogger we have an exciting competition we’d like you to be a part of where you can win x.y.z.. generally these emails are met with an almighty cry of well why should I advertise you for free? It is essentially asking for free advertising which can be insulting at times. Bloggers take a lot of pride in their blogs and normally the requestors of this kind of activity are big brands who could afford to incentivise publishers with a token gesture in appreciation of the work that will go into the post.

4. If you have an ideal deadline for something then specify that. I have been sent samples to review (usually products that I would want to use for a couple of weeks before deciding my thoughts on it) and to then receive emails every couple of days asking when my post will be live is a bit annoying. I would obviously work to a deadline if the brief had been we are sending you this but the brand would like to get some content up within a couple of weeks etc – it just avoids frustration all round!

5. Bloggers like visibility and if they have taken the time to work with a brand on a project it is only polite for the brand to acknowledge the post. It should be part of the deal if possible for the posts to be retweeted.

What has been your blogging highlight? I think my blogging highlight so far has been attending the Handpicked Media Blogger Suite at London Fashion Week where I was able to meet some of my favourite bloggers and build relationships with some really great brands. I had never been to London Fashion Week so I was really pleased to have the opportunity to go and experience it!

What will be big in your blogosphere in the coming months? I turn 30 in February 2015 so I am going to be blogging about my build up to my big party, picking out my perfect dress and working out to feel the best I can be! I am hoping to start a programme in collaboration with a big sporting brand in the next couple of weeks to kick start it all off!

Editorial information on Sally O’Shea, Sweetie Sal and thousands of other media contacts and outlets, can be found in the CisionPoint Media Database.