Blogger Spotlight: Zanna Van Dijk

Social Media fanatic Zanna Van Dijk is a London-based blogger who loves nothing more than fitness. Using lots of pictures to illustrate her posts, Zanna shares tips on how to do park bench workouts, cardio exercises as well as weight lifting. Through blogging she has been able to travel the world with a variety of brands, has her own sportswear brand and is currently working on a new book. In this spotlight Zanna, who was recently featured in our top ten fitness ranking, chats to us about why she is more concerned with engagement levels than page hits, why PRs need to change their attitude towards paying bloggers and what it was like appearing on the front cover of the Sunday Times Style magazine. 

Why should people read your blog? What makes it different? I like to think that my blog combines a diverse (and hopefully interesting) mixture of topics from travel to lifestyle to fitness to nutrition, and everything in between. I think what sets me apart is that I am qualified in the area of fitness so I can give solid research-backed advice and tips across my blog and social media.

How do you measure the success of your website? Most people look at views and page hits, which I do take into consideration. However, I am more concerned by the engagement levels. I love it when content gets good feedback, lots of comments or a series of shares across social media. That’s when I know it’s done well.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a blog? Write about something you’re passionate about. You need to create an awful lot of content to keep up a blog, and its going to be a challenge if you don’t like the topic you’re writing about!

How do you work with marketers and PRs? I work with them in a host of ways. I work with travel PR companies on solo or group press trips. I work in fitness, fashion, beauty and food PR companies on creating content for specific brands. I also work with these brands to develop and work on events with the #girlgains community – a female fitness community I founded with my two besties.

How do you use social media to promote and share content? What are the challenges? I usually do a couple of posts across each social media platform about each new piece of content on my blog or youtube channel. This helps to make everyone aware that it has gone live. The only challenge is making sure you post at a peak time with engaging content which the consumer will want to click on or read.

What can PRs do in working better with you? I find that I work well with PRs and like to strike up a good working relationship with them. The only thing which I think could be improved is the attitude to paid work. I get a lot of PR approaches offering free kit or items in exchange for social media posts. Sadly this isn’t an option for me unless it is an epic travel opportunity – a girls got to make a living!

What has been your blogging highlight? There have a fair few, which I am so grateful for. The front cover of the Sunday times magazine was a highlight for me, as was being the face of the Adidas Pureboostx workout videos. I will never get tired of the travel opportunities either, as it is my biggest passion and I feel extremely lucky to have it as part of my career.

What will be big in your blogosphere in the coming months? For me personally? There will be a lot of content based around the creation of my book; ‘The Balanced Body’ and also a lot of travel content as I have a fair few trips coming up! Oh and a fair few recipes, as I am loving getting creative in the kitchen recently.