photo by Whitney Loibner

A discussion I have been having a lot lately is about the different ways that bloggers work with brands.

There are so many ways to work with brands these days, but I think the most perfect brand partnerships are born out of a mutual love between the blogger and the brand.

Since Arkansas Women Bloggers has partnerships with some amazing Arkansas brands, I thought it would be fun to share a few ways I think bloggers do well at representing brands. 

So here they are: 3 Great Ways Bloggers Represent Brands

 1. Tell great social media stories.

This can be hard to do, and I don’t always succeed. But when I am working on a story or a project, I really love to be able to take the time to create anticipation before an event, to provide social media at the event and then to wrap the story up afterwards.

Of course, in my field (travel), this is easier to do than in others, but with a little creativity and planning, you can tell a story about anything and tie it all together with a little hashtag love.

Here’s an example of how it can be done for a recipe on Twitter: 

Monday at the store: “Throwing some brown rice from @RicelandFoods in my shopping cart today. Looking for a new healthy recipe. #ChinosEatHappy”

Wednesday afternoon: “Think I’ll go ahead and chop all the veggies for my new @RicelandFoods brown rice paella. #ChinosEatHappy”

Wednesday at dinner: Tweet a gorgeous photo of your dinner, of course.

Wednesday after dinner: It was a hit! Kids loved the @RicelandFoods dish! #ChinosEatHappy

Friday morning: Blogging that new recipe today. Watch for it! #ChinosEatHappy 

Friday afternoon: Here’s the link to my new recipe using @RicelandFoods brown rice. #ChinosEatHappy

This is just a made up example, but I think it illustrates that it is more interesting to create a story than it is to just tweet the same link four or five times, and I think it gives the brand more to work with. They can choose to turn it into a conversation, and your followers can engage with the process.

Obviously, Twitter is not the only channel you can use for this. Some people do a great job on Pinterest!

2. Create content for brands that they can use on their own website or social media channels.

Photos, videos, blog posts.

Most brands need all of these things for their website. In fact, for some brands I end up doing more content for their site than I do for my own. That can be a fun way to represent a brand without tiring out your own blog readership with talking about one particular brand too much. 

This is also a great way to use or re-use content that you’ve already spent the time creating.  

3. Write a blog post for a brand that tells a story only you can tell.

I love it when brands understand the value of the individual story. One of my favorite brands to work with in the last year has been a company called GowithOh. They are a vacation apartment rental company and they have provided apartments for a few of my family’s city breaks around Europe.

Per our arrangement beforehand, I have included links to and photos of the apartments I have stayed in, but my blog posts for them have been about our family’s adventures in the various cities. They are stories that are specific to our family and that only we can tell. I have so appreciated the freedom to create the kind of content that is a natural fit for my blog while still representing the brand.

I think this one is especially important when ten or fifteen bloggers are representing the same event or product. When I go on a tour and write about it for a brand, I don’t want my blog post to read like the tour description. I try to enter situations looking for a smaller story or a little detail that maybe not everyone would notice. This takes me back to those three small rules of writing any story:

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.

 – Mary Oliver

Ok, over to you.

What are some ways you think bloggers do a great job representin’?

PS. The photo for this post is from a recipe for Petit Jean Meats hot dogs that I put together a few years ago for my Mama’s birthday. It’s one of my favorites!