This is the next in a very exciting series we’re bringing to you on IFB in anticipation of the upcoming #IFBcon. Each day, we’ll have a different post designed to help your blog become – you guessed it – bigger, better and bolder!
Putting together a media kit for your blog can sound like quite a daunting task. Media… kit? What is that? What’s in it? Unless you’ve worked in media, marketing, PR or publishing, this might be a relatively unfamiliar term. Confession? I hadn’t really thought that bloggers needed a media kit until I witnessed Ari Goldberg of StyleCaster trumpet their importance at IFBcon in September of 2011 (and Ashe wrote an amazing follow-up post).
I will sheepishly admit that I do not (yet) have a media kit pulled together for my blog, despite how much I could probably benefit from having one. For that reason, I had to turn to IFB’s marketing professional-in-residence, Amanda, as well as my dear friend, Google.com. Not only did I learn how important a media kit really is, but how not-that-painful it is to create one.
Why should you create a media kit for your blog?
On the most superficial level, it’s good to have a media kit because it makes you and your blog look credible. It’s an instant indication that you take your blog seriously and as a professional endeavor (even if it’s a hobby or a side-project). A media kit is helpful to send (or make available) to anyone who may be interested in partnering with you, whether it be a publication looking for contributors, an advertising partner, or a brand looking to involve you with a promotional project or giveaway.
If one of these entities is reaching out to you, you can infer that they already like your aesthetic, your content and have noticed that you have great engagement with your audience. They think you’re a potential match – which is great! Next, they’re usually going to ask for some information and statistics that aren’t readily visible on your site. Instead of creating a new email response that lists these stats each time you reply, take the time to create a media kit you can attach (that can be updated as needed).
What goes into a blogger’s media kit?
A media kit is all about selling yourself, and putting some hard facts out there that solidify why (or unfortunately, why not) you would be a great match for this brand, retailer or publication. (Better to put all the information out there, so neither you nor the brand waste your time, money and effort on a partnership that doesn’t make sense!) There’s some give-and-take on what should be included in a blogger’s media kit, but after consulting a few sources like BlogHer, 5 Minutes For Mom, here are a few key components I deciphered most bloggers should have:
- About & Information
- You can pull the best of your “About” page for this part, and just give a brief summary of who you are and what your blog is about.
- Site Stats
- Time to spend some QT with your analytics, friends! Review your numbers from the past three months to get an accurate composite of how your site is doing. Get out your calculator, and get ready to do a little math to find your averages. Include:
- Visits
- Unique Visitors
- Pageviews
- Demographics of your audience
- A summary of your main traffic sources
- A short summary of your top posts (were they outfits, product reviews, beauty tutorials, etc)
- Time to spend some QT with your analytics, friends! Review your numbers from the past three months to get an accurate composite of how your site is doing. Get out your calculator, and get ready to do a little math to find your averages. Include:
- Social Media Stats
- Social media influence and reach is becoming and increasingly important component of your marketing strategy, especially for giveaways and contests. Here’s a sampling of the kinds of stats you may want to include, depending on which channels you use:
- Facebook likes
- Twitter: followers
- Pinterest followers
- Instagram followers
- Social media influence and reach is becoming and increasingly important component of your marketing strategy, especially for giveaways and contests. Here’s a sampling of the kinds of stats you may want to include, depending on which channels you use:
- Past Partnerships
- Get your brag on! If you’ve worked with brands or advertisers in the past, list them out here. (If there are a lot, choose the most successful or most visible brands to highlight.) If your media history is more developed, you may consider including visuals here.
- List of Services
- Here’s where you can lay out for any potential partners just exactly how they can work with you, and in what capacity. Your “services” can range from banner ads to sponsored posts, gifted product, videos, giveaways, dedicated emails and more.
*Note that how meaty your media kit is will depend on how long you’ve been blogging, how big your numbers are, and how much past experience you have with brands, etc. For this reason, some bloggers might want to create a whole PowerPoint with a slide-by-slide breakdown, and some may just need a “one-sheeter” PDF document.
Who should see your media kit, and when?
There are a couple of ways you can handle the availability of your media kit. Either on your “About” or “Contact” page, you can add a note that says that you are more than happy to provide a media kit upon email request, or you can make it available as a downloadable PDF right from your site. Some brands or advertisers may find it a turn-off not to have your stats readily available, but in most cases it’s fine to have an upon-request policy.
Want to learn more about building a better media kit and other savvy business techniques? Grab your ticket and head to IFBCON:
What tips do you have for WordPress bloggers that aren’t self hosted?