Writing sponsored content is a great way to monetize your blog, but sometimes, balancing brand requirements with your authentic voice can be a challenge. With that in mind, we’ve come up with 10 best practices for writing sponsored content that will help you stay true to your blog while building your business.
Make it personal
Readers follow your blog because they like your voice and your perspective (even if they don’t always agree with it). Especially when it comes to brand-sponsored content, first-person experiences and stories are key. Unless it’s appropriate, share your story, not someone else’s.
Keep your post between 200-600 words
When creating content for a brand, as with the majority of blog content, posts should be long enough to offer substantial insight and information, yet short enough to keep the attention of your reader. Often, the end of a sponsored post has an important call-to-action or messaging, so managing length is an important element to keeping both the brand happy and your readers engaged.
Use rich media like images and video
Blog posts that incorporate images, graphics, photos or video are much more engaging than posts that don’t. When posts are complemented with rich images or multimedia, readers stay longer on your site and are more likely to share your post on other social media platforms. Multimedia content is gold to a brand and will make you stand out from other publishers. New photography and video apps make it super easy to create fun content. Find some that you like (our favs include DipTic, CameraSharp, GroupShot, Tout, Klip and Viddy) and get started!
Stay authentic to your voice
Brands come to you because you know how to effectively engage your audience, and you’ve built a blog and brand with your unique voice—so don’t sacrifice it! By staying true to your style and personality, a sponsored post won’t stick out like a sore thumb and your readers will know you’re being genuine. Which leads to the next point…
If you dislike a product you’ve been paid to review, get in touch with your brand or agency contact
If you know you don’t like a brand or product, don’t accept the program. However, if you’re obligated to post as part of an on-going project and discover you dislike a product and/or topic, get in touch with the program manager. Be honest. There’s most likely a solution that will maintain the integrity of both blogger and brand, and they will appreciate that you’re trying to find a solution. This situation is a problem turned opportunity to build trust and respect with clients.
Use SEO keywords and phrases
If a brand provides you with an FAQ or additional product information, they may include SEO keywords and phrases that they are driving for a particular campaign. Your blog will see more traffic when those words or phrases are searched (and for campaigns within your niche, you could pick up new dedicated readers), and consequently the brand will receive more traffic through your sponsored post. Win win!
Be transparent about payment
If you’re being compensated for a post, make sure your readers know about it. Not only is it important to maintain the trust of your audience, but you’re required by the FTC Disclosure Guidelines to disclose when you’re receiving monetary or product compensation for a review, mention or sponsored post.
Be Accountable
Take responsibility for understanding what is expected of you (when a post is due, how much you will get paid, how many words if applicable, what needs to be included, etc). If any of the terms are confusing or fuzzy, reach out to your agency or brand contact and ask. We all have disruption in our schedules but don’t let a personal hiccup keep you from being responsible. If you can’t make your deadline, let your contact know so they are not left searching for your post several days after its due date. Be as respectful and professional with your brand contacts as you would like them to be with you.
Over-deliver
When a brand is paying you, they are your customer. Delighting and enchanting your customers make them want to work with you again and will inspire them to say good things about you. Just like with products, it is less expensive to get existing clients to come back than it is to sign up new clients. While it’s certainly not required, going the extra mile or adding a special element to your sponsored post goes a long way!
Tell a good story
Good storytelling is an art. Some people are naturals and some of us need a bit of coaching to really capture the heart of our audience with our stories. Influencer marketing is based on the concept of partnering brands with bloggers who share related content and having those brands sponsor those stories. Brands find bloggers powerful because of the stories and authentic content they create. Elements that make a great story include keeping it honest, letting the reader feel like they are behind the scenes, and treating the people in your stories like they are characters. Good stories have a backbone theme with a beginning, middle and end. Put yourself out there a bit and you’ll be surprised at how deeply you’ll touch people.