Fully nine in ten (90%) female bloggers say they are somewhat or very interested to partner with brands on campaigns, provided they are compensated, but 58% have never been approached by a brand or agency to do so, according to a new survey from BlogFrog and the Social Studies Group.
Among surveyed female bloggers who are interested to work with brands, 57% say they prefer to build long-term relationships with a few brands, whereas 23% prefer to work with multiple brands.
Below, other findings from a survey of 2,480 female bloggers in the BlogFrog network.
Among the 42% of female bloggers who have been approached by brands, 29% have been asked a few times (1-10 pitches) per year to work with a brand, while nearly 10% have been asked more than 100 times a year.
Trust in Brands
Brand trust is developed via participation in social communities: 70% of female bloggers trust a brand more when it's promoted or recommended by someone they know from a blog or social media.
Meanwhile, as consumers, female bloggers are highly influenced by other blogs: 93% have purchased a product based on brand information found on a blog or online community.
Social good also matters: 56% of bloggers trust a brand more when a campaign includes an element of "social good" (e.g., raising money or awareness for a non-profit or social cause).
Relationships With Brands Valued
Female bloggers have positive opinions about brand-sponsored social media and blog campaigns: 60% say they respect brands that want to interact with bloggers, remarking "campaigns are fun," often "validate their blogs," and present "great opportunities to earn revenue."
Among the brand-sponsored offers received, nearly two-thirds (63%) of bloggers say they reject about one-half of the offers they receive; only about one-half of bloggers accept more than 20% of the pitches they receive.
Among offers accepted, writing product reviews are the most common (26%), followed by affiliate program promotions (15%), direct advertising (13%) and Facebook "like" campaigns (10%).
Some 9% of bloggers have guest-posted on another blog, while 9% have attended an event.
Top Campaigns, by Blog Category
Among female bloggers who have worked with brands, the campaigns most often accepted have been in the food and beverage (21%), health and beauty (19%), entertainment (15%), and apparel (11%) categories.
Meanwhile, most brand-sponsored experiences have been positive. Only 12% of bloggers say they have had a negative experience working on a brand campaign, citing lack of campaign organization (23%), products they didn't like (20%), inadequate compensation (14%), and more work than expected (13%) as the top reasons for negative experiences.
Compensation
Two-thirds of female bloggers (67%) say revenue generation is somewhat or very important to them.
The most common forms of compensation are free or discounted products, traffic to the blog, press, and money, according to the study.
Roughly 15% of bloggers say they have received money for a brand partnership.
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Stand-Out Brands
The following brands were given high marks for developing blogger relationships: Purex, Disney, Kraft, Silhouette, Proctor & Gamble, and CSN.
Other key findings among surveyed female bloggers:
- 56% spend 1-10 hours per week working on their blogs, 18% spend 11-20 hours, and 12% spend less than an hour per week.
- Among those aware of their Web traffic stats, 75% say they attract less than 5,000 unique visitors to their blogs each month; another 19% attract 5,000-25,000 unique visitors per month.
- Female bloggers spend reading other blogs, too: 48% spend 1-5 hours per week visiting other blogs; 27% spend 6-10 hours per week.
- 38% of female bloggers are age 25-34, 34% are age 35-44; 11% age 45-49; and 13% are age 50+.
- 73% of bloggers surveyed are moms with children (under age 18) living at home.
About the data: Findings are from an online survey of 2,480 female bloggers in the BlogFrog network, April 6-25, 2011, conducted with assistance from The Social Studies Group.
