The Importance of Working With Travel Bloggers Workshop

Veronika Hradilikova joined Travel Massive Prague in a workshop to chat about how to get the most out of working with bloggers. 

Veronika’s role in the travel industry is helping travellers explore the world through sharing personal stories on her blog at TravelGeekery.com. She focuses on the practical and inspirational side of travel while sharing photos and blog posts.

In order to get a better understanding about working with travel bloggers, we’ve asked Veronika to put together a summary of her workshop held in Prague, Czech Republic earlier this year.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background in the workshop field.

I’ve been travel-blogging for almost 2 years now and have actively participated in the community – especially via attending travel blogging conferences. I’m also a member of the Professional Travel Bloggers Association.

What inspired you to lead a Travel Massive Workshop?

I’ve noticed the giant gap between what brands thought that bloggers wanted and what travel bloggers really wanted. When Petr, TravelMassive Prague chapter leader, came up with the idea of workshops, this seemed to be a great topic to start with.

Workshop Title:

How to get the most out of working with bloggers.

Can you give us an overview of the workshop details?

We went over a few very important points during the workshop which included the following:

1. Why travel bloggers are important

Numbers from the 2014 Traveler’s Road to Decision Google Study and other studies show how important online and search are, and how much consumers trust blogs. Most consumers go into researching their trips undecided on a brand! Even countries use cooperation with bloggers to their benefit: take the example of Nepal after the earthquake in April 2015.

2. Who travel bloggers typically are

Bloggers can be loosely categorized into small, mid-size and large. I’ve created my own subcategories that can make the categorization easier for brands, e.g. forever small (small blogs that never took off), mid-size hobbyists (bloggers of decent size who keep their jobs), or superstars (large bloggers with typically only exclusive arrangements with brands).

3. What travel bloggers want

It’s good to keep in mind bloggers don’t want just content. Try to look at things from the blogger’s perspective. Most bloggers just want to travel and be able to earn a living.

4. How to find, analyze and pick your ideal travel blogger

Media Kit – the go-to source of metrics. If a blogger provides one, you’re lucky. You can often find it on the blogger’s site. Among the most important metrics are Monthly Unique Visitors, Domain Authority etc. – there are even some free tools that can be used to check them. Fake numbers can be a problem, especially when it comes to followings on social media. Don’t get fooled by large numbers, look at engagement!

5. Reaching out to travel bloggers

A well-written outreach email can do wonders. Set expectations straight and be aware that you’re not entitled to everything a blogger produces on a trip sponsored by your brand (e.g. photos or video – unless agreed upon beforehand). Don’t forget to invest all possible effort in the cooperation, keep the communication alive and make sure the blogger has all the tools necessary to do their work well.

6. What puts bloggers off?

Brands that are not ethical and brands that have a bad reputation in the blogging community.

Are there any additional tips you’d like to share with our Travel Massive readers? 

Nowadays there is not much of a choice as to whether you’d like to work with bloggers. You need to engage influencers. Thank you for having me and for the opportunity. I enjoy interacting with the brands and the nice people behind them at my workshops!