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It’s a woman’s world: three quarters of UK bloggers are women, and they’re talking a different language to brands, PRs and marketers, says biggest ever survey of UK bloggers

More than three quarters of UK bloggers are female, with fashion, beauty and lifestyle the most popular topics; vast majority of brand pitches to UK blogs yield little in return

LONDON, APRIL 21 2016. Have daughters, and call them Emma, Laura or Sarah if you want successful blogging progeny. That’s one conclusion that can be drawn from the biggest ever survey of UK bloggers, conducted by communications software company Vuelio in conjunction with Canterbury Christ Church University.

The survey of more than 500 UK bloggers found that over three quarters were female and that they tended to concentrate on traditionally female interests such as beauty and fashion. Blogs written by men covered a broader range of topics, ranging from stereotypically male pursuits such as sports and gaming to traditionally gender-neutral areas such as food (there are twice as many male food bloggers as female), and health.

Those interests were further reflected in the social media UK bloggers use to promote their sites. While Twitter was ubiquitous for both genders, female bloggers were much more likely than their male counterparts to be found on Pinterest and Instagram, while men were twice as likely as women to use LinkedIn and, perhaps surprisingly, more frequent users of Facebook.

Although a third of respondents described blogging as a hobby, more than a third said they blogged either professionally or with a view to commercialising their efforts in future.  Most said that, while they had a good relationships with PRs and brand managers, they often felt second-class when compared with journalists working in traditional media – and more than two thirds agreed that they were all-too-often asked to support brands for very little in return.

“It’s clear from the number of pitches our respondents said they received that PRs and brand managers recognise the enormous potential of UK bloggers,” said Kristine Pole, programme director at Canterbury Christ Church University and co-author of the research. “But there also seems to be a fundamental disconnect, when you look at the efforts PRs are putting in compared with what they’re getting out, and the often mismatched expectations of each side.”

Almost two fifths of respondents received six or more pitches from brands every week – but only 30 per cent of bloggers said that more than one post a week was the result of brands coming to them.

“When you think about the subjects that occupy the majority of UK bloggers, such as fashion and beauty, and then look at the enormous audiences for their sites, and finally consider the extent to which traditional media relies on PR in these areas, it’s hard to see anything other than a huge opportunity,” said Vuelio’s Head of Content, Chris Wheeler. “The bloggers want to make the effort to improve their relationships with brands.  If brands can better understand bloggers’ expectations of these relationships, it has to be a win-win.”

Download the UK Bloggers Survey 2016.

-ENDS-

About Vuelio

With a customer base of over 1,500 clients, Vuelio is Europe’s leading provider of software for communications, public affairs and stakeholder engagement. We offer an unrivalled portfolio of products and services to serve the modern public relations and public affairs professional throughout the UK and Europe. Whether you’re seeking to influence the media, traditional or new, MPs or local government, or your organisation’s members and supporters, the Vuelio Communications Software suite – Vuelio PR, Vuelio Political, and Vuelio Stakeholder Management – provides everything you need to identify, understand and engage with the right audiences, in the right way.

About Canterbury Christ Church University

Canterbury Christ Church University is a modern, multi-campus University offering higher and professional education across key Kent and Medway locations: Canterbury, Broadstairs, Medway and Tunbridge Wells. It has a strong community of 17,000 students and 2,000 staff, studying and teaching across four faculties: Arts and Humanities, Education, Health and Wellbeing, and Social and Applied Sciences.

Christ Church was established in 1962 and is a Church of England Foundation University, welcoming all faiths and none. Today, the University continues to shape courses and research around critical social issues, the latest industry developments and public service need. Nearly 90% of its research submitted to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) was assessed as world-leading, internationally excellent or internationally recognised, and 95% of our UK undergraduates and 98% of our postgraduates were in employment or further study within six months of completing their studies, with 9 out of 10 of our employed graduates in graduate level jobs three-and-a-half years after finishing their studies – higher than the national average. Visit: http://www.canterbury.ac.uk

Contact

Mariela Popova
Marketing Manager
Vuelio
Longbow House
20 Chiswell St, London
EC1Y 4TW
+44 (0) 203 426 4015
[email protected]

Kristine Pole,
Programme Director,
Canterbury Christ Church University,
North Holmes Rd, Canterbury,
CT1 1QU
[email protected]