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Understanding influence in an Instagram blackout

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Instagram is currently experimenting with hiding engagement statistics including follower numbers and likes on individual posts. Its aim is to improve the mental health and wellbeing of users by removing competition and the negativity that surrounds people comparing ‘success’ in terms of reach.

These changes will also have a significant impact on the influencer marketing sector by fundamentally changing how influence is measured online.

To understand the implications, Vuelio has published its latest white paper: Instagram Blackout – How invisible stats will change the world of influencer marketing.

This opens with an introduction from the influencer marketing expert, Scott Guthrie who explains exactly what Instagram is changing and outlines what else could happen in future. We then hear from leading bloggers, vloggers and influencers from across our network to understand what they think the impact will be.

Giving the content creators’ view are Victoria Magrath of Inthefrow, Jo Middleton of Slummy Single Mummy, Jade Joselyn, Hand Luggage Only’s Lloyd and Yaya, and Craig Landale of Menswear Style.

The paper also includes PR thought leaders who represent a wide range of brands. They include Jo Bromilow, digitial and social media strategist at Publicasity; Sarah Evans, senior digital strategist at Bottle; William Soulier, CEO and co-founder of Talent Village; and Dan Stobbs, head of social media at BlueSky PR.

What’s clear is that both content creators and PRs see positives in the steps taken by Instagram above all in that it will keep focus on the need for strong relationships and creativity rather than vanity metrics to successfully build influence online. However, there are also concerns, particularly around the blackout’s broader effect on Instagram’s transparency.

Ultimately, there is agreement it heralds a new era in how Instagram will be used that could prompt other social media platforms to review their user guidelines and take similar action. We watch this space with interest on what happens next.

The Instagram Blackout white paper can be downloaded here.

And if you need help understanding influence and how to build relationships with bloggers, vloggers, journalists, editors and broadcasters or MPs, council staff and politicos – find out how Vuelio can help.

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Instagram Blackout

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Did you know Instagram was experimenting with hiding public stats? It means that you might not be able to see likes on posts, follower counts or even comment numbers.

There’s no doubt this will change influencer marketing forever, but do you know how?

Instagram Blackout: How invisible stats will change the world of influencer marketing, has views from industry experts in our network – PRs, agencies, bloggers and influencers – on what these changes really mean and why visible stats might not be the right measurement anyway.

And with an exclusive introduction from influencer marketing guru Scott Guthrie, this is the only guide you need to the Instagram Blackout.

Get the definitive guide to Instagram Blackout White Paper by filling out the form below.

LesBeMums 2019 2 feature

LGBT+ Spotlight: Kate Everall, LesBeMums

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LesBeMums has one again been ranked as one of the top LGBT+ blogs in the UK. Following authors Kate and Sharon’s journey to have a child, seven years on and they now cover life as same-sex parents as well as everything you’d expect from an excellent family blog.

We spoke to Kate about whether society is getting better or worse for the LGBT+ community, how brands can work with LGBT and Pride without ‘woke-washing’ and her favourite blogs to read.  

How do you describe what you do?
We are very much bloggers as opposed to ‘influencers’, although at the moment blogging is still a hobby for us. That being said, we still take our platform seriously and respect those that follow us, so we always try our best to make decent and relatable content! As a same sex family, we are still under-represented in so many areas, so it is our job to raise awareness and increase visibility. I’d love to see more equal representation and, one day, see more bloggers using diversity clauses in their contracts so that there’s more encouragement for brands to be more diverse in mainstream advertising and brand work.

We would be doing our son a disservice if we didn’t at least try fight our backsides off trying to make sure he’s represented at least somewhat in society.

How do you use different social media channels with your blog?
A lot of the time we use social channels to promote our blog, however over the past year or so we’ve been using it to engage with our audience a lot more and have the conversations that perhaps a blog cannot offer.

Not only that, we’ve also been using the ’embed’ feature a lot more – especially with Instagram. Embedding an Instagram image or tweet creates an easy link to your channel, and from a brand’s perspective if they’re thinking of working with you, it can also show how well a post has done and how interactive your audience are.

LesBeMums 2019Is society getting better or worse for the LGBT+ community?
Gosh, what a question! On one hand, huge steps are being made if you think about a couple of recent television adverts (Gillette and McCain Chips spring to mind, where members of the LGBTQ+ community are featured) or the time Will Young read a children’s bedtime story about Two Dads on Cbeebies, but on the other hand we’re also having countless MP’s weigh in on whether or not children should be “exposed” to families like mine in Primary school as part of their teachings on the Equalities Act. On top of that, there has been an 81% increase on hate crime against the Trans community!

So whilst I think as a society people are becoming more informed and accepting of us as a community, I think recent events have led to a small, although very vocal and powerful, minority being given a platform to share their “opinions” as legitimate debate – and that’s not ok. More needs to be done as I fear we’ll slowly move backwards.

Have you ever experienced online trolling?
Thankfully not (touch wood) but I have witnessed some horrendous bullying (because that’s what it is at the end of the day) and it’s awful to watch as you feel completely helpless. To be honest, I do expect it being a member of the LGBTQ+ community and an outspoken one at that, so I’m surprised it’s not happened.

Why are Pride events important?
Where do I start? Pride is, first and foremost, a protest to amplify the inequality that still happens for us as a community around the world. Even though we may have a lot of equal rights here in the UK now, leading to people questioning why we still need Pride, there are dozens of places in the world where it is very much legal to kill someone for being LGBTQ+ and we as a community need to remain united against this and speak for those who cannot.

Pride is also a chance to break barriers, increase our visibility as a community, and generally celebrate who we are and proudly. If we don’t, who else will?

What’s the best ways for brands to get involved without them just woke-washing?
*Googles ‘woke-washing’* Ah Yes! I could speak about this all day. I’m so tired of having our rainbow appropriated for a brand’s profit without giving anything back, and this year I challenged a lot of brands on their use of our rainbow for their ‘Pride’ collections. It felt good, and I think more people need to hold brands accountable when their ‘ally’ status is clearly seasonal.

Despite what brands think, it is so easy to be a genuine ally during Pride season. Donations to LGBTQ+ charities are obviously the best way to start, especially if you’re selling ‘Pride’ related items. Internally, make sure your policies on discrimination are up to scratch and that you have an inclusive workforce. Long term, make sure you are vocal with your support for our community and challenge discrimination – there’s nothing worse than a company bringing out rainbow themed items while at the same time being associated with anti-LGBTQ charities, organisations or businesses. Lastly, be inclusive all year round! Society is no longer made up of white, straight, middle class families – so make sure your advertising represents this.

LesBeMums 2019 4

What are the best campaigns/collaborations you’ve worked on?
The most memorable campaigns and collaborations are always ones that have treated families like mine equally and not as a token (we can smell it a mile off).

One of our favourites still is our yearly collaboration with Camp Bestival. Not only is the PR team behind the festival inclusive, but they’re open to conversation – something many PRs still aren’t willing to do. The festival itself this year is one of the most diverse I’ve seen and I’m really excited to be a part of that.

What advice would you give PRs looking to work with you?
Don’t just include or invite us because you feel you have to, include us because you want to. We get a lot of emails – especially during Pride season – asking us to promote XYZ or be a part of a Pride-related promotion, but we are quick to realise when we’re being used as their token diverse family, because we’re quite often the only diverse family invited or there’s radio silence from that PR the rest of the year!

I’d love to one day be part of a team or ambassadorship where families like mine or those of different colour are the MAJORITY!

Do you accept press releases?
We do, as long as there’s a person at the other end of the release and we haven’t been addressed as ‘Dear <unknown>’!

What other blogs do you read?
As expected, we read quite a few LGBTQ blogs – especially ones that talk about LGBTQ culture and history – but we also enjoy reading travel blogs, as well as family blogs with children around the same age as our son.

Our favourites at the moment are: Meet The Wildes for their photography, All The Joie for their family and food updates (I frickin’ love watching Danielle cook on Instagram!) from across the pond, Snapshots & Adventures because they’re local to us and I love following their recommendations, and Sareta Fontaine who is still a new find for me, but I love their colourful and eclectic style of posts.

Reach-the-right-influencers-with-the-Vuelio-media-database

Jeremy Wright

Paper round (up): upcoming changes across the national press

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The Times (and The Sunday Times, Evening Standard, and The Independent)– could be a changin’ according to industry commentators and Bob Dylan. Though Bob probably wasn’t referring to the 2019 UK newspaper scene…

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright [pictured], however, is fully briefed on changing times in print media, having been tasked with big decisions for resource sharing across The Times and The Sunday Times as well as editorial freedom at the Evening Standard and The Independent. Whether or not Page 3 girls should have stayed in The Sun may have grabbed more headlines than these head-scratchers so far, but the consequences here will have greater impact for the newspaper industry and how it works.

Changes for The Times and The Sunday Times would involve a blurring of boundary lines originally put in place between the two papers for Rupert Murdoch’s purchase back in 1981. These guidelines ensured separate teams, editors and newsrooms – and presumably lunchtime cliques and coffee rounds – for the publications. The application to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for amendments, if okayed by the Culture Secretary, would change that.

Will a future of combined news teams and mass redundancies automatically follow? Not necessarily. For The Sunday Times editor Martin Ivens, sharing editorial resources across the papers would ‘avoid duplication and invest more in the agenda-setting journalism we are famous for’. Times editor John Witherow sees it as a way to ‘stay competitive’ and ‘build a sustainable future for Times journalism’. Word is that the Culture Secretary is preparing to accept revised plans from the papers.

Also on the Government agenda is an inquiry into editorial independence at the Evening Standard and The Independent regarding the sale of 30% of holdings in the news brands to owner Evgeny Lebedev. So far, Wright hasn’t been persuaded that full editorial independence will continue across the papers, Lebedev having previously sold stakes in The Independent and 30% of Lebedev Holdings to Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel, a businessman with ties to Saudi Arabia’s state-owned bank. The Standard is reported to have made a loss of around £12m last year, resulting in cuts to the editorial team and a cost-saving move to merge print and digital operations. Depending on the inquiry’s findings, the future of both papers could change dramatically – lots for the Culture Secretary to take into consideration, and those of us working within the industry, too…

For those who work regularly with journalists across each of these papers, the future is uncertain. Editorial resource sharing means a greater potential reach for PRs pitching in content and ideas across multiple papers, but at the same time there’s a danger of losing valuable longstanding contacts if cuts are around the corner.  What is certain is that the print landscape will continue to shift and change as time marches on. And that coffee rounds at the big papers are going to take a long time, if resource sharing is the way things are going.

Marketing PR Influencer Marketing

Pitch perfect: how PRs can own influencer marketing

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PR and marketing are waging a war over who owns influencer marketing. PRs still have an edge, but to keep it they need to understand the influencers they’re working with and be responsible for their organisation’s relationship with bloggers, vloggers, content creators and Instagrammers. Luckily, we can help.

Not only does Vuelio have an unmatched database of UK creators, the market-leading Vuelio Blog Awards and the world-famous rankings – we also regularly interview bloggers in exclusive spotlights.

These keep us, and our clients, up to date with the industry – we know what’s working and what’s not, what best practice looks like and, for PRs, what makes the perfect pitch.

And it’s the last point that we’re focusing on today, following our travel spotlight with Monica Stott, The Travel Hack. Along with telling us about the best street eats in the world, the joys of electric bikes and the fact she accepts press releases – Monica also gave us a template for working with bloggers, and influencers, on any project or collaboration.

So, what does the perfect email look like? For Monica, it’s this:

‘We’ve got a new product and we’d like you to feature it on your blog and Instagram feed. Attached is a description of the product and some photos.

‘We’d like two blog posts, one to be a dedicated review and one to be an editorial style post where the product is naturally featured. We’d like two Instagram photos which we’d like to re-share on our feed and we want them to be candid and natural photos similar to the style on the mood board attached. If you’re interested, please tell us your fee and your turnaround time for this content.’

There’s a couple of key points in this, which nearly every creator tells us when we ask about working with PRs:

  1. Make it clear what type of content you want featured and the channel you want it to be featured on
  2. Be upfront about budget, even if there isn’t any, because they need to know straight away to see if it fits with their business model
  3. Be clear about the product, service or campaign you want them to cover
  4. Include a brief – whether it’s a mood board like this example or a detailed description of your target market and positioning
  5. Don’t restrict the creative – being too specific turns a lot of creators off, they’ve built a relationship with their audience based on their authentic content and your brand needs to fit into that. Only their creativity will work.

These five points can help build a strong and fruitful relationship.

And as it’s all based on good communication, PRs can fly ahead of marketing to manage and maintain influencer outreach, and ultimately win the influencer marketing war.

Monica Stott

Travel spotlight: Monica Stott, The Travel Hack

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Monica Stott has been ranked once again with her blog The Travel Hack in the top 10 travel blogs. Originally started while camper vanning her way around Asia and New Zealand in 2009, The Travel Hack is now based in the UK but includes global adventures with Monica and her family.

Here, Monica tells us all about her use of different social media channels, the best places in the world for food, her advice for PRs – including the best example of a collaboration request – and her favourite other bloggers.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
It really depends who I’m talking to. I tell most people I’m a travel blogger and I feel like most people understand what that means. They usually assume my blog is a hobby rather than an established business and I often have an awkward couple of minutes where I try and tell them I actually make a living from blogging! I tell them I write about my travels and share advice, inspiration and guidance for anyone wanting to replicate my trip and that I work with travel and lifestyle brands to promote their products, services and destinations.

But if I’m talking to someone who is older or someone who doesn’t really use the internet then I tell them an ‘online travel writer’. This is essentially what I do, and it saves myself a lot of time and questions!

Travel Hack

How do different social channels work with your blog?
I do use different social channels very differently.

Pinterest (if you can call it a social channel) drives a lot of traffic but I mostly have that all automated through Tailwind.

Facebook also drives a lot of traffic and has the most potential for something to go viral thanks to the ease of sharing posts, so I try to focus on creating posts people want to share.

Twitter seems to be mostly other travel bloggers so this is a great space for networking with my fellow bloggers and PRs.

Instagram is my favourite, although can be tricky with the algorithms and the need to spend a lot of time on the channel to see any major results. I see my Instagram grid like a shop window into my blog, one glance at this and you should get a feel for what The Travel Hack is all about. My grid is currently very blue and outdoorsy and this reflects a lot of the outdoor trips I’ve been taking recently.

Instagram stories is where the magic really happens. This is where I share everything and where I feel a real connection with my followers. This is where we chat and they ask questions and they get a glimpse into my whole life, not just my travels.

Travel Hack

Do you think travel blogging will be your job forever?
I really hope so, but I think it will be VERY different in years to come. Travel blogging has changed so much over the past five years so it’s really exciting to see how it will change and evolve over the next five years.

Travel blogging is my dream job and it’s equally amazing and terrifying to find yourself doing your dream job! I feel so lucky but I’m constantly nervous about slipping and the dream shattering. I don’t think this is a bad thing though, it keeps me on my toes and pushes me to keep learning and evolving. Blogging is all about learning new skills and adapting with the ever-changing technologies available to us.

It’s a very exciting time to be a blogger and I can’t imagine doing anything else!

Where’s the best place in the world for street food?
I think everywhere has good street food these days because it’s such a huge trend and so many people are entrepreneurial foodies who want to start small businesses as side hustles to their day jobs.

But I’m going to have to say Thailand because this is where I properly discovered street food (many, many years ago!) I’d never had such fresh, tasty, delicious and cheap food before in my life! I hadn’t eaten much Thai food before my first trip to Thailand and I was instantly hooked on those creamy, spicy curries with sticky rice.

Travel Hack

Which country has the friendliest locals?
Every country I’ve ever visited has the usual mix of horribly rude people and wonderfully welcoming people. I think people are essentially the same all over the world, it’s just some countries have chattier locals than others. I think it’s often down to confidence too.

I really enjoyed a trip to the Maldives when my son was nine-months-old because the locals were so friendly and welcoming with babies. We hadn’t expected it to be such a baby-friendly place to visit but they loved our son and were so kind to him. Everyone on the island knew his name and the hotel staff would offer to entertain him while we ate our dinner. I think you can tell a lot about a person by the way they react to children and the people in the Maldives were lovely.

What’s your favourite mode of transport?
Electronic bike! I’ve just returned from a trip to Switzerland where I did some mountain biking on an e-bike and it was amazing. You can either choose to put very little effort in and coast along without breaking a sweat, or you can put a normal amount of effort in and ride twice as fast! It’s so much fun and I really can’t wait for e-bikes to become more affordable so they’re an everyday mode of transport.

Other than e-bikes I’d have to say planes because they open up the whole world for us. Flying is incredible and it’s relatively inexpensive too, making the world such an accessible place for us.

Do you accept press releases?
Yes!

Like most bloggers I get over a thousand emails a day so I usually read a small percentage. If something sparks my interest, I’ll definitely read it and it often leads to something on the blog. I’m much more likely to read it if it comes from a PR already in my address book or someone I’ve worked with already.

I think press releases can be an opportunity many bloggers miss out on. It’s worth noting that when a brand or a PR sends you a press release, it’s because they have something they want to promote so it’s a great opportunity to get in touch and see if there’s a way to collaborate.

Travel Hack

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
I’m currently on a press trip with Jurys Inn, the hotel chain. It’s my second time working with them and I love working with this brand. They let me know what they want to achieve, the messaging they want to get across and the purpose of our collaboration, and then they allow me to make the creative content decisions. They trust me to incorporate their messaging into my content and, because it’s a brand I genuinely love and their whole ethos aligns perfectly with The Travel Hack, it’s a message I can incorporate naturally and with wholehearted enthusiasm!

I’ve been doing this for 10 years and I understand what my audience respond to and what type of content has the biggest impact, both for immediacy and longevity. I’ve worked with countless brands to incorporate their messaging into my content so I love it when I’m given the trust and the freedom to create the content I know my audience will respond to.

What advice would you give to brands and PRs reaching out to you?
Know what you want to get out of a collaboration and tell me straight away! I often spend days going back and forth on emails with brands while I try and decipher their cryptic messages and find out what they really want!

It’s so much easier when a brand emails and says, ‘We’ve got a new product and we’d like you to feature it on your blog and Instagram feed. Attached is a description of the product and some photos. We’d like two blog posts, one to be a dedicated review and one to be an editorial style post where the product is naturally featured. We’d like two Instagram photos which we’d like to re-share on our feed and we want them to be candid and natural photos similar to the style on the mood board attached. If you’re interested, please tell us your fee and your turnaround time for this content.’

This would be the dream!

But if the brand is new to working with bloggers then I’m equally happy if they’re honest and say they don’t know what kind of content I can produce but they have a budget of X and they’d love to know what I could do with that and the kind of reach I would expect to achieve.

I get so many emails from brands saying, ‘Please send us some ideas about how we can collaborate.’ I’m definitely an ideas person and I could sit down and spend all day writing down a thousand ways we could collaborate, so it’s really nice when a brand are specific about what they want to get out of a collaboration and the size of the collaboration they have in mind. Once I know the purpose of the collaboration and the budget they have in mind, I can reply with a detailed proposal with clear examples and reports from similar campaigns I’ve worked on in the past.

What other blogs do you read?
I read so many!

I love Hand Luggage Only as they travel so much and have such a huge variety of incredible trips.

I like Twins that Travel for their honesty when it comes to travel and I love the way they encourage people who feel nervous or anxious to get out of their comfort zone and travel.

I love seeing the collaborations between Wanderlust Chloe and An Adventurous World. They have separate blogs and often travel separately but the newly engaged couple also make incredible videos when they’re together.

I like Katie Ellison for family travel and WishWishWish for stylish travel guides. I love girl tweets world for honest and funny travel posts, especially now she has an adorable baby boy. I follow Tigerlilly Quinn because she has this amazing way of making everything look so stylish! And I’ve recent discovered Emily Norris for family content and clever mum hacks!

And finally, I love The Girl Outdoors as her whole blog makes me want to put my walking boots on and go outside! So many ‘influencers’ are all about selling clothes and makeup but Sian’s blog is the opposite and is a breath of fresh air that always reminds me that happiness comes from the little things and being outdoors!

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You Could Travel

Travel blogger spotlight: Cory and Gergely Varga, You Could Travel

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Husband and wife team Cory and Gergely Varga are the couple behind You Could Travel. Recently ranked in the Top 10 Travel Blogs, You Could Travel covers travel in all its forms with tips, advice and stunning photography from amazing destinations all over the world. We caught up with the couple to find out how blogging fits in with their lives, the best places to eat in the world and their advice to work successfully with brands.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
At You Could Travel, it is our mission to inspire couples to travel to regain their sense of adventure, capture intimate moments together and pursue experiences during which they can learn about our beautiful blue planet through science, conservation, photography and storytelling.

How do different social channels work with your blog?
We believe social media is for building a community online, where readers can ask us questions with ease. Our social media offers a glimpse of what we do on our blog. Our blog is our soul, full of in-depth information about destinations and experiences. They are very intertwined but oh, so different!

You Could Travel

Do you think travel blogging will be your job forever?
At the moment, we can say with confidence that we are not going anywhere. We love our work and love pouring our soul into our platforms. We can see other travel-related businesses as an extension to our blog and community. We definitely want to stay within the travel industry.

Where’s the best place for street food in the world?
Easy: Japan. Both our favourite cities, Tokyo and Kyoto offer incredible street food. If you are after more traditional or unique experiences, head to the Japanese country side and try the small food stalls at the city centres or at any landmark. Yum!

You Could Travel

Which country has the friendliest locals?
We visited so many countries and while we had so many pleasant encounters, we think Greece had the friendliest locals. Warm, welcoming and genuinely curious.

What’s your favourite mode of transport?
Our car. I’m an avid driver and my husband is an avid passenger so we work really well. Road trips are our forte as driving by car enables us to see so many beautiful things along the way. It also provides us with the flexibility to create our own adventures.

You Could Travel

Do you accept press releases?
We don’t usually. Sometimes, when press releases are in-tune with our blog and audience, we reach out to the PR to arrange a mutually beneficial marketing campaign.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
We recently did a promotional campaign for Destination Canada which was a lot of fun. We also really loved working on a true Intercontinental trip in partnership with Intercontinental Hotel Groups. We enjoy working on campaigns and collaborations where our marketing ideas are valued and taken into account. We have over a decade of experience working with digital agencies and both of us have a marketing background, thus it is refreshing when we are partnering up as marketers and not just content creators.

You Could Travel

What advice would you give to PRs/brands reaching out to you?
We both come from a corporate and marketing background, and we’d love to partner up with you in order to maximise the ROI of your campaign. We are more than just content creators and we want to work closely with you and your client to come up with innovative solutions that lead to long-lasting results. Working with us will enable you to gain access to a team of professionals eager to offer creative ideas.

What other blogs do you read?
We tend to focus more on travel magazines. When it comes to blogs, we like to check Japan-related blogs so TokyoCheapo or TrulyTokyo. I sometimes check Hand Luggage Only and The Blonde Abroad as I enjoy their photography.

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Kash

Travel blogger spotlight: Kash Bhattacharya, BudgetTraveller

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Kash is the man behind BudgetTraveller a new entry in the top 10 UK travel blogs. An experienced luxury-on-a-budget traveler, Kash is also an author and professional speaker. We caught up Kash to find out how many strings he has to bow, why South Africa has the friendliest people, his use of social and how he works with PRs.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
There are so many layers when it comes to working with a professional, experienced blogger – explaining the work we do is often my hardest challenge. I don’t thinks there is a word to describe the work I do.

I’m first and foremost a blogger, publisher and the man behind the BudgetTraveller blog. I’m also ‘the hostel guy’ and a published author; in August last year I published ‘The Grand Hostels: Luxury Hostels of the World’. I’m also a speaker and have been invited to speak at several digital tourism conferences on the topic of content and influencer marketing. In order for people to understand the value of our work I also became a content marketeer and developed a number of campaigns involving influencers some of which have won major tourism marketing awards. Examples of projects include MustLoveFestivals.com with Expedia, a project developed in partnership with 20 Destination Marketing Organisations (DMO) that included Visit Finland, Visit Austria, German National Tourism Office, BlogVille for Emilia Romagna & Blogmanay for Visit Scotland & Unique Events in partnership with iAmbassador and Film Traveller Cote d’Azur for Cote d’Azur Tourism.

How do different social channel work with your blog?
Instagram has been particularly effective in helping me building a community, especially stories which are great at keeping people posted about my recent travel adventures but also a place to ask questions, get ideas and learn more about travel trends that might be the focus of my blog in the future.

Twitter also has been great for cultivating a network – from bloggers and journalists to agencies, marketing directors of DMOs and brands. It’s a great source of contacts, work and also inspiration.

Facebook remains the best platform for seeding video content from campaigns but again requires some form of budget spend.

With all the platforms throttling organic reach increasingly, I’ve started to be invest less time in social and keeping it the bare minimum. The blog remains the key platform I focus on and I’ve also been focusing also on my newsletter, which offers a much better reach vs social.

Do you think travel blogging will be your job forever?
I can’t see myself doing anything else to be honest! I love helping people travel better, love writing and sharing my stories and obviously love how a life of travel has brought me into contact with so many amazing people from across several hemispheres. It is a job, a gift that continues to give and help me grow.

Where’s the best place for street food in the world?
It would be a tossup between Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Nothing makes me happier than a bowl of steaming noodles or a Pad Thai or simple Khao Man Gai – Thai-style chicken rice. The variety of food stalls and the quality is mind boggling. Plus the price.

Which country has the friendliest locals?
South Africa. The most beautiful, warm and passionate people I’ve met in the world. I’ve been twice and each time, the people welcome me with open arms. I can’t wait to go back.

What’s your favourite mode of transport?
Give me a train any day, especially in Europe. Nothing beats seeing the world from a train window. With a beer or a glass of wine in hand. I can walk around, read a book and it gets from A to B with minimum fuss, even if it takes a few hours more. Flying is so stressful nowadays.

Do you accept press releases?
I welcome press releases that are tailored to my interests. I like when someone sending a press release has invested some time into reading my blog and at least knows my name. The lack of personalisation in press releases is what drives most bloggers mad. I also welcome introductions via Twitter or Instagram – much more effective than a bland drab press release.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
I’m really proud of the work I’ve done with my friends at iAmbassador to help launch the concept of BlogVille back in 2013 for the Emilia Romagna Tourism Board-project that continues to grow and develop to this day and has spawned several similar ideas. I’ve had a fantastic relationship with the German National Tourism Office over the last few years – we’ve collaborated on a number of wonderful creative content campaigns ranging from promoting the country as a leading youth tourism destination to one that focused on the country’s amazing wealth of street art. Last Autumn I completed a month long residency in Latvia where I created a guide on how to enjoy the country on a budget. The tourism board was very supportive of my ideas and gave me complete creative freedom to create the content-still a rare thing in the world of brand collaborations.

What advice would you give to PRs/brands reaching out to you?
Be open to ideas and also send me yours – let’s start the creative process. Don’t come with a fixed brief and tie me down in umpteen deliverables; that can kill the creativity and passion within me or any decent digital storyteller. Please do take the time to read my blog and DO reach out to me on social. I’m always up for a beer or coffee so let’s meet up if possible.

What other blogs do you read?
Current blogs that I love or follow include: Messy Nessy Chic, Along Dusty Roads, Bridges and Balloons, Uncornered Market, As the Bird Flies and Time Travel Turtle.

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5 PR tips from the hotel industry

5 PR tips from the hotel industry

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This is a guest post from Frank Marr of AM+A Marketing and Media Relations.

Frank has compiled a list of AM+A’s top tips for creating and putting into action an effective hotel PR and marketing strategy, which the whole PR industry can benefit from. From adopting an integrated approach to channelling your inner journalist, every successful PR and marketing campaign should consider these five steps.

1. Regularly update creative strategies
The media, PR and marketing industries are extremely fluid. Regular creative brainstorms are useful for keeping your brand on trend. Launching a hotel or product is easy, keeping it in the press is not. Creating a major annual event or unique promotion will help maintain exposure. Big events should also be supplemented with smaller, tactical ideas. This is a fine line to tread. You want to keep your brand in the media and engaged with customers without bombarding journalists/ audiences to the point of apathy.

2. An organised integrated PR & digital approach
The key to any successful PR campaign is organisation. It’s true that we must react to news and trends as they emerge, but the best campaigns involve a proactive 12 to 18 month plan incorporating key dates throughout the year from national days to major holidays. Creating smaller, six-month plans allows you to regularly catch long lead media and consistently keep your hotel in the news.

3. Build a network of influencers
As social media continues to hold its position, the importance of building a high-quality influencer network cannot be overstated. According to Havas Group’s Meaningful Brands 2019 report, 81% of brands sold across Europe could disappear and consumers would not care. Building a trustworthy brand is therefore vital for engaging consumers. Create a rapport with your influencers, bring them back time and time again and utilise their contacts to create an even greater reach for your brand.

Influencer marketing is still a murky area but there are a few pointers to help you get ahead: to ensure you make the most out of the relationship include looking for an engagement rate of 4% – 6% on posts; define expectations beforehand to ensure they are met; and aim to state what you want before working with them, so if you want 10 photos, ask for 10 photos.

It’s important to research your influencers and ensure they’re a good fit for your target audience to produce content that maximises your assets.

4. Think like a journalist and blogger
To generate publicity for your brand, try to understand what appeals to journalists and online audiences – and what doesn’t. By thinking like a journalist, you can tailor your campaign and present your assets in a way that is far more likely to be picked up. To be able to think like a journalist or your audiences, you should be constantly monitoring media not just within your industry, but a wide variety. Devour the media, find the angles behind features and learn to spot current trends, journalists love anything new and anything that taps into their calendars. Winning the media over is vital to a successful marketing campaign.

5. Maximise your assets and production
Even if you use all of these tactics and create an innovative, well-structured campaign, you cannot succeed if you don’t have the assets in place to maximise your product. Stay on brand and build up a vault of high-quality images, videos, blog posts, graphics, animations, infographics and articles while ensuring any logos and branding materials are designed to the highest standard. This should be your starting point for any successful campaign.

Looking to make new relationships? Monitor the press? Prove and report on your success? You need Vuelio. 

Podcasts

What’s your podcast strategy?

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Podcasts have finally become mainstream media, with big tech companies creating infrastructure to support millions of global users. With listener numbers rapidly increasing, podcasts are now a viable channel for PRs to reach new and existing audiences.

Since The Ricky Gervais Show in 2005, every year has been the year of the podcast. They’ve always been the ‘Next Big Thing’ and if you weren’t into podcasts you were probably behind the times (or even worse, too old!). While anecdotally this may have seemed true, it’s only now – in 2019 – that technology is supporting large-scale growth and podcasts are going mainstream.

Whether it’s Spotify making a number of podcast acquisitions and changing its UI to separate music and podcasts; Apple killing iTunes and replacing it with Music, TV and Podcasts; or the BBC launching BBC sounds – podcasts are big business.

How do podcasts fit into your comms strategy?
In many ways, podcast content is still finding its feet. While there are distinct categories – such as fiction stories, comedy, true crime and health – the types of content PRs are used to working with is now playing catch up.

But it’s playing catch up in a big way – the BBC has its own platform and the Guardian and Economist have been creating popular podcasts for years. They’re now joined by many other national titles who cover everything from the arts to business and politics. Presenters and guests are typically traditional journalists and columnists, which means PRs don’t even need to create relationships with new people to reach a podcast’s audience.

Remember it’s a podcast
It may seem obvious but there are a couple of key things to remember that make podcasts different to print or digital content. First, this is a channel for intelligence and thought leadership, which means – at the moment – it’s probably not the right place for campaign promotions. Podcasts are often discussions, so find ways to add value with informed speakers or valuable information. Check out the Journalist Enquiry Service for the typical requests journalists send out for podcast contributions.

The second, and perhaps most obvious point, is this channel is audio only, which means no visual contributions. If you have radio PR experience, then you’ll already be ahead of the competition.

Outside of media relations, PRs can also get involved through advertising – whether that’s via the presenters themselves (in which case it’s very similar to the influencer marketing model) or on the platforms.

The Drum reports that Spotify now allows advertisers to target free users based on podcast preferences, the first time it has segmented its audience by podcasts rather than music. This will allow you to target relevant audiences from business and tech to lifestyle and health. It’s being rolled out across 10 territories with Samsung and 3M already testing the tool.

This is just the beginning for what’s finally deserved the title of the Next Big Thing. As podcasts grow even more popular throughout 2019, expect more sophisticated targeting and advertising, as well as new content types, formats and PR opportunities to emerge.

Did you know Vuelio lists podcasts alongside newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs, vlogs and broadcasters? Find out how the Vuelio Media Database can help you get ahead.

Tim Liew Slouching towards thatcham

Daddy blogger spotlight: Tim Liew, Slouching Towards Thatcham

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Tim Liew is the blogger behind Slouching Towards Thatcham, which was recently ranked in the top 10 UK Daddy Blogs once again. Covering life as a father of three – with his fitness journey and incredible musical parodies along the way – Tim’s blog is known for its honest and insightful take on being a dad. We caught up with Tim to find out about being able to pick and choose collaborations, the changing roles of fathers in society and his broad range of favourite blogs.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
I often describe myself as ‘a writer who just happens to have a blog’ rather than being a ‘blogger’ in the more commercial sense. I don’t write for a living and I don’t necessarily write to nurture an audience either.

My blog has always been a form of self-therapy that helps make sense of my thoughts and experiences and record them for posterity. If some of my stories resonate with people or reassure them that they’re not alone on the rollercoaster ride that is fatherhood, that’s a bonus – but it’s not why I write. If I’m being pretentious (which I will admit I often am) I would say ‘scribo ergo sum’: I write therefore I am.

How do social channels work with your blog – are any more important than others?
I primarily use a combination of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Broadly speaking, Facebook is for traffic, Twitter for conversation and Instagram for fun.

Determining the ideal mix is really up to you, though. Some people rely on Pinterest a lot. Others will openly admit they just don’t get Twitter but feel they need to be on there. There’s a lot of pressure, particularly for those trying to make a living from blogging, to be always-on on every channel. But my advice to any blogger is to focus on a few channels that you enjoy the most and to share the best possible content across them. It’s better to have a big presence on a few channels than to spread yourself too thinly across all of them.

What’s the perfect Father’s Day?
A little bit of ‘me’ time and a lot of family time. I’m not bothered by material gifts at all. Most years the best presents I get are hand-drawn cards from the kids and their proud grins as they serve up breakfast in bed.

How much does Father’s Day affect your content?
It doesn’t, really. I have often written about my Father’s Day experiences in the past but I don’t make a point of generating lots of Father’s Day content such as gift guides or best days out every year. If I have something original to write, I will, but I don’t force it.

How is the role of dad changing in society?
It still has some way to go but it has changed enormously in my lifetime alone. So many dads are much more involved and present in their children’s lives than our fathers were. And it goes way beyond changing the odd nappy or ‘babysitting’ the children while mum’s out. You can see it in the increasing number of stay-at-home dads or the number of fathers who do the school run or share childcare responsibilities. The lines between ‘dads’ and ‘mums’ have blurred. Increasingly we’re now ‘parents’ and more of us expect – and thrive on – the added responsibility and time with our kids.

What’s the best balance between visual and written content?
A little from column A, a little from column B. Visuals – whether it’s photos, longer-form video or Instagram Stories – are increasingly important and can make a blogger really stand out from the crowd. But – and I knowingly say this with the bias of someone who has always been a writer first – the words are still important. A blogger’s visuals are the equivalent of a film trailer that draws you in but it’s their words that are the movie itself, adding substance to the style. These days you need to be good with both.

Do you accept press releases?
I do occasionally but only if it is something that genuinely interests me or sparks off some creative ideas of my own.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
I do very little commercial work nowadays so I can afford to pick and choose. But all my best collaborations have been built on two-way relationships with brands I have an emotional collection with. I respond best when working with a brand who is genuinely receptive to my ideas, as opposed to ‘We just need a blog post and an Instagram story by Friday’. And, of course, it’s always easier to produce great content about products you already feel good about. I’ve always been honest with my reviews and I won’t write half-hearted platitudes just to keep a marketer happy.

What advice would you give to PRs/brands reaching out to you?
Appreciate the value that bloggers can bring and treat us as creative partners rather than blank advertising hoardings. Yes, I know you need us to deliver audiences and numbers. And I know you’re talking to 100 different bloggers about ten different campaigns at the same time but treat a blogger well and they will not only deliver great content for this campaign but will be a willing partner for you on future projects too.

What other blogs do you read?
I read several of the other dad blogs in your top ten but I also read across a variety of different genres beyond parenting. As a lifelong Arsenal fan, I religiously read Arseblog and listen to its sister podcast, the Arsecast. I love professional cycling so my go-tos are The Inner Ring for his expertise and Velovoices for their fan-led views (full disclosure: I founded the latter, although I’m not involved with it any more.) And, as a former TV reviewer, my first port of call is often The AV Club for their in-depth and thoughtful observations on my favourite US shows.

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Diary of the Dad

Daddy Blog Spotlight: Tom Briggs, Diary of the Dad

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Tom Briggs is the man behind Diary of the Dad, which recently shot up the charts in the Top 10 UK Daddy Blogs. Started in 2010, Diary of the Dad has gone from hobby to full-time profession as Tom tracks life parenting three kids. We caught up with Tom to find out what makes father’s day special, why his own dad is his hero and how he works with different brands and PRs.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
I just tell them I’m a full-time blogger. People sometimes still ask how that works but blogging for a living seems to have become much more recognised as ‘a thing’ in the last couple of years.

This doesn’t necessarily equate to people respecting it as much as other career choices yet, but it’s just a matter of time. Perceptions of social media jobs have changed dramatically since the first ones were advertised and the same will happen here.

How do social channels work with your blog – are any more important than others?
I think they’re all important as they appeal to different audiences so I have a presence on all of the main platforms.

Personally, I’ve always preferred Twitter but I think it’s vital to be on a few – particularly if you make a living out of blogging.

What’s the perfect father’s day?
This probably sounds really cheesy but spending the day with my family is all I need. The usual routine is breakfast in bed with a gift and cards from the kids.

We often go to my parents’ house for a barbecue, so I get to spend time with my dad too. In fact, we play five-a-side together every Sunday evening as well. I hope I’m still playing when I’m almost 70 – it’s one of the many reasons he’s my hero!

Tom Briggs and dad

How much does father’s day affect your content?
It has always been my busiest time of year in terms of approaches from brands and PRs, so that translates to my blog content.

It’s also a good opportunity to write about topics related to being a dad. Last year, for example, I wrote posts calling out dad-bashing and dad skills lists.

How is the role of dad changing in society?
I think we’re in the early stages of a cultural shift in attitude but it will still take years or even decades for dads to be truly recognised as equal parents. Workplace legislation has a key part to play here. It needs to change to help things along.

Paternity leave is woefully inadequate while shared parental leave is open to relatively few, so dads are already at a disadvantage. I’d love to see the UK following in the footsteps of countries like Sweden by making it easier for fathers to spend time with their families from day one.

What’s the best balance between visual and written content?
I started out as a journalist so written content has always been more important to me. Achieving a balance is vital though and, to a certain degree, blog posts will succeed or fail based on how they look at first glance.

I’ve really upped my game with photography in recent years and need to get braver when it comes to creating more video content too.

Do you accept press releases?
Yes, I’m always open to receiving press releases and they’ve led to some brilliant collaborations as well as ideas for content that has performed really well.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
There have been so many over the years and I’ve only ever agreed to things that really appeal to me, so most have been great. Going to Berlin with Coca-Cola to blog about its annual grassroots football event ranks highly though.

I witnessed kids from all over the world making friends over the common language of football, met three World Cup winners and even scored a diving header in the match arranged for media and PR!

What advice would you give to PRs/brands reaching out to you?
The best approaches I’ve received are where the PRs or brands have taken time to read my ‘work with me’ page plus a post or two to get a feel for who I am and the kind of content I work on.

Those that come with a detailed brief are always good too. Having all of the important information in one place makes collaborations so much easier, particularly if a quick turnaround is required.

What other blogs do you read?
I read a lot of other parenting blogs and, perhaps unsurprisingly, many of them are written by other dads. Dad Blog UK, DIY Daddy and Father Hood are among those that I read most often.

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nigel higgins

Daddy Blog Spotlight: Nigel Higgins, DIY Daddy

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Nigel Higgins is the brains behind DIY Daddy, recently included in our Top 10 UK Daddy Blogs. DIY Daddy combines Nigel’s years of experience in decorating and DIY with tips and advice on parenting as he brings up 5 kids.

We caught up with Nigel to talk about what makes the perfect father’s day, how the role of dad is changing and the best collaborations he’s worked on.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
This is a great question! Whenever somebody asks me what I do for a living I either say I’m a blogger or an influencer. It definitely gets a varied selection of responses from people, but they mainly ask what that means, followed by asking what my blog is called. Trying to explain to somebody who has no idea what a blog is can be difficult. I usually resort to saying that I write a website and then they appear to understand. When you try to explain that you review products or work with large brands most people instantly think you just get lots of freebies which of course you don’t, you have to work for it.

How do social channels work with your blog – are any more important than others?
Social channels are where you promote your latest blog post and there is no doubt I use them extensively to promote my blog. There is no point in writing something and hoping people will read it without some sort of promotion.

I think they all have a place and are important. Over the years I have seen the popularity change dramatically between social media channels. Without question Instagram is definitely the most popular social media channel at the moment, I probably use that more than the others. While they may be flavour of the day at the moment, but not so long ago Twitter was the one, so I’m sure something will come along and knock Instagram off its perch at some point.

What’s the perfect father’s day?  
The perfect father’s day for me is having all my children around me, even if it’s only for a couple of hours. The icing on the cake would be to have Sunday lunch all together.

How much does father’s day affect your content?
Leading up to father’s day I am offered many opportunities to collaborate with brands so there will always be more blog and social posts relating to father’s day, but I always try to be careful that there are not too many father’s day posts and that I also continue with my normal posts.

How is the role of dad changing in society?
The role of dad in society has changed dramatically over the years. We now see so many more dads becoming the main carer for their children and the reason for this is that mums could be continuing with their careers, or they could be the higher earner. This of course means that dads will become the main carer. I think it’s great that dads are more involved with their children’s lives. It is a positive move to have dads as a major influence on their kid’s lives daily. In my opinion, society has finally realised that dads having family time is vital for their children. It’s early days but it’s moving in the right direction.

What’s the best balance between visual and written content?
I have always considered written content to be the most important. That’s probably because it was what I started out as. Of course, blogging has changed and evolved, and part of your content has to be visual. I write approximately 5 blog posts a week, but nowadays I include a number of Instagram posts with a photo per week.

Video has become a large part of my content this year and I usually do a couple of IGTV videos a week.

Do you accept press releases?
I will accept press releases if they are relevant to the theme of my blog, otherwise I generally don’t accept them.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
The most incredible part of blogging for me has been the incredible opportunities that it has given us as a family and there have been plenty of them. I will always try to collaborate with people that fit in around our family and our family values.

I have to say that possibly the best collaboration that I have done is literally just the weekend gone. We were invited to Bluestone National Park by Persil UK for a weekend of adventure and fun to celebrate their ‘Dirt Is Good’ campaign. It was all about getting outdoors and just getting muddy and enjoying ourselves as a family. It involved a nature trail, cooking marshmallows on an open fire etc and it was just a magical moment being outdoors as a family. The PR team and Persil looked after us brilliantly and made it an awesome weekend.

What advice would you give to PRs/brands reaching out to you?
I get a lot of enquiries from PR’s and many I will just skim read and delete. You may ask why and it’s really simple; they aren’t saying exactly what they want.

If you are a PR or a brand I would like to know exactly what you want, and if a fee is involved what deliverables do you want from me. That way I can then make an informed decision if we are suited for a collaboration.

Thankfully most of the PRs and brands I deal with are very up front from the beginning about what they want from me.

What other blogs do you read?
John Adams who writes Dad Blog UK. I have always read John’s blog. It is always fresh and very interesting.

Tayla who writes Motherhood: The Real Deal. I was on the radio with Tayla this year and we instantly hit off, I started reading her blog and just love her insightful look into parenting.

Finally, I have always, and always will, read my wife Emily’s blog, Twin Mummy and Daddy. I love her incredibly positive outlook on life, and her writing is always so engaging.

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john adams photo

Daddy Blog Spotlight: John Adams, Dad Blog UK

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John Adams is the creator of top Daddy blog, Dad Blog UK, taking the number one spot in our Top 10 UK Daddy Blogs. Dad Blog UK has great advice for parents and John shares the milestones in his children’s lives with his readers alongside offering insight into what it’s like to be a stay-at-home dad in 2019. 

We caught up with John to talk about life as a blogger, the importance of social channels and how father’s day impacts his content.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
Until 18 months ago, I would have described myself as a stay-at-home dad. Blogging was more of a side hustle. With both my daughters having been in the education system for a little while now, I happily describe myself as a “fatherhood, parenting and lifestyle blogger.”

I’m still the kids’ main carer because my wife is out the house 12 hours a day. During school hours, however, I work on the blog.

Generally speaking, younger people, those in their thirties and below, get what I do. For older people, I have to explain what a blogger is and how I earn money. No matter who I am speaking to, I often find I’m an object of curiosity!

How do social channels work with your blog – are any more important than others?
My social channels revolve around Dadbloguk. I own the blog and parent company so it’s my channel. You’re at the whim of algorithms with social channels and they can be de-activated (think Vine and Google+).

Twitter and Facebook are my main channels for promoting blog posts. Pinterest also works well for me, although I only really embraced it properly earlier this year.

That said, I am producing increasing amounts of stand-alone content, especially on Instagram where I have experienced more engagement over the past 12 months. I’ve increased my output on Stories and I am ever so slightly in love with IGTV.

A brand-new venture for me is TikTok. I posted my fourth video to TikTok seven days ago. It was in support of a motoring-themed campaign and at the time of writing, the video had 56,500 views with no paid-for promotion whatsoever. I appreciate many people think it’s a channel for young people, but that, to me, is a sign TikTok has huge potential.

As an aside, short-form video is ideal for the mummy or daddy content creator. We’re often juggling kids and work so pushed-for time and don’t have gangs of friends to help with shooting and editing footage. It’s quick, easier to produce than long-form and is better for authentically portraying the messy nature of family life.

What’s the perfect father’s day?  
I was asked this the other day and I said something about lying a beach in the Seychelles. That’ll never happen, so I’ll settle for a sunny day, a barbecue with the family and a bike ride with the kids.

How much does father’s day affect your content?
The build-up to father’s day is often one of the busiest times of year. I get a lot of requests to write about possible father’s day gifts. There’s also a lot of interest in the media about the role of fathers, so I often find myself giving comment to print and broadcast media about life as a dad. That brings me on nicely to the next question…

How is the role of dad changing in society?
In the decade I’ve been a dad, fathers’ roles have changed hugely. When I became a dad, it was kind-of a question as to whether a man would be a hands-on dad. Now it’s more of a question how hands on a man is going to be.

I’m delighted to see more discussion and debate about flexible working and men. Volvo, Aviva, British Land etc. are among employers who have equalised parental policies. It’s happening slowly, but employers seem to be accepting that men are central figures in their family’s lives. All the evidence shows millennial men and women expect to have their needs as parents respected by their employers and to be treated equally. Flexible working and childcare should not be treated solely as a women’s issues because they aren’t, they impact on men and children too. If you don’t have equal workplace policies in place, you effectively force women out of the workplace and trap men in it.

Okay, I’ll get off my high-horse. Moving on. . .

What’s the best balance between visual and written content?
You need some visual content on a blog. I tend to post a photographic, image-led blog post at the weekends. At the beginning of 2019 I completely revamped Dadbloguk and I considered doing away with this feature. Truth is, I enjoy photography and my visitor stats prove that weekly post is phenomenally popular so it ain’t going anywhere!

I think of myself as a writer so there will always be long-form, written content on my blog. For commercial clients, I would say well-written, long-form content is very valuable because of its evergreen nature. I keep a very close eye on what visitors to my blog are reading and it never ceases to amaze me:
a) How popular review posts are
b) The length of time people spend reading review posts and
c) How much traffic such posts receive months and years after they are written.

It’s a healthy reminder that us bloggers have a responsibility to produce well written, honest, detailed reviews.

Video content I tend to keep on my social channels. This is becoming more important on Instagram and you can expect me to do more on TikTok as well!

Do you accept press releases?
I am very happy to receive media releases and approaches from PR people.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
Just recently I’ve worked on a few campaigns with tech companies to highlight the parental controls their products have, working with Apple was a highlight and I did a similar with Xbox also.  I’m passionate about online safety so these campaigns were a great fit for me.

Thinking of road safety, I’ve just worked on a fun campaign with Peugeot in which I had to reverse a van around an obstacle course to test its Surround Rear Vision reversing system. The TikTok video I mentioned was part of this campaign.

What advice would you give to PRs/brands reaching out to you?
I am always happy to hear from PR representatives and brands. If you are inviting me to an event, I need as much notice as possible (us mummy and daddy bloggers often have to arrange childcare).

Ultimately, however, if you have an idea, run it past me.

What other blogs do you read?
This question always makes me feel uncomfortable because I feel like I’m going to miss someone really important off the list!

Believe it or not, I do visit Inthefrow. The fashion and styles on display don’t interest me, but I like to read blogs that operate in completely different spheres to see what other people are doing. It challenges you to think differently and Victoria produces an exceptionally well-designed blog and you can see why the content appeals to her core readership. Time and again I return to Diary of the Dad because I love Tom’s writing. He can also be very funny and witty. I think Daddy and Dad offers a great insight into adoption and life as a same-sex couple. Jamie and Tom are going places I think. I’m a huge fan of Grey Fox because of the way David promotes classic British style. He also deserves recognition for pioneering online style for older guys

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Maz BBC feature

How a Vuelio ‘blind date’ led to featuring on the BBC

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Vuelio continues to connect journalists and PRs with its increasingly popular ‘blind dates’ series. These face-to-face meetings prove the power of building professional media relationships in the right way. A recent Vuelio ‘blind date’ between Maz Halima and Farhad Ahmad has already led to the pair working on a video project for the BBC.

The chat flowed from the start as Farhad, a press officer and Imam at Ahmadiyaa Muslim Community discussed with Maz, a freelance journalist, about the challenges he faces promoting a positive message about Islam and the Ahmadiyaa Muslim Community. As a freelance journalist, focusing on the social issues she encounters as a Muslim woman, Maz took away plenty of great advice from Farhad, promising to get more involved in her local community.

Fast forward to the end of May, and Maz is working on a short film for the BBC about Ramadan. She needed a spokesperson from the local Muslim community, and, luckily, Maz now knew someone she could call upon for just such an occasion – Farhad.

My Ramadan Diary: Fasting for 18 hours with depression and anxiety is now live on the BBC website and follows Maz throughout her day of fasting, including a visit to Farhad at the mosque.

Thanks to the Vuelio ‘blind date’, Maz was able to put her recent comms connection into action, ensuring her powerful film got made and provided coverage for the Ahmadiyaa Muslim Community on the BBC, one of the most respected media outlets in the world.

Maz is now an advocate of the ‘blind date’ process, she said: ‘When I went on my Vuelio ‘blind date’, I thought it would be great to get some insight into the world of PR and have some delicious food – but I have to say, I didn’t imagine the experience would come in handy so quickly.

‘But just weeks later, the BBC wanted me to interview someone in the local Islamic community who could provide a light on the importance of compassion when it comes to mental health during Ramadan – and I knew Farhad would be a good person to have that conversation with. I’m glad I met him via Vuelio, as it saved me from all the man hours of finding someone to speak to that I’d probably have never met before.’

Are you looking to grow your network? Maz and Farhad had a ‘blind date’ at the First Dates restaurant – the Paternoster Chop House. We’re always looking for PRs and journalists to take part so if you’d like to have a success story like Maz and Farhad get in touch!

spurs web logo

Football Blog Spotlight: Neil Vaughan, The Spurs Web

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Neil Vaughan is the man behind The Spurs Web, recently included in the Top 10 UK Football Blogs. The Spurs Web is the main source for everything Tottenham Hotspur, from match days to transfer talk and even has an app who need the latest news instantly. We caught up with Neil to talk about his player of the season, how football fandom has changed how we consume football content and the power of social media.

How do you describe what you do to other people?  
I would describe it as providing football fans with a platform to have their opinions heard and read by their fellow supporters from all around the world.

How important are the different social channels when they feed into your blog? 
Social channels are critical to driving visitors to the website. It depends on the demographic of the supporter, some like to hang out on Twitter as the game unfolds, whereas some on Facebook prefer to see the build-up for a match via the Live facility. It also gives the supporter the chance to interact with fan-generated content which we often feature, such as goal celebrations from the stands recorded by fans. This is content which official channels tend not to offer.

Who’s your player of the season?  
Heung-min Son. The South Korean has performed fantastically well in the absence of the injured Harry Kane and has opened a completely new market of supporter to the club with his cult-like following in his homeland of South Korea.

How is football fandom changing the way we consume football content?  
The rise of the ‘vlogger’ is something which is definitely something to watch. You only have to look around any Premier League stadium and you will see vloggers filming themselves watching a match.

What’s your view on esports and the likes of teams having their own esports players/teams? 
The rise of esports has been nothing short of stratospheric over the past ten years and it has been a surprise that it has taken professional football clubs up until only recently to start to embrace the new market. If it means that clubs can generate increased revenue, awareness and attract a new type of supporter then it can only be good.

How important is the community to your blog? Do you accept press releases? 
Critical. Without the football community there is no website. They are the lifeblood of our content and this is how it will remain. Our mantra is ‘for the fans, by the fans’. We are in a unique position where unlike official club websites or major publications, we can provide a level of coverage and passion that you just cannot generate from a paid journalist.

Do you accept press releases?
Yes, we certainly welcome press releases.

What are the best campaigns you’ve collaborated on with PRs/brands? 
Surprisingly, given our vast social media following and website which attracts over three million page views per month, we haven’t really had many PRs/brands collaborating with us. This is something which we hope to change given the fact that they would be engaging with a passionate and bespoke audience that we have built over many years.

What other blogs do you read? 
eConsultancy is a big favourite to try to keep on top of digital trends in order to further improve the service which we offer our visitors.

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Luxury travel spotlight: Angie Silver, SilverSpoon London

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Angie Silver, luxury travel blogger and mum to be, is the brains behind SilverSpoon London. Sharing her travels to incredible destinations across the globe, SilverSpoon London couples detailed reviews and travel stories with beautiful photography, and as a London local, Angie also covers the best things to see and do in the capital. 

We spoke to Angie about out how she uses social channels and what works best, her favourite hotel in the world and the best collaboration she’s worked on.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
I’m a luxury travel blogger with a focus on beautiful destinations, hotels and food. I also cover my home town of London with restaurant reviews, events and other fun things to do.  

How do social channels work with your blog? Are any more important than others?
Social channels are vital for my blog. Twitter is great for promoting my latest posts and for having conversations with like-minded people. I love Instagram as a highlights reel or ‘shop window’ to show off my best photography and I use Instagram Stories for closer interaction with my readers and followers. Pinterest is great for driving traffic. 

Do you feel travel blogging is segmented (luxury/standard/local/family/budget etc)?
It can be, but I think blogs should reflect real life and that means fluidity. A budget traveller for example may stay at a luxury hotel for a special occasion and choose to review it. I don’t think that jars with regular content as their readers may find this useful too. As I’m about to have a baby I’m planning a slight shift in focus. I’ll always write about luxury travel but I’m going to introduce a family angle to my content. Many of my readers have been there since I start my blog over five years ago and I’m hoping for them to grow along with me.

What’s the best balance between visual and written content?
I think it depends on your angle and readership. More and more blogs are becoming curated and photography-led but I started my blog because I loved writing so that is what came first for me. My love of photography came next and I found myself enjoying learning how to create beautiful images too. Part of a blog is showing your personal experience through photography and your own voice, so both will always be important.

What’s your favourite hotel in the world?
Tough question as there are so many that I love! The best I’ve stayed in is Singita Boulders, a safari hotel is South Africa. Not only did I enjoy the magic of safari but the décor of the hotel, service and food were just second to none! I love hotels that are different, unique and special and offer a very personal service.

Which airline is the best (and why)?
I don’t know about them being the best but British Airways are the airline that I travel with most frequently. I have loyalty points with them so it makes sense, plus I find them reliable and the planes are comfortable with good service.

How conscious are you of political upheaval and local issues when travelling?
I’m very conscious. I’ll only travel to places that I feel are safe and would recommend my readers to travel to.

Do you accept press releases?
I would never write a blog post on the basis of a press release as my blog is wholly experiential. However, I do like receiving press releases in order to keep up to date with the latest news in the luxury travel sector.

What’s the best PR campaign/collaboration you’ve worked on?
For me my favourite collaborations also provide rich and unique experiences for me personally. Last September I worked with Original Travel in order to promote their travel planning and bespoke itinerary creation. This saw me saw me travel to Morocco to stay in Richard Branson’s hotel in the Atlas Mountains, as well as enjoy local experiences in Marrakech.

What other blogs do you read?
I love Adventures of a London Kiwi and Binny’s Food and Travel Diaries to read about fun things to do in London and the rest of the world.

The Curious Pixie, Follow Your Sunshine and The Travel Hack are great for family travel. I’ve read The Travelista, Lux Life London, Heroine in Heels, Twins That Travel and Kalanchoe for years. I know all these bloggers personally too, I love reading posts by friends and seeing what they get up to.

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Suze Renner, Luxury Columnist

Luxury travel spotlight: Suze Renner, Luxury Columnist

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Suze Renner is one half of the team behind Luxury Columnist. Discovering hidden gems around the world, the luxury loving pair review hotels, restaurants and share the most interesting things to do, making Luxury Columnist a must-visit for anyone looking to have a holiday with a difference and a touch of luxury. 

We spoke to Suze about out the segmentation of travel blogging, how local issues impact their travel and their favourite travel blogs.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
We describe ourselves as content creators and multi-channel marketers who feature the latest luxury travel trends and destinations.

How do social channels work with your blog? Are any more important than others?
In terms of social channels, the two that work best for us are Instagram, which is great for immediate visibility, and Pinterest, which drives long term traffic to our website. Pinterest users are generally in a purchasing mindset when browsing the platform, so they’re highly valuable to luxury brands. Twitter is great for connecting with ultra-high net worth consumers and Facebook continues to be popular in many countries.

Do you feel travel blogging is segmented (luxury/standard/local/family/budget etc)?
Yes, although these days the lines between luxury and budget have become more blurred. Glamping and back-to-nature accommodation are increasingly popular, with some people choosing to splurge on a luxury hotel for a few nights at the end of their stay while staying somewhere more low-key for the rest. We focus on bespoke experiences and high quality, whatever the price range

What’s the best balance between visual and written content?
Visual content draws the reader in, but detailed written content is key to keeping them interested long term. We focus on writing in-depth articles that will be ranked higher by search engines; increasingly, those search engines are prioritising quality edited photos highly in their rankings, as they recognise that these are important to readers.

What’s your favourite hotel in the world?
It’s hard to choose just one, but a favourite is Monastero Santa Rosa, which is a former convent on the Amalfi Coast in Italy with an amazing infinity pool.

Which airline is the best (and why)?
Again, there are many great airlines, but we like Emirates for the friendly staff and quality of the food and beverage offering.

How conscious are you of political upheaval and local issues when travelling?
We always research our destination in detail before travelling, and check with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website that it is advisable to travel to the region. We like to speak to as many locals as possible while on the ground, in order to get a full picture of current events.

Do you accept press releases?
We can’t use press releases as we write about our personal experiences.

What’s the best PR campaign/collaboration you’ve worked on?
One of the best ones was a recent campaign for Visit Tokyo. They were clear about project deliverables, yet they listened to our input about activities that we knew readers would be interested in. We suggested to them that we integrated Tokyo’s plum blossom season into the campaign, as it is much less well known than cherry season. The best campaigns are those where we establish a long-term collaboration, and where the destination or hotel brand shares our content on their own site and social channels.

What other blogs do you read?
We like blogs and websites that give detailed information on the places that we are travelling to. For Japan, Travels with Nano was helpful and for Paris, we love the photography by Paris in Four Months.

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Alya Mooro

Women of Colour: freelance journalist and author Alya Mooro

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This week in our Women of Colour series, Vuelio media researcher and freelance journalist Maz Halima speaks to Egyptian-born, London-raised freelance journalist Alya Mooro. As Alya prepares for the autumn release of her first book, we spoke to the journalist and author about the importance of representation in the media and creating her own compelling narratives.  

Hey Alya! What do you do in the media industry?
I’m a freelance journalist. I’ve written for a number of publications including Grazia, Refinery29 and The New York Post, providing unique takes on culture, identity, female empowerment and the issues facing my generation. My first book The Greater Freedom: Life as a Middle Eastern Woman Outside the Stereotypes, is out September 2019 via Little A, Amazon Publishing.

Alya Mooro books

What difficulties have you faced as an Egyptian woman working in British media?
My difficulties have been more in terms of observing the negative and reductive portrayals of women of colour (WOC) in the media – specifically Arab, Muslim women. There is a very narrow portrayal and that has been disheartening to get my head around. Thanks to these reductive portrayals, for a long time I felt like I wasn’t able to claim my ‘identity’. When I first started submitting the proposal for my book, a few of the literary agents I spoke to wanted me to fit more into their view of what someone from those identities should be like and write accordingly – as opposed to portraying a more accurate, nuanced representation that was true to me.

As a Pakistani woman, I can relate to the pressure to only follow a particular narrative – it can be really frustrating. How did you get past this?  
Persistence. As well as doing my due diligence to seek out alternative narratives, which are increasingly available thanks to the hard work and perseverance of my peers.

What made you carry on with your career in writing despite the obstacles?
I’m a big believer in the importance of representation; how “it’s easier to be yourself if you can see yourself”. I wanted to give more nuance – both for those within the community, as well as those outside it. I also love writing; for me it is a way of thinking through my fingertips, and that has always been the case. I feel like I have no option but to continue to do so; it is my biggest compulsion.

What would you like to see media folk do to encourage the inclusion of people of colour in the industry?
Accept more pitches from WOC, seek to give a more nuanced, representative narrative and actively make efforts to seek out WOC to include them.

What advice would you give to women of colour wanting to get into media?
Keep going, and don’t take no for an answer.

You can read Alya’s work on her website alyamooro.com, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Preorder Alya’s The Greater Freedom: life as a middle eastern woman outside the stereotypes on Amazon here.

You can also see Alya host ‘Women in Revolt – The Greater Freedom: an exploration of Middle Eastern female filmmaking’ with Shorts on Tap in London on June 19 where she will be doing a short reading from her forthcoming book – tickets are available here.

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Luxury travel spotlight: Ana Silva O’Reilly, Mrs. O Around The World

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Ana Silva O’Reilly is the founder and creative force behind Mrs. O Around The World. Travelling to far-flung places around the world, reviewing hotels and discovering the best way to spend a weekend, Mrs. O Around The World is perfect for discovering luxury whether you’re in the city or the countryside.

We caught up with Ana to find out how important social media is to her blog, which airline is the best and her approach to press releases (both sending and receiving them).

How do you describe what you do to other people?
I always tell them I have two very different jobs – I run my own marketing consultancy firm (and have worked in marketing for almost 20 years now) and I also write about travel.

The next question is always ‘who do I write for?’ and I always say ‘for myself and a group of like-minded people who are a bit picky with how they travel and where they stay from all over the world’.

My split has been 70-30 since the beginning and I find it that it works very well for me.

How do social channels work with your blog? Are any more important than others?
It depends what the purpose is – I have different followers on different channels, so I tend to have very different conversations in each. I am equally active across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and I enjoy all three.

I love the ‘fast and furiousness’ of twitter chats (and very proud to continue to co-host #luxtravelchat weekly every Thursday which will celebrate its 5th birthday this Summer).

I am a big fan of Instagram stories (but frustrated with IG itself), and I do have some good conversations and return with Facebook.

I have also started a YouTube channel – driven by brand work and it has worked quite well. I have done a bit of work on Pinterest with the help of a professional and hoping to turn that around – that has never been my channel!

Do you feel travel blogging is segmented (luxury/standard/local/family/budget etc)?
It is – but the world luxury is completely overused, which is a shame. We need to bring the hotel stars back – the standard was never consistent across the world, but it levelled things out.

On the other hand, there are very few people who write about luxury travel who get to experience it outside press trips, which I find somehow misleading. You can’t tell people to part with their money if you never do it yourself. Don’t get me wrong – I work on brand projects and indeed I get paid to travel, but I go on real holidays often and that is a really important balance (for me, at least).

I’m glad that disclosure is becoming finally ‘a thing’, but I was disappointed to see some bloggers ‘joking’ about it almost – as if it was beneath them (’thank you for the glass of juice, brand X). Sasha from Liberty London Girl has always led the way – and is someone I don’t know in real life and enjoy following.

What’s the best balance between visual and written content?
Everyone has their own. I’m a great believer of less is more – I don’t think people need to hear from me more than they do from their best friends. And ‘being on’ every day because some ‘influencer course’ told you so, may not work for everyone.

I have started doing more video – but the blog is and always will be my priority. It’s the only thing that’s really mine.

What’s your favourite hotel in the world?
I am a great fan of Finca Cortesin in the south of Spain – I went for the first time seven years ago as Mrs. O and return every summer as Ana. Heading back in a month’s time and very much looking forward to it.

Which airline is the best (and why)?
I’m a British Airways Executive Club gold cardholder (oneworld emerald) and have been for nine years now – which means I buy a lot of tickets each year and I am loyal to BA.

Obviously, it is my home airline (I am a T-Fiver) and that plays a part. I do tend to fly within OneWorld but lately I have been venturing out and may have something interesting coming up which will show top tier BA flyers that may be worth ‘cheating’ every now and then.

How conscious are you of political upheaval and local issues when travelling?
I would think a fair bit – I actually got used to reading all medical warnings as Zika has conditioned my travels in recent years (my IVF journey and failures have been documented, with the incredible support of my readers).

I don’t need to be the first or the last to experience anything – the BAE (‘before anyone else’) syndrome is not one Mrs. O suffers from (and absolutely not why my readers come to me).

Do you accept press releases?
No. I only write about my trips, so I don’t do features about places I have never visited and there are no exceptions. But of course I do use press releases to keep myself up to date of new openings and events.

What’s the best PR campaign/collaboration you’ve worked on?
I have had a very successful collaboration with Visit California in the summer of 2018 (following a first project in 2017), which then led to a Winter 2019 campaign as well. And more to come soon. Why? Because I love California and have been going at least once a year for the last 14 years. And everyone knows that! And needless to say, free creative reign to do as I pleased.

What other blogs do you read?
Kim-Marie from Luxury Travel Mom and Nancy from Luxe Travel Family are very good friends of mine and we really have a similar way of travelling, in terms of our expectations – so I always go to them (and have for years).

I really enjoy Damsel in Dior – I identify with the way that Jacie travels and absolutely adore her sense of style and shoes. Nobody makes me buy more shoes than she does! I also get lots of air travel tips from Michele at Turning Left for Less, which I highly recommend.

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