the5krunner

Running blogger spotlight: the5krunner

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Running blog, the5krunner, has again ranked in the top 10 running blogs. Anonymously written, the5krunner covers running tech and the best routes, as well triathlon training and competing. We caught up with the5krunner to find out about blogging in secret, the right gear for running and the best kinds of press release.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
I am somewhat secretive about my blog. Even to friends. So, I suppose I should have a good answer to that question.

I would say that I probably angle my repose about what I do between the blog’s three main pillars: journalistic research and analysis of emerging sports tech; product reviews and opinions; and a good dose of lifestyle blogging about a wannabe age group triathlete’s trials and tribulations.

How does social media feed into your blog – are any channels more important?
It has taken me a long time to better understand my readership and it is THEIR use of social media channels that I invest in rather than ones that I think I ought to or that some expert or other has told me that I ought to. Eg. I wasted a lot of time with Instagram last year.

The blog itself is by far the most important channel although a notable number of readers use Facebook. I use Twitter as email proxy for one-to-one communications rather than as a means of capturing traffic. YouTube would work for my type of reader but I don’t have the skills or time to take that further right now… if anyone who is reading this does then give me a call.

How important is the right clothing/gear for running?
I would give the classic ‘it depends’ response. Most of the time it does not really matter in the UK but if there are specific weather or performance requirements then clothing is very important. Ranging from: keeping arms warm in the winter; to stopping chaffing on long runs; to allowing cooling on hot days; all the way to simply providing a means of carrying a gel, smartphone and key.

What’s your favourite pair of trainers?
I have the New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v4 right now. I bought three pairs (no freebies). I don’t especially want to like them but I rarely seem to get injured when wearing them so that is a massive bonus for me. No injury = favourite.

Where’s the best place to run in the world?
The London Borough of Richmond-on-Thames is pretty cool in a very safe-cum-pretty-cum-boring kind of way. Maybe I should get out more? but I love the Royal Parks here and the Rivers, nearby canals and more besides.

How many races do you compete in a year?
Excluding parkruns, it would probably be about six races with two of them being ‘A’ races. I train properly for them as best I can yet always set myself goals that are unachievable! If you are of a competitive nature then the beauty of triathlons is that there is a good level of ‘proper’ competition in age-group events. My goal is to win a medal at a national triathlon championship at some distance or other. That will be difficult but possible for me this year or next.

What advice would you give PRs?
The advice would be to understand the motivations of the blogger they are contacting. Some of us do it for fun, some for freebies and some for money. If your pitch to me is that you want 500 words and original photographs syndicated over all my channels in exchange for a free pair of running socks, then perhaps you might want to reflect on how much you are paid and how much of my free time you are requesting.

Do you accept press releases?
Yes. I probably look at all I receive. I probably act on 5% of them. That would be the 5% that are either of interest to me or to my readership.

What’s the best collaboration you’ve worked on with a brand or PR?
I can think of generous brands/PRs, stingy ones and I can think of prestigious ones. The BEST collaborations are those where the PR can respond quickly and intelligently to requests to clarify facts.

What are your favourite blogs?
I have a web dashboard thingy that brings up new content as the blogs that I follow produce it. It’s very much informational/transactional for me. I don’t really enjoy them. Only a very small number that I follow tend to inject an element of personality into what they do but not enough for me to call them my favourite. My favourite channel would be the GCN channel for cyclists on YouTube.

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The runner beans

Spotlight with the No. 1 Running blog: The Runner Beans

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Charlie Watson writes The Runner Beans, which was recently ranked as the number one running blog in the UK, a title it’s held for years. Charlie has been blogging her passion for running since 2011 and now runs around the world – this year she’s running three marathons!

We caught up with Charlie to find out how important running gear is, the rise of Instagram and how she works with PRs.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
It’s a tricky one – I think it depends who I am talking to (and their age!). I tell a lot of people that I ‘have a blog and Instagram’ whereas to the older generation I often say I’m a ‘freelance writer’.

How does social media feed into your blog – are any channels more important?
Yes, my Instagram is so helpful for driving traffic (through the swipe up feature) to my blog. I would say that recently brands are more keen on doing collaborations on Instagram and Instagram stories, with the other social and blog as supplementary channels.

How important is the right clothing/gear for running?
There is NOTHING worse than running 20+ miles in shorts that ride up/fall down, a sports bra that chafes and shoes that give you blisters. I’ve tried and tested enough shorts that I’ve found the right pairs for me (I love lululemon Track and Train and Oiselle pocket joggers), and I won’t wear anything other than Triumph Triaction sports bras.

What’s your favourite pair of trainers?
I just bought myself another pair of the Nike Vaporfly 4% for my marathon in November – there’s something so light and bouncy about them that make you feel like you’re flying.

The runner beans

Where’s the best place to run in the world?
For me it’s anywhere near water – I love the Thames towpath in west London from Putney to Richmond, but equally love running on the coast when abroad, or in Central Park in New York.

How many races do you compete in a year?
I’ve honestly never counted – but I do know that this year I’ll run three marathons!

What advice would you give PRs?
Don’t send blanket emails – engage with the blogger and target them with the right product for them. Understand how they work and it will create a more symbiotic relationship for everyone.

Do you accept press releases?
Yes – but again, when they have been targeted and personalised.

What’s the best collaboration you’ve worked on with a brand or PR?
I’ve worked on some incredible partnerships over the years, but most recently I am loving the partnerships that involve travel for races – like a recent partnership with Visit Savannah and the Savannah Women’s Half Marathon for the weekend, and the LA Marathon back in March.

What are your favourite blogs?
My favourite blogs are honest recaps, sharing fashion, fitness, recipes and real life – anything with beautiful photography but a sense of realness. I like A Foodie Stays Fit, Cat Meffan, Hello Fashion, Pumps and Iron, Fit Foodie Finds, Run to the Finish and so many others!

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Top 150 2019

PRWeek Top 150 2019 – who came out on top?

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PRWeek has published this year’s top 150 PR agencies – cue social media delight from the agencies that made it…

…and the sound of silence from those that didn’t quite make the cut for 2019…

 

…but will no doubt be back for 2020 to claim their places. Because growth is one of the big takeaways from this year’s list, despite industry woes including GDPR and the efficacy of social media. It’s been a difficult year for PRs, but one the industry rose to, with expansion in staff counts, and growth in revenue – the total for 2017’s list was £1.26bn. This year? £1.32bn.

The top slots are unchanged with the biggest players – Edelman, Weber Shandwick and Brunswick Group – still in first, second and third. The majority of the top 10 are very familiar; all but nine were in the top 10 last year, with only Havas PR conspicuous by its absence (Finsbury has moved up to take the spot).

Also familiar is the prominence of London-based agencies across this year’s swathe. But look at the new entries and you’ll find new bases, suggesting growth outside the capital – new locations include Hertfordshire (Sassy at 54), Winchester (BECG at 56), Manchester (Tangerine at 91), and Edinburgh (Stripe at 92).

The UK PR sector is on the up in 2019, with financial communication agencies enjoying a particularly successful period. Brunswick’s global deals, for example, were up 26.2% (according to the Mergermarket PR Advisors league table). A broader focus continues to bring success for the bigger agencies – Rachel Friend, chief executive of Weber Shandwick UK, attributes its growth to reach: ‘We are a very broad church; we are multi-disciplined, across B2B to corporate to consumer through to health. We probably flex a little bit more because we are full service.’

But flexing isn’t just for the top three – independents in the middle of the industry are able to adapt quickly to client demands, and make their way up the ladder.

‘Agencies that can come up with creative work […] are winning and we’re growing the market as a whole,’ said James Gordon-MacIntosh, co-founder of Hope&Glory, and he’s right – Hope&Glory rose five places this year, to 50.

Being able to revise and rework an approach or focus has been important for securing accounts over the last year, with competition furious in a climate of hesitancy from clients. Even a few industry giants felt the pinch – as PRWeek notes in its analysis of the figures, M&C Saatchi Public Relations saw its revenue and head count fall this year following its loss of two big accounts. Red Consultancy, Lansons and APCO Worldwide also faced a drop in revenue.

With agencies including Tulchan Communications (20), The Communications Store (21) and Exposure (26) hitting high in the line-up after being left out last year, this year’s results show that the landscape is open to change. Sure, the economy is uncertain and regulations are changing, but agencies across the UK are securing interesting work with their creativity and adaptability. And with all the change in this year’s list, who knows what agencies will be at the top in 2020.

What do the top agencies have in common? Access to the best products and tools, including the industry’s worst kept secret – the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service. 

Innocent blue drink

3 social media lessons from the Easter weekend

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We missed Monday PR Club, so for one week only we present Tuesday PR Club, with three very different examples of social media success and lessons for PRs from Twitter.  

1. Innocent’s Blue Drink

Over 10K likes and thousands of retweets and replies, Innocent is rocking wilful denial and baiting Twitter users into engagement. The company’s new drink, which is green, is called Bolt from the Blue and the drinks maker is claiming it’s the colour blue. Cue many thousands of people pointing out the obvious – it’s actually green.

But this drink isn’t called blue when it’s green by mistake, and Innocent has replied to hundreds of tweets correcting people who call it green.

Over…

…and over….

And over again…

What’s the lesson?
When you’ve built up a playful persona on Twitter, you can be playful with your audience and people don’t mind. Also – people love pointing out mistakes, and you can be sure of engagement if you make one.

UPDATE: We’ve received a request for a number of corrections from Innocent about some ‘errors’ in the above text. We’re delighted to update the post with the following:

 

2. M&S Mojito
Diane Abbot was snapped drinking from a can of Mojito from M&S on TFL’s Overground Line. The media picked up on the picture and it blew up on social media as Abbot was forced to apologise:

This may seem like a trivial matter but for M&S this was excellent coverage.

Many people started using the hashtag #IDrinkWithDiane and some even posted pictures of themselves enjoying alcoholic cans on the Underground. M&S didn’t even have to comment, all the work was done for them, and while Tesco tried to jump on the bandwagon – (the scamps):

The only real winner was M&S:

What’s the lesson?
Know when to comment and know when not to. But when a story breaks – and this story made headlines across nearly every major news site – make sure the rest of the business knows. Just because you’re not communicating publicly, doesn’t mean you can’t communicate internally and make sure your stock of ‘tinnies’ doesn’t run low…

 

3. A whole bunch of lessons
This is a bit of a cheat, like having three wishes from a genie and using one of them to wish for more wishes. But we came across a thread of excellent advice from Ben Jack Thomas, senior brand strategist at Twitter:

What’s the lesson?
When writing a listicle, find someone to do the heavy lifting for you.

 

Ready to launch the greatest social media campaign ever? Make sure you have the right tools for success. 

SheHearts

Luxury lifestyle blog spotlight: Laura Scott, SheHearts

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Laura Scott is the blogger behind SheHearts, the luxury lifestyle publication. Covering a huge range of subjects, from travel to beauty, Laura draws on her own experiences and SheHearts benefits from Laura’s expertise as a social media consultant. We spoke to Laura about living a luxury lifestyle, when she realised she had ‘made it’ and her advice for others.

How would you introduce SheHearts?
SheHearts is a luxury lifestyle publication run by myself and blog partner covering travel, fine dining, fashion, beauty and events, emphasising personalised experiences. Creating unique and in-depth features are incredibly important to our readership.

Creative thought goes into our content curation and editorial, it’s important that readers feel at home on SheHearts by providing personalised content people can relate too. SheHearts started off as a blog with the main foundation being ‘all things that I love’ and that is at the heart of the brand.

How did you go about setting up the luxury blog?
Being in social media consultancy, photography and PR, after organising a specialist event in London for a luxury client, a fellow blogger suggested I started my own blog and of course it had been at the back of my mind due to my love of photography, editorial and social media. I started off as I meant to go on, if I’m going to create anything, the heart has to be authentic, personalised and photography-driven. Telling a story through the use of image is a powerful tool, where passion shines there’s truth, and for me that happened to be in unique and luxury experiences in any aspect of life. SheHearts was born.

When did you start getting invites to events?
Being in social media consultancy for many years, I created events so I had a knowledge of how things worked. It was through my own events I met other industry connections and in turn got invited to their events. I’m incredibly thankful to have met many inspiring individuals through SheHearts and my profession.

How much of your content is paid-for collaborations?
It’s truly dependant on the project and nature of the collaboration.

SheHearts 2019 When did you know you’d made it?
When it comes to any aspect of business what is important in terms of success isn’t just about income, but authenticity – set out to be yourself and to inspire others. Personally, for me having the opportunity to work on a one-on-one basis with couture luxury fashion designers, management in the luxury hotel and food industry and creating unique and in-depth visual features makes me feel accomplished.

Some highlights: A personalised tour around The Ritz London and having a menu created for us by executive chef, John Williams MBE was an honour. Interviewing and collaborating with international designer Omar Mansoor has been wonderful and supporting Top Model where Omar showcases his work. Top Model also supports the charity Children with Cancer so it’s wonderful supporting a fantastic cause.

How do you balance blogging and personal life – do you find you always have to be on?
When it comes to lifestyle I treat each experience as such, life is all about balance and taking time to embrace special moments.

What’s your favourite luxury?
Cherished moments and unique experiences with brands, for example when warmth shines through in terms of hospitality during travel/hotel review collaborations in turn creates fond memories for me to promote to my readership. Personalisation goes a long way and hospitality is important. Dining experiences with welcoming touches adds appeal, and brands who enjoy creating personalised experiences are just wonderful.

What advice do you have for luxury brands who want to work with bloggers like you?
Reach out and talk, communication is key and great collaborations are always a result of purpose-driven conversation. Adapting is also important and being flexible to create something truly unique is important. Just be friendly as I absolutely love talking to people and getting to know the heart of their company or brand. Creating on-going relationships is personally important, I love reviewing conceptual change and developing relationships with companies who truly love building trusted friendships in a digital space.

What advice would you give someone who is just starting their blog?
Create a blog for the sheer purpose of creating something you love personally, talk about what you truly enjoy and you will relate to others. Be yourself and don’t compare, enjoy your creativity. Your blog is your online space online to express through digital expression.

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Lush Ltd

Is Lush building its own social network?

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Lush hit the headlines last week when it announced the closure of its main UK social media accounts. The announcement claimed social media is ‘making it harder and harder for us to talk to each other directly’, the company is ‘tired of fighting with algorithms’ and Lush doesn’t want to ‘pay to appear in your newsfeed’.

Its plan is to highlight more voices, and some have read this as more influencer marketing, but that still requires a reliance on existing social media channels whether the company is using them directly or not. On the announcement to quit social media, Lush encouraged people to engage directly via live website chat, email or phone.

Within 24 hours, most major news sites, both mainstream and trade, had picked up the story in what’s undeniably a publicity win for a company that doesn’t spend money on traditional advertising. Unfortunately many of the stories focused on how confused Lush customers were by the news – like this story from the Mirror – with many suggesting that Lush’s target audience are unlikely to call, chat or email the company.

While there is likely to be a bigger plan to come (more on that in a moment), this is half an announcement. Without explaining the ‘What’s next’ part of ‘we’re quitting social media’, many have been left in the dark. To some, this tease may be exciting and the intrigued superfans will be on tenterhooks. But in the age of social media, where attention spans are measured in seconds, this tactic is also likely to lose members of its audience who lack the patience for a protracted stunt.

Not everyone is against the move though, Lush has a fan in David Parkinson, managing director of Brave & Heart who, writing for The Drum claims to have considered this type of move for many of his clients. He says: ‘For several global clients, my agency has looked at similar strategies […] we have started to think beyond the platform and back to the purpose and the people. Asking “who?”, “why?” and “where?”, not just “what?” and “when?”.

‘This is why a brand the size of Lush gets my thumbs up; its big enough for people to take notice, small enough to have the chops to do it.’

Signs of a new network
On the surface it may seem like a baffling move for a company such as Lush, for whom social media engagement seems to come easily for both its products and ethical campaigns. And it’s that level of content engagement that Lush won’t want to lose, which is why the final line of the announcement points at more to come: ‘This isn’t the end, it’s just the start of something new. #LushCommunity – see you there.’

The accompanying image says Lush is ‘switching up social’ – not abandoning it. Clarity can perhaps be found in the company’s annual report, which was published the week before this announcement. The report highlights a growth in online sales and the claim that it is ‘optimistic that our new global website launch will help generate further growth’.

The company is investing heavily in its ‘digital estate’, which is being created to ensure a ‘safe haven for our Lush communities online’. It is continuing to focus on ‘developing features in beta, an evolving brand led commerce experience online’. Beta.lush.com, or #LUSHLABS, is already open to UK customers with plans for it to roll out globally by the end of June.

At the moment the site is ‘by invitation only’ and encourages registered users to ‘invite collaborators’. Users – who have to create an account – will ‘hear it here first’ with ‘early-bird content reveals and news’.

The homepage finishes with the line ‘Want to know a secret? By joining you’re helping us build a new Lush platform. Lush has always been a community-led company. Lush Labs is the next step in putting your feedback at the front and centre’.

An online community with free-flowing engagement for registered users? Sounds like a social network to me.

What do you think of Lush’s move? Tempted to quit the Gram or leave Facebook? We’re still on social media so let us know your thoughts on Twitter @Vuelio.

Your guide to local elections

Your Guide to Local Elections

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This year, local elections will take place on 2 May and thousands of councillors will be elected across the country.

No every council is having an election – in England its split as follows:

  • 33 metropolitan district councils electing by thirds
  • 116 district councils holding whole council elections
  • 53 district councils electing by thirds
  • 30 unitary authorities holding whole council elections
  • 17 unitary authorities electing by thirds
  • Elections are also being held in many areas for parish, town, community, neighbourhood and village councils

In addition, local elections are being held for all 11 local authorities in Northern Ireland.

Local councils are vital to public relations and public affairs and any organisation working with an audience at a local or regional level.

Vuelio has published Your Guide to Local Elections, which breaks down what different councils and councillors do, the local election timeline, the rules around purdah and the biggest future issues facing councils.

As local councils are responsible for a broad range of services – from education, libraries and highways to local planning, council tax and rubbish collection – few comms teams can afford to ignore them.

Download the guide here.

CIPR Energy ELP

CIPR’s ELP to shine a spotlight on strategic PR at World Energy Congress

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CIPR‘s Energy Leadership Platform is preparing to highlight the importance of targeted public relations to a worldwide audience of energy industry experts and decision makers. September’s World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi will offer the energy think tank an opportunity to show off the advantages of smart strategies in a sector tasked with great change.

The CIPR ELP team is made up of communications professionals working within the energy industry, including co-chair Ella Minty. For her, the upcoming opportunity is vital: ‘The energy industry is, undisputedly, the most risk-averse and risk-aware in the world. To be given the chance to demonstrate, through practical examples and in various sessions, the importance and standing of PR to and for this fascinating sector is an absolute privilege and honour.’

Compounding the privilege is the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between CIPR’s Deputy CEO Phil Morgan and CEO of the United Arab Emirates National Committee of the World Energy Council, H.E. Eng. Fatima Al Foora Al Shamsi. The signatories are impressive, but so is the size of the potential audience the ELP will be talking to, with 2016’s conference reaching 7,000 delegates from 100 countries.

‘The PR industry is stepping out of its usual echo chambers and engaging with those who use our services,’ said Minty of the ELP’s involvement in World Energy Congress’ 24th event. ‘It is to our clients and employers we need to articulate and demonstrate the value of PR as a strategic management function.’

Communicating the risks and changes happening across the energy sector is a practical support the PR industry can offer to the World Energy Council’s audience of experts and world leaders. And with ‘Energy for Prosperity’ as the theme for this year’s gathering, CIPR’s continuing work on bringing PR and the energy sector together could pay off in clearer communications in what can be a technically complicated space, and a move towards smarter strategies for longevity. Not just longevity for light bulbs, hybrid cars or PR firms looking for new sectors to work in, but, well, us. Everyone. Living long(ish), and prosper(ing), hopefully. With some good PR opportunities along the way, naturally…

Dannii Martin HHH

Foodie blogger spotlight: Dannii Martin, Hungry Healthy Happy

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Hungry Healthy Happy was created in 2011 by Dannii Martin as a place to share delicious and healthy recipes as she embarked on her weight loss journey. Recently ranked as the number one food blog (once again), Hungry Healthy Happy is also a top recipe book alongside an expanding library of books by Dannii.

We caught up with Dannii to find out about the growth of food blogging, the joy of avocado and how she likes to work with brands.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
I create recipes that show healthy food doesn’t have to boring and how to sneak in extra veg, then share those recipes on the internet. I also write books.

How does social media feed into your blog – are any channels more important?
Social media makes me feel connected to our audience. It’s a great way to communicate with them, hear what they like and want to see more of, and get feedback. We use it as a way to show the behind-the-scenes of the blog too. Instagram stories are our favourite, as there is a great community there.

What’s your favourite ingredient and why?
Avocado! I have a bit of a reputation for being avocado obsessed. But in terms of an ingredient to make recipes with, then maybe Greek yoghurt. It’s such a great healthier substitute in creamy sauces.

Can you tell the difference between a food fad and a genuine culture shift?
Yes, and I think there has been a massive culture shift recently. Everyone has left ‘clean eating’ behind and there is much more interest and focus on a healthy balanced diet without cutting anything out and we love that.

What’s the best course in a meal?
The main course. It’s the main for a reason.

Food & Drink was revealed as a supersector in the UK Bloggers Survey – how do you feel it fits in to the broader blogosphere?
The food and drink blogger category is huge now and pretty over saturated. Anyone that can cook and write can set up a food blog and that’s definitely not a bad thing. But very few people stand out. You have to be offering something other people aren’t.

The survey revealed that bloggers post less frequently, is that your experience?
Yes, because SO much more work goes in to a blog post now. SEO is (or should be) the main focus of a blogger now and gone are the days of being able to write and publish a blog post in 30 minutes. It takes a day or two to create one post now – to create professional quality photos, edit, write and then all the keyword research that goes alongside it. We try to post twice a week and then really dedicate time to each post – it’s only fair to the brands we work with to.

Do you accept PR press releases?
Yes, however it would be helpful if they also said what they were looking for. Like, do they want to collaborate or are they just looking for free advertising?

How do you choose which PRs and brands to work with?
The brand has to be a good fit for our audience – that is the most important thing for us. Our readers trust us and trust that the products we promote are only things we really believe in and would use ourselves. We have some great relationships with PRs that we have worked with many times over the past few years, which is great because they know how we work and we know what they are looking for.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
I don’t think it would be fair to single out one brand, but the best collaborations for us is when there is a clear brief from the beginning. So, there is not going backwards and forwards with drafts and re-dos for weeks because the brief has changed. We appreciate that sometimes things do change but making it as clear as can be from the start helps.

Also, it helps to know if brands want licensing from the beginning, rather than that being sprung on us after the post has gone live and we have to change the fee.

Ultimately, the best collaborations are ones that are a little bit different too. That allows us to have some creative freedom to do something we know will be popular with our readers.

What other blogs do you read?
I read a lot of American blogs, because blogging over there is way ahead of the UK in terms of brand collaborations and professionalism. Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing UK blogs, but there are a lot of inspiring US blogs like Pinch of Yum and Half Baked Harvest.

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Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

Wedding blogger spotlight: Louise Baltruschat Hollis, Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

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Louise Baltruschat Hollis is the face behind Whimsical Wonderland Weddings, which has once again been named in the Top 10 UK Wedding Blogs. Covering DIY tips, inspirational editorials and real-life wedding stories, Whimsical Wonderland Weddings has been a key part of the wedding blogosphere since it was created in 2010.

We caught up with Louise to find out why any time of year is perfect to get married, the importance of going with your gut and working on creative with PRs and brands.

How does social media feed into your blog – are any channels more important?
Social media has always been crucial to our blog. In the beginning it was all about Twitter before moving onto Facebook, then Pinterest and now Instagram. Instagram and Pinterest are definitely where we see the most engagement and both platforms bring something totally unique.

When’s the best time of year to get married?
I think any time of the year can be perfect to get married. Each season brings something different, from festive cosy winter weddings to fresh bright spring weddings and golden light filled autumn weddings. Summer is always popular for weddings in the UK, with longer days and hopefully more sunshine. It really depends on what makes your heart sing.

Where’s the best wedding location in the UK today?
I love that more and more couples are thinking outside of the box when it comes to wedding venues. We have featured more and more couples trying the knot in a legal ceremony beforehand, leaving them free to have a ceremony or blessing wherever they wish. I myself did this and got married in the woods, so I am a little bias towards woodland weddings.

What advice would you give people planning their wedding?
Go with your gut, always. I think it’s really important to sit down together and really work out what is important to the both of you and include your personalities as much as possible. Don’t be afraid to ditch any traditions that don’t work for you too.

Wedding themes: yes or no?
Wedding themes can be so fun. We’ve featured lots of different wedding themes over the years, although we have also featured more and more weddings without any theme. Matchy matchy colour themes seem to have been less popular with our readers in recent years and we’ve seen more mix and match styles, which always works wonderfully.

The UK Bloggers Survey revealed that bloggers post less frequently, is this your experience?
I have reduced our blogging schedule slightly over the years. So I really focus on quality content rather than quantity. Saying that, we still blog at least once each and every day.

Do you accept PR press releases?
We receive many PR releases. Some are more targeted to our readership than others. If I think our brands are well aligned I will reach out to see if the brand would like to work together.

How do you choose which PRs and brands to work with?
I only work with brands which totally capture my attention, in terms of product and service. I will also take time to look at their reviews as we only work with brands with the highest quality and a top notch reputation. It’s important I love the product or service on offer so that it is a genuine and authentic recommendation.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
I think my favourite collaborations have been with brands we have worked really closely with to create a wide-ranging campaign. With imagery and styling by me, and blog and social media coverage too.

What other blogs do you read?
I read a wide range of blogs, at the moment I am into interiors as we are renovating our home. Roses and Rolltops has been a long term fave of mine.

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Online Harms white paper

Reaction to Government proposals to tackle ‘online harms’

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The Government has published a white paper that proposes a new regulator to oversee and enforce a ‘statutory duty of care’ by online tech companies. Enforcement includes the ability to issue ‘substantial fines’ and to ‘impose liability on individual members of senior management’.

The detailed white paper proposals draw a particular focus to terrorist activity and child sexual exploitation and abuse online, and say the Home Secretary would have final sign-off on the codes of practice that govern these harms. In what may be seen as a big threat to social and search giants’ proprietary practices, the proposals also call for the regulator to have the ability to see the impact of algorithms in selecting content for users.

This white paper comes off the back of Mark Zuckerberg calling for government regulation of the internet – and though cynics may suggest a tech boss requesting specific regulation is not as wholesome as it appears, ‘harmful content’ is an area he wants more regulation over. Of course, having read the Government’s white paper, Zuckerberg may now regret inviting this in to his company’s ethos.

Reaction to the proposals has been mixed, with many questioning the ethics of Government intervention in online spaces in what could be perceived as an attack on free speech. The fact the white paper claims it has a vision for ‘a free, open and secure internet’ with ‘freedom of expression online’, seems in many ways to directly contradict the requirement for tech companies to actively remove harmful content.

The Guardian has summarised many of the fears around the proposals here, which includes the line, ‘critics say online harms white paper could lead to North Korean-style censorship’.

These concerns were reflected across Twitter:

Though the voices in the media may not fully reflect the public’s perception (imagine), as this Martin Lewis Twitter poll suggests:

It’s very possible that the high-profile stories of tech giants and social platforms accused of failing their users, such as in the death of Molly Russell, have perhaps permeated the public’s collective conscience more than the media’s ingrained fear of Government censorship.

In PR land, the reaction has not been as strong, which is perhaps surprising as media concerns are typically comms concerns. The difficulties of strongly taking one side (Government potentially threatening freedom of speech) against another (we want children to be safe online) is summed up by the PRCA’s director general, Francis Ingham; he said: ‘The Online Harms White Paper builds on the political consensus around online safety, public concern, and the need to “rebuild” public confidence. The question of online platform regulation touches on sensitive subjects such as freedom of speech and our shared desire to keep people (especially children) safe online.

‘The devil is in the detail here and the Government itself argues that voluntary action from the industry has not “gone far enough”. While most people would support the intentions behind this White Paper, if all of these online harms are not clearly defined then the consequence would be far larger than intended.’

The CIPR similarly highlights that in theory this white paper is a positive step to protect people online but that any regulation must also allow tech companies to operate freely, a tightrope balancing act. Jon Gerlis, CIPR senior policy office, said: ‘This Paper is a welcome addition to the conversation around tackling the ills of harmful online content and the spread of disinformation online. The paper accepts that self-regulation has failed.

‘It is therefore right that the law addresses this in a way that allows it to keep pace with advances in the digital world and ensure tech companies operate freely but regulated to a clear set of standards expected of any other kind of business.’

What do you think of the regulation? Long overdue to keep people safe or the end of freedom of speech? Let us know on Twitter @Vuelio.

Sarah Anguish

Mummy blogger spotlight: Sarah Anguish, Boo Roo and Tigger Too

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Sarah Anguish is the mummy blogger behind Boo Roo and Tigger Too, which was recently ranked in the Top 10 UK Mummy Blogs. Sarah told us about focusing on the bigger picture, the best thing about being a mum and working with brands and PRs in an honest and open way.

How has your blog changed in the last year?
Towards the end of last year, I found myself feeling somewhat overwhelmed by attempting to juggle too many plates. Saying yes to things for the fear of saying no and never getting future opportunities with that brand or PR. I took some time off over Christmas and New Year to reassess things and have adopted a better work/life balance this year. I’ve also focused on different topic areas to bring out regular content, such as parenting, family travel and fun recipe ideas for families.
 
How does social media feed into your blog – are any channels more important?
While I was away over the festive break last year I decided to take a look at my social media channels. In an ideal work I would be able to rock them all and engage with followers on each platform, but that isn’t something that I am able to manage at the moment. So, I opted to see which platforms give me the most enjoyment and work from there. Instagram has been the platform I have been giving the most focus to this year. And instead of trying to copycat others or play the follow/unfollow game, I am adding a micro post alongside a snapshot each day. Sometimes I’m chatting about a family day out that we’ve enjoyed or grumbling that it’s Monday again.

Boo roo and tigger too

What’s the perfect Mother’s Day?
Mother’s Day isn’t about the gifts for me, it’s about the children recognising all the things that I do for them throughout the year. From playing mum taxi, juggling 101 after school activities, ensuring they have all the supplies they need for school/clubs etc. Alongside the everyday tasks as cooking, cleaning, washing etc. Knowing that they are thankful for this is priceless.

What’s the best thing about being a mum?
Unlimited cuddles, no matter whether it is one to offer them support or comfort. The ones at the school gates that they don’t really want to do in front of their friends. Or the ones that caught you by surprise because they just wanted to give you a cuddle.

What advice would you give new mothers?
Take each moment as it comes, rather than focusing on the bigger picture. There will be trying times ahead but try not to dwell on how long it has taken to get your little one to fall asleep, feed or the fact that you are still wearing the same pyjamas from three days ago. Focusing on that task at hand, changing a nappy, bath time or running to the toilet uninterrupted will give you lots of tiny wins throughout the day.

The UK Bloggers Survey revealed Parenting as a supersector – how do you feel parenting fits into the broader blogosphere?
The parent blogging community has grown so much since I started blogging almost eight years ago. Parent bloggers are able to offer support and advice to parents (new or seasoned ones) that they might not have in real-life or are not willing to ask their friends and loved ones.

Boo roo and tigger too

The Survey also revealed that bloggers post less frequently – is this your experience?
I think that just as in life, blogging and bloggers have peaks and troughs when it comes to producing content. There will always be times when there are lots of things to share and times when life gets in the way and you aren’t able to post as frequently as you’d like.

Do you accept PR press releases?
I receive a number of press releases each week and while they might not be relevant to me or to my blog, they can be intriguing to read. It’s a very privileged position to be able to find out details of new products, events and activities ahead of time.

How do you choose which PRs and brands to work with?
I always look to see whether that brand, product or event would work for our family and something that would interest my readers. There are some amazing brands and PRs out there who value bloggers honesty in saying, ‘Thank you, unfortunately, this campaign isn’t suitable for me because of XYZ’, rather than accepting something because you want to work with that brand/PR and it not really being relevant to you or audience.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
A few years ago we were selected as the family to represent the UK at the Disneyland Paris 25th anniversary celebrations; a surreal weekend of discovering all that Disneyland Paris has to offer families. We enjoyed the celebrations and standing in front of the iconic Sleeping Beauty’s castle with Mickey Mouse.

What other blogs do you read?
I’m an old-fashioned blog reader, still missing the days of Google Reader where I was able to scroll through the list of posts published that day from across the blogging community. Thankfully, my Bloglovin app allows me to continue to do this and I like to scroll through to see what catches my eye as well as keeping up-to-date with some of the bloggers who have now become firm friends.

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supersector collaboration pay

These 5 supersectors can’t afford to ignore influencer marketing

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Influencer marketing is growing rapidly, with more professionals entering the industry and partnering with PRs and brands on collaborations. The Vuelio UK Bloggers Survey 2019 has revealed five supersectors that dominate influencer marketing both in terms of the number of influencers, and the number of PR pitches they’re receiving every week.

Lifestyle, Fashion & Beauty, Parenting, Food & Drink and Travel account for around two-thirds of all blogs. While Fashion & Beauty is in decline, Parenting, Food & Drink and Travel have all seen increases since 2016 and cannot be ignored by businesses and organisations in those respective sectors.

Age groups
The Survey reveals that different age groups specialise in different categories. Those aged 18-24 typically focus on Lifestyle and Fashion & Beauty; 25-34 year-olds focus on Lifestyle and Parenting; 25-54 year-olds cover all categories, but Parenting is the most popular; 55-64 year-olds are most likely to cover Food & Drink and Travel; and over 65s are most likely to cover Food & Drink.

Reflecting the broader blogsphere, four of the five supersectors are dominated by women, with only Travel having an even male/female split.

Pay

supersector blog post payThe Survey also contains information on pay across the supersectors, the first time this information has been reported on such a scale.

When it comes to individual blog posts, Fashion & Beauty and Food & Drink are mostly likely to command the top pay of over £1,000, while Parenting appears to be the most standardised supersector, as 48% charge between £101-£250 per post. This reflects the maturity of Parenting, which found its feet early on and has developed a strong influencer community.

When it comes to collaborations, Parenting is again the most standardised with 40% receiving between £100-£250. This reflects that many campaigns in the Parenting supersector are one-off single posts, which is why there isn’t a great deal of discrepancy between pay for posts and pay for collaborations.

Fashion & Beauty and Travel, on the other hand, show a much higher percentage of those paid in the top bracket (over £1,000) for collaborations compared to single posts. For Travel, this is not surprising – it’s very difficult to engage a travel influencer for a single post when trips typically take place across multiple days. These numbers also suggest Fashion & Beauty PRs and brands are reaping the benefits of long term collaborations.

Why does long term work?
While single posts can be effective, long-term multi-post collaborations makes influencers into ambassadors for your brand. It requires more work and typically more investment, but most influencers have loyal, regular audiences who are more likely to buy into your brand and messaging if exposed to it over a long period of time.

If you do want to work on long-term collaborations, building and maintaining the right relationships with the right people is the most important part of the process. Rather than blanket emailing a large number of individuals in the right sector, you need to carefully handpick the right people and understand why they’re the perfect fit before you send the first email. Using the Vuelio Influencer Database – the most comprehensive source of influencers, which includes detailed profiles – gives you a head start and takes the work out of research.

Do you work in a supersector? What’s your approach to influencer marketing? Let us know on Twitter @Vuelio. 

State of the profession CIPR 2019

PR is not diverse enough – results from CIPR’s State of the Profession 2019

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The results from this year’s State of the Profession survey from the CIPR reveal that PR firms are getting bigger but alongside the greater headcounts, they also contain gender imbalance, mental health issues triggered by high workloads and unfair advantages for those who come from a paid-for education background.

The CIPR’s survey of 1,503 members showed that PR departments are more likely to have grown in size, with half of the agencies getting bigger. It’s a positive sign for the importance and value of PR, but there are greater concerns among the workforce.

The PR workforce is less diverse this year, with more than one in ten (92%) classifying themselves as white – up from the 88% in 2018. When it comes to gender equality, two-thirds (67%) of the industry identify as female, yet almost half (44%) of the most senior roles are occupied by men. To add to issues of unfair advantage in the world of PR, a quarter of this survey’s respondents went to fee-paying schools – much higher than the national average (7%).

As for how the industry’s unique pressures impact its workers, this survey found a level of disconnect between what firms expect of their employees versus the skills people believe are actually important for their roles. Junior practitioners, for example, don’t identify ‘technical and digital’, ‘research and evaluation’ or ‘project and account management’ skills as strengths, whereas recruiters do.

A more serious disconnect, however, is the continuing difference between the demands of the job and the workloads people can manage while remaining healthy.

Over half (59%) of respondents classed a heavy or unmanageable workload as a factor for workplace stress, with 46% highlighting unrealistic deadlines and expectations, and 32% find the unsociable hours a problem. Nearly a quarter (23%) said they had taken absence from work due to stress, anxiety or depression, and 14% rated the contribution of work on their diagnosed condition as significant. How the industry supports workers with stress-related mental health issues could also be cause for concern – 23% said managers did ‘nothing’ when informed of the problem.

Those working all-hours won’t be surprised by all these numbers, maybe they won’t even have time to read them, but there are also encouraging statistics to be found in the CIPR report. Of the staff with mental health concerns related to their career – 36% said they were offered counselling after talking to their managers, 28% time off and 19% re-allocation of workload.

CIPR President Emma Leech, said: ‘This report identifies clear challenges and opportunities for the PR industry. Diversity is an issue we must tackle head on. Talent doesn’t have a postcode and it isn’t determined by skin colour. Our industry has to work harder to be inclusive. Similarly, mental health is a growing area of concern and we must be proactive in changing working practices and shifting the ‘always on’ culture that contributes to the problem.’

Avril Lee, chair of the CIPR Diversity and Inclusion Forum, said: ‘The PR industry agrees that diversity is important for attracting the best talent to bring fresh thinking, creativity and insights into new audiences, but our actions speak louder than our words. And our actions are building a profession of white, ex-public-school professionals; we are less diverse than in previous years.

‘Who can make our industry a fairer place where there is opportunity for all? You! Every manager, every employee, every agency leader – we all need to challenge outdated and biased recruitment and retention policies. We are all responsible for shaping the future of our industry by establishing workplace cultures in which all talent is judged fairly and given an equal opportunity for progression. Without those inside changing the status quo, those outside will remain locked out and our profession will be the poorer for it.’

As the CIPR report states, the numbers may ‘paint a picture of a profession which lacks self-awareness and consciously or unconsciously disadvantages people based on who they are rather than what they can do,’ but this is an industry in the process of self-correcting. Surveys like this can only help with gaining greater insight for the support of those already in PR, and with the improvement of hiring practices for those who could do great work as part of the industry in the future.

Emmy's mummy and Harry's too

Mummy blogger spotlight: Clare Nicholas, Emmy’s Mummy and Harry’s Too!

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Clare Nicholas is the author of Emmy’s Mummy and Harry’s Too! a Top 10 UK Mummy Blog. A former nanny, Clare covers life with her two children and posts reviews, activities and competitions on her blog. We caught up with Clare to find out what’s best about being a mum, setting up a YouTube channel for her daughter and working with brands and PRs.

How has your blog changed in the last year?
It’s continued to grow from strength to strength, although I have also launched a second blog to start getting back to writing for me again. Starting from scratch again was a little daunting though and I certainly need to add more hours into my day.

How does social media feed into your blog – are any channels more important?
This year I’ve taken more of a focus on growing and improving my Instagram content and followers. I’ve dipped my toes into IG stories and love interacting with my followers over there. My goal for this year is to hit 10k and gain that much wanted swipe up.

I have turned YouTube over to my daughter. Emmy has been desperate for her own channel and has a love of watching Vlogs. She now has her own channel and she’s working hard (with my help) on adding content over there.

What’s the perfect Mother’s Day?
I’ve actually just written about this one and as much as I adore and love my kids, a day to myself would be amazing. No cooking, cleaning or breaking up fights.

What’s the best thing about being a mum?
It’s a dream come true for me, there were years when I didn’t actually think it would happen for me, but I didn’t give up that dream and it was fourth time lucky.

I love everything about being a mum, but the best times are those sleepy times when they sneak into my bed and all they want is a cuddle with mum.

What advice would you give new mothers?
Take any help offered and there is no right or wrong way to do things. Work out what works for you and trust your instincts.

The UK Bloggers Survey revealed Parenting as a supersector – how do you feel parenting fits in to the broader blogosphere?
While it may be the largest sector, many start out as parenting bloggers to document their children’s milestones (which is what I did) before finding their niche and moving onto with something completely different or combining it with crafts, travel or even cooking alongside.

Parenting blogs can help others from feeling alone, they help to show other parents that their problems are normal, that we all get stressed and can help to relieve the boredom of a 3am feed. They can be a mix of factual and humorous and make for more entertaining reading than a textbook in those lonelier times.

The Survey also revealed that bloggers post less frequently – is this your experience?
I guess it depends on the age of their children. Those with young babies may find it harder to find the time to post but as my children are older I post more frequently than I ever have done. I struggled with posting when the kids were home and young and could only do so in the evenings, but now they are in full time school I’ve no excuse not to find the time.

Do you accept PR press releases?
I do and I try my hardest to reply to all of them, posting which are relevant and forming a relationship with the PRs at the same time. Not all fit our family but it takes two minutes to reply and say why it’s not a good fit and by doing so it helps to build an ongoing relationship for future work.

How do you choose which PRs and brands to work with?
They have to be something we would use or the kids enjoy, gone are the days of saying yes to every review that was pitched to me.

They need to be in keeping with our family feel so gambling is a no-no and payday loans etc won’t feature.

I’m open to suggestions on many topics and can easily turn my hand to writing within my own style to fit what the brand wants if the price is right.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
Attending the red-carpet premiere of the BFG remains my all-time favourite event. Of course, we love working with various travel companies on holiday reviews, the press launch of the Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas was amazing and working with Merlin Annual Pass was possibly the kids’ favourite.

What other blogs do you read?
I struggle to find time to read many any more sadly but The Oliver’s Madhouse, written by my good friend Jaime, hits my inbox weekly as I don’t see enough of her and her lovely boys,

Whinge Whinge Wine also gets my vote. Written by the lovely Fran, every post has me giggling out loud.

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UK Bloggers Survey 2019 – The Results

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The definitive UK Bloggers Survey reveals the rising number of professional bloggers, how PRs should be measuring collaboration success and how much bloggers charge for posts.

Our special guests Lloyd Griffiths and Yaya Onalaja-Aliu from Hand Luggage Only and Elle Linton from Keep it simpElle are joining us to take us through the survey results and give a unique insight into their lives as bloggers, how they’re working with brands and PRs and how they engage with influencer marketing.

Vuelio Bloggers Survey 2019 Webinar

Pre-R

Creative PR? It’s child’s play

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Vuelio is delighted to announce the launch of a brand-new PR agency, staffed exclusively by children. Pre-R will be run by primary school children and focus on creative PR and publicity.  

The fully integrated Vuelio platform helps users identify, understand and engage with their audiences – all they need is great ideas. ‘We have implausibly wondrous campaign concepts but have never before been trusted to enact them at an agency level’, said Pre-R’s surprisingly articulate CEO, Avril Falls, aged 7¾. ‘Thanks to Vuelio, we can focus on what’s important – creativity, building relationships and communication’.

While Vuelio is a software platform, it felt there was a gap in the market for a new kind of agency, one where creativity was championed in its purest, most innocent, form. The company is working in partnership with a local school, St MacGuffin’s Primary School for Creative Children, and has made Pre-R’s office in Mrs Sham’s classroom, 2S.

The staff start their morning with a glass of milk and there’s a group nap after story time in the afternoon. Pre-R’s office manager Bo Gus, 6½, said: ‘I imagine you’re all thinking, “oh great, another hipster agency starting their day with milk and having afternoon naps”, but loads of the staff get cranky if they don’t stick to their routine’.

When it’s time for work, the children at Pre-R come up with a creative campaign then use Vuelio to identify stakeholders, whether it’s journalists, editors and producers; bloggers, vloggers and social influencers; or even MPs, their staff and local councillors. They connect with them through the platform and then track the coverage with media monitoring to see the results in real time.

‘Real-time monitoring makes a huge difference and because Vuelio is integrated, the coverage is automatically linked back to our releases’, said Senior Account Manager May Dup, nearly 7. ‘It’s a real rush when you can prove you’re responsible for Tinky Winky mentioning a client, especially as the Tubbies don’t actually speak!’.

When it’s time to report back to clients, advanced analytics automatically create graphs and charts proving successful ROI and Canvas allows them to share all their success in one place, with one link.

‘I’m probably biased, but it really is child’s play’, Dup continued. ‘Vuelio is so easy to use, we can finally put our imagination to good use’.

Though the agency has only officially launched today, 1 April, they already have a number of clients on board, keen to work with the latest in creative PR.

‘Our clients are all keen to get publicity today, and while one of our account managers wanted the first campaign to be about dinosaurs, we’re probably looking at doing something for April Fool’s, considering that’s now our birthday’, Falls said, ‘We just hope everyone takes the joke in the right way’.

For more information on Pre-R, and to replicate its success with the latest in PR and communications software, get in touch with Vuelio.

Harriet Shearsmith Toby and Roo

Mummy blogging spotlight: Harriet Shearsmith, Toby & Roo

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Harriet Shearsmith is the award-winning mummy blogger behind Toby & Roo. Consistently ranked in the Top 10 UK Mummy Blogs, Harriet writes about family life with ‘crazy boys’ Reuben and Tobias and ‘dictator-like’ daughter Edith. With Mother’s Day on Sunday (don’t forget!), we caught up with Harriet to find out how to celebrate in the best way, advice for new mums and the importance of communication in collaborations.

How has your blog changed in the last year?
I feel that my focus has moved away from my blog and more into Instagram and social media content. I have cut back the amount I’m writing and trying to focus more on the style of content really resonating with me and my readership.

How does social media feed into your blog – are any channels more important?
Instagram is absolutely the most important channel for me, and the most important aspect of my career really. I think that my focus has moved across to it as a platform and I love that. I’m a very visual person so it works well for me.

What’s the perfect Mother’s Day?
Ohhhh breakfast in bed, snuggles on the sofa and maybe a cinema trip or something? Definitely a relaxed one! If they could all make sure the house is spotless then that would be EPIC!

Toby & Roo

What’s the best thing about being a mum?
Just having the honour of watching them develop into little people. All of mine are so different and I love that – it just goes to prove they are their own little people! It’s such a pleasure to see them change and I adore being a mum to these three beauties, even when it’s exhausting and overwhelming.

What advice would you give new mothers?
Don’t expect perfection! It isn’t going to happen – you will make mistakes and you should absolutely forgive yourself for it. I think taking each day as it comes it so important.

The UK Bloggers Survey revealed Parenting as a supersector – how do you feel parenting fits in to the broader blogosphere?
I think it’s incredibly important and a vital part of blogging that I hope never disappears! It’s not easy being a parent and there are a lot of times at 3am when I just felt so alone. I think from a mental health perspective, it’s so important to share our experiences, as a society we lack the community or ‘village’ that our parents perhaps had, so to be able to connect around these really busy lives we lead is massively important.

The Survey also revealed that bloggers post less frequently – is this your experience?
Absolutely! When I first started blogging I posted one to two times a day, every weekday. Short, snappy little posts, and then over time I would change to one a day and eventually I have whittled it down to much longer posts three times a week. To see how my blog has evolved is really interesting to me and while I don’t think that blogging is ever ‘dying out’ I do think it’s evolving and taking a slight back seat to social.

Do you accept PR press releases?
I do! I don’t mind press releases at all, sometimes you find something really interesting.

How do you choose which PRs and brands to work with?
PRs are usually taken care of by my team at Kameleon, however brands are all down to me. I have some things that just don’t fit with me or my ideals and therefore I won’t work with them. I’m not a fan of diet products so I avoid them like the plague, despite being asked on an almost daily basis if I would like to try one shake, or herbal treatment, or another. I feel like a brand has to fit with me, and if I am unsure of the brand I will Google them to try and work out if there is anything I think makes us incompatible.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
I’ve worked on so many amazing collabs that I truly have LOVED so it would be really hard to list just one! I think for me, anything that gives me a clear idea of the client expectations but a license to be creative is perfect. I love the flexibility to go back to a client and say that this would work better for my audience if we did this, or can I do XYZ to instead of ABC. It’s that communication!

What other blogs do you read?
I’ve come away from reading a lot of blogs lately and I tend to focus more on social media and engaging with people on there. I do LOVE Emily Leary from A Mummy Too – her recipes are amazing. I will be eagerly looking for recommendations!

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Twin mummy and daddy

Mummy blogging spotlight: Emily Higgins, Twin Mummy and Daddy

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Emily Higgins is behind Twin Mummy and Daddy, the mummy blog that recently joined the Top 10 UK Mummy Blogs for the first time. One half of a parent-blogging power couple (the other being DIY Daddy’s Nige), Emily writes about life with her two twins, from the IVF journey to everyday adventures.

We caught up with Emily to find out about the different social channels she uses, the perfect’s Mother’s Day and getting to know your kids.

How has your blog changed in the last year?
I don’t think my blog has changed much in the last year. So much has happened in my personal life from redundancy, my husband’s ill health, starting a new business, and now starting a new job, that I’ve just continued to plough on as normal with my blog. I have so many things I’d love to change in terms of blog layout and design, but I just haven’t had the time to do any of it.

How does social media feed into your blog – are any channels more important?
Social media is important in terms of my blog as it’s where most of my audience comes from, particularly Twitter and Facebook. I share all of my blog posts across social media so naturally it’s where most of my readers find my content.

What’s the perfect Mother’s Day?
A day spent with my children and husband doing pretty much anything together would be perfect. I’m not one for presents, flowers or chocolates etc. A homemade card, cuddles and time spent with my family is all I need.

What’s the best thing about being a mum?
Watching my children grow up into wonderful people. I think it’s amazing how they’ve grown from two tiny, premature babies into two strong, intelligent girls. They amaze me with their passion for learning, exploring the world we live in and just making the best out of any situation.

What advice would you give new mothers?
I think it’s so important for new mums and dads to allow themselves time to bond with their new baby. I know friends and family will be eager to meet the new arrival, but it can be very overwhelming to see your new born being passed around so soon after birth. My best advice would be to give it a day or two, so you can get to know your little one and then let your family and friends meet them too. You won’t ever get back those first few days so make the most of them!

The UK Bloggers Survey revealed Parenting as a supersector – how do you feel parenting fits in to the broader blogosphere?
I think a lot of parents turn to blogs for advice because it’s real. I guess parenting blogs are kind of like Google for parents. If you want tips for weaning, teething or any other aspect of being a parent, you’re pretty much guaranteed to find something about it written on someone’s parenting blog somewhere.

The Survey also revealed that bloggers post less frequently – is this your experience?
Yes! When I first started blogging, I would occasionally publish new content. I had no schedule, I just wrote and published content as and when I wanted. As my blog grew, I found that in order to keep my current readers coming back to my blog, and gain new readers, I’d need to publish content on a more regular basis. As such I always made sure that I had a new post published on my blog every day. Almost seven years later, I’m a lot more laid back! I publish one new blog post every Monday-Wednesday, and then have a feature every Thursday called The Brilliant Mum Feature, and then a Linky for bloggers every Friday. I don’t publish anything over the weekend. It takes the pressure off and means that I can spend time with my family instead of worrying about having to write something.

Do you accept PR press releases?
Yes, as long as they’re in keeping with the content of my blog.

How do you choose which PRs and brands to work with?
I like working with PRs and brands who are up front about what they’re looking for from the beginning. A good first email that addresses me by name, sets out what the campaign is and what the PR or brand would like to achieve from it, in addition to their expectations of what they want from me. I really dislike impersonal emails that either don’t address me by name, get my blog name wrong, approach me with something that has nothing to do with my blog, and worst of all, those who have done no research about me or my blog at all.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
I really enjoyed working with Argos over the summer and Christmas. They’re a great brand to work with, friendly and have great communication. I also really enjoy working with Mecca Bingo. They’re another company who pitch to bloggers really well, plus they’re super friendly and easy to work with!

Some of my favourite collaborations have also been with smaller, independent businesses who have no PRs or big budgets. I love discovering new businesses with great ethics and if I can help promote them then I’m all for it!

What other blogs do you read?
Naturally, I read my husband’s blog, www.diydaddyblog.com. He’s currently number four dad blogger on the top 10 Daddy Blogs Vuelio list. I really admire his honesty in the things he writes about. Some of the subjects he covers such as depression and male suicide raise important questions and great awareness. My husband, Nigel, talks from his own experiences and I think a lot of people learn a lot from him.

I also enjoy reading Vicky’s blog, Miss Tilly and Me. I’ve never met Vicky, but she feels like a friend and her blog posts are always interesting and easy to read.

There are so many other blogs that I enjoy reading such as Five Little Doves, Dad Blog UK, Mummy’s Diary, Run Jump Scrap, Cardiff Mummy Says and so many more!

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The frenchie mummy

Mummy blogger spotlight: Cécile Blaireau, The Frenchie Mummy

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Cécile Blaireau is The Frenchie Mummy, a brand new entry into the Top 10 UK Mummy Blogs. Covering the reality of being a first time ‘maman’, the blog includes Cécile’s thoughts, favs, dislikes, rants and moans.

With just days until Mother’s Day, we caught up with Cécile to find out what it’s like making a ‘mini moi’, the importance of rocking your own motherhood journey and why she wants to work on more campaigns that show her opinionated side.

How does social media feed into your blog – are any channels more important?
I mainly use Twitter and Facebook to promote my posts. Instagram is more about my day to day routine and pretty pics of us. I share a lot about our days out and our adventures, but I am not using it much to drive traffic to my blog. It is more fun and a great way to share my personality in images and videos, especially with stories.

Cécile Blaireau

What’s the perfect Mother’s Day?
Anything that involves some good food and potentially a glass of Merlot! This year, we are booked for an afternoon tea in my area and I might have a massage to relax. It will be very sophistiqué. No wine, but I don’t mind! I love the place where we are going.

What’s the best thing about being a mum?
Seeing your little one growing into a nice little person. The scary thing is that he looks more and more like me! I did not realise I was going to create so much of a mini moi. I don’t mind really, LOL!

What advice would you give new mothers?
Don’t worry about everything and books don’t always have the right answer. Just listen to your intuition and avoid pieces of advices from everyone else. They think they know what is best, but it is not always the case! Plus, it is your motherhood journey, so rock it your own way!

top mum bloggersThe UK Bloggers Survey revealed Parenting as a supersector – how do you feel parenting fits in to the broader blogosphere?
I think it is getting bigger. I see so many mums doing their own thing, creating their own business, etc. It doesn’t have to be blogging really! Plus, parents are making the next generation, so we have a word to say!

The Survey also revealed that blogger post less frequently – is this your experience?
I think it all depends on our life. At first, I was eager to post regularly to establish myself and get some practice. But recently, I have learned that I also need to take care of myself and work at my rhythm. Plus, I want to spend some quality time with my little one before he starts school. So, if it means that I might not post for a few days, so be it!

Do you accept PR press releases?
Yes, if it is a brand we like, or it fits with something I want to do.

How do you choose which PRs and brands to work with?
I have a list of PRs I regularly work with, but I am always on the lookout for more! I engage as much as I can on their social channels to get noticed or thank them for working with me. They need some love too!

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
Some with kids’ brands that I have known and loved since I was a little girl myself. Seeing that those brands wanted to work with me made me proud.

And also, the #tickledpink #beyourbreastfriend I was involved with Breast Cancer Care, Breast Cancer Now and Asda not so long ago. It is such an important and personal message I wanted to pass on! Plus, I really want to talk more about women’s issues. I am quite an opiniated person and I want it to be more apparent on my blog.

What other blogs do you read?
I love reading Honest Mum as she is always so inspirational and kind. Many more too!

And a lot of podcasts like #TheSuccessRevolution by the Step Up Club. Those ladies always have inspirational ladies on, and it keeps me going! I need to think all the time to get inspired to write.

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