Blogs have a powerful influence on consumer behavior. Technorati’s 2013 Digital Influence Report found that blogs are now the third most influential digital resource (31%) when making overall purchases, behind retail sites (56%) and brand sites (34%). Smart brand marketers (and in many cases, PR firms) develop relationships with influential bloggers and create formal marketing campaigns and partnerships. These partnerships leverage the blogger’s influence with their readership, their web traffic and social media reach to increase brand awareness, boost SEO and drive sales.

As a blogger and brand manager-turned-consultant, I’ve sat on both sides of the table – developing blogger relationships on behalf of a brand or client as well as being pitched to by brands and PR firms who seek to access my audience. (I blog about social media, but after speaking at several blogger conferences I’ve landed on hundreds of “mom blogger” lists and get daily communications from consumer brands hoping I’ll blog about their products.) This year I conductedindependent research highlighting best practices for brands and PR firms who wish to work with bloggers for mutual benefit.

But the fundamental first step in any blogger outreach program is developing relationships. And it takes time and effort to do this well.

Whether you’re just starting to do blogger outreach or want to re-evaluate your existing program, here are my top 5 tips for building blogger relationships:

Tip #1: Research and identify the top influencers with whom you’d like to establish relationships.

This kind of research is essential and is too often overlooked by enthusiastic brands who simply google the list of the top 100 mom bloggers on Babble and email them all at once. 40% of bloggers get ten or more emails per day from brands, according to my research, and bloggers say the #1 thing that makes a brand pitch stand out is if the product is a good fit for their blog. So the more targeting you do, the better. Take the time to determine what bloggers are right for your product. A Google search is a good way to start. You can search for top bloggers in your product category (for example, search for “babywearing bloggers”). Technorati is another resource for finding blogs by keyword, however not all bloggers are listed on the site. For a more granular search, try Google Blog Search to dig into blog content. Look for bloggers who have written about products in your category—or even those who have written about your competitors.

Be sure to identify bloggers at a range of influence. While it would be great to have your product featured on Dooce or Girl’s Gone Child or even Cool Mom Picks, it’s a waste of time to put all of your eggs into one (big) basket. (We’d all love to be on the Today Show and in the New York Times too.) Be realistic with your choices. Identify a few top bloggers who seem to be a good fit, but fill the majority of your list with mid-size and even small bloggers. A good, yet not terribly accurate way to view blog’s traffic stats is Alexa.

Once you’ve identified a list of bloggers in your category, take time to read their blogs. Consider the following questions as you evaluate bloggers. Do they write about products at all? Are their children the right age, or does their blog target the right age group? Do they have any existing policies or guidelines on their blog that describes how to communicate with them? Look for a press kit or product review information. Most bloggers are very clear about how they prefer to be contacted.

Tip #2: Use social listening tools to see who is already talking about your product.

One of the best ways to develop a relationship with a blogger is to reach out to someone already talking about your product. Set up a free monitoring tool to crawl the web searching for product mentions. Google Alerts was formerly the standard, but Google seems to be discontinuing that service. A better option is Mention. Along with setting up web alerts, you should monitor your social media channels for when your product or company is tagged or mentioned.

Tip #3: Start interacting with bloggers on social channels, especially Twitter.

Bloggers are very active on Twitter and it’s a great way to interact with them. If you’re monitoring your social channels like I described above, you may pick up someone mentioning your product. Seize that opportunity to interact. Retweet and thank them for using the product.

Don’t just look for “official” @mentions of your company name. Dig deeper to find casual mentions of your product. (i.e. Just took the baby out for a walk in her new XYZ stroller. Love it!). Do periodic searches for your brand name using the Twitter search function, or better yet, set up a permanent column in TweetDeck or HootSuite with your brand name or product name that can pick up these casual mentions in real time. 

Keep your interactions casual and personable. Don’t spam by pinging a whole group of bloggers on Twitter with the same message or set up auto-direct messages (for example, “thanks for the follow” with a link to your website). Bloggers can see right through mass-messaging, and however will-intentioned, it appears insincere. 

Tip #4: Showcase blog content on your social channels, via your email newsletter or on your own blog. 

If a blogger publishes a post about your product, share it on your brand’s social channels or give it a mention in your next email newsletter. You can even link to it from your own blog. For example, PicMonkey (a small software company) recently published a postshowcasing bloggers who had written PicMonkey tutorials on their blogs. When you share content about your product that was written by someone else, it helps build your authenticity. Also, the blogger will most definitely appreciate the promotion.

Tip #5: Meet bloggers in person by attending blogging conferences or holding blogger events. 

Don’t discount the power of face-to-face interaction. Attendingblogging conferences either as a sponsor or an attendee can be an excellent networking opportunity for your brand. There are blogging conferences for just about every niche all over the U.S. and Canada. A few are starting to pop up in Europe as well. If you do attend blogger conferences as a marketer, read these tips for making the most of your experience. 

You can also hold blogger events at or near your headquarters or in target cities to get to know bloggers in person and introduce them to your products. During these events, brands benefit not only from the face time with bloggers, but also the social media exposure that inevitably occurs during the event as bloggers live tweet, Facebook and Instagram their experience. 

Naturally, developing blogger relationships is more nuanced than I can describe in a single article.  However, establishing these relationships is a necessary precursor to any successful blogger campaign or partnership. The blogger-brand relationship continues to evolve with more than a few bumps in the road.  The most successful brands will be those who understand that there are no short-cuts in the process.

Cindy Meltzer is a digital marketing consultant and founder The Social Craft. She specializes in assisting parenting brands, manufacturers and retailers with social media marketing strategy and blogger outreach. In 2013 she conducted independent researchon the brand-blogger relationship. Cindy is the former Director of Community & Social Media at Isis Parenting, where she established and managed their digital marketing program. She also formed external blogger relationships to collaborate on digital marketing campaigns. Cindy has been featured in the Boston Business Journal, The Boston Globe, Social Media Today and The BrainYard and she has spoken at national marketing and business conferences including the All Baby & Child Spring Educational Conference, Mom 2.0 Summit, BlogHer, Enterprise 2.0 and the PRSA Boston Social Media Summit.