When I first started working with brands, someone suggested that I put together a media page. As most of us experience, blogging forces you to learn a whole new language, including baffling words such as widgets, SEO and analytics. Now here was another term that made me squirm…media page. However, as I started to do a little research, I realized that it wasn’t as difficult as it seemed at first blush.
What is a media page?
A media kit is like a very detailed business card that you can provide to Public Relations (PR) folks who represent various brands. While you can put together a larger media kit that includes details about where your blog was featured or articles you’ve written for other sites, it’s best to have a one-pager that PR people can look at quickly to get a feel for your blog. It should include a description of your blog, a line about your target audience and statistics that will be relevant to brands.
Let’s go into each of those more thoroughly.
The look
PR people have “to-do” lists and inboxes that rival the busiest stock brokers on Wall Street. In other words, they don’t have a lot of time to sift through your media page to find the information they need. Your page should be clean, well-organized and eye-catching. If you have a logo on your blog that’s easily recognizable, be sure to place it at the top of the page.
For example, this is the logo that sits at the top of my media page and any invoices that I send out:
Consider using bolded titles for each new section of the page. For example, Description, Blog Statistics and Social Media.
Contacts
Don’t forget to include your blog address (not the full url), an email address and phone number where you can be reached. Make this information easy to find. You might consider printing the blog address in a different color to make it “pop”.
The description
How do you describe your blog in one sentence or less? Whoever is reading your media page should have no doubt what your blog is about after reading the first sentence. Do you write about pairing wine with food? Or maybe you post vegetarian or gluten-free recipes. If your blog includes a mish-mash of different types of recipes (nothing wrong with a mish-mash), think of a way to package that in one sentence that will help you stand apart from the next blogger.
Who is your target audience? It could be working parents, weekend entertainers, crockpot lovers or dessert aficionados, to name a few. This is important because it’s likely that the brand will be targeting a certain audience as well, and will want to work with bloggers who fit their mission.
Speak in the third person. Yes, I know it feels a little awkward. It’s kind of like that Seinfeld episode when George decides to refer to himself in the third person. “Now George is getting very, very angry.” Ah, George. While it makes George look a little loony, speaking in the third person on your media page will help you look more professional.
Is this the time to be modest? Heck, no. If you have fantastic photos, say so. If your writing is entertaining and engaging, shout it from the rooftops. Remember, the PR people may know nothing about you and your blog. It’s up to you to tell them why they would want to hire you.
Blog Statistics
Here is where we start getting into the nitty-gritty. Now, it may be tempting to fib a little on your media page, but I recommend walking the straight and narrow. PR people have access to a number of tools (e..g, compete.com) to verify your statistics. There is also the chance that they will ask you for a Google Analytics report (though this has never happened to me). If you claim that you have 125,000 page views per month, but in reality only see about half of that traffic, PR peeps aren’t going to be too impressed when they discover your ploy.
What do they want to know?
- Unique monthly visitors and page views
- Alexa ranking (Find that information here.) Link: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo
- Google ranking (Find that information here.) Link: http://www.googlerankings.com/
- Number of RSS and email subscribers
Social Media
These days, it’s rare to come across a company that doesn’t have a presence on Twitter and/or Facebook. Often, the PR people are the ones in charge of manning these accounts, so if you follow each other, or you engage them on social media, you can start to forge a relationship
As part of your pitch, if you promise that you will tweet or link from Facebook to your post (featuring their branch) a certain number of times, the PR people will want to know how they are going to benefit from that. How many people will you reaching? Are your tweets getting re-tweeted? It’s all about getting the most bang for their buck.
On your media page, include a section for social media statistics.
What do they want to know?
- Number of Twitter followers
- Number of “likes” for your blog Facebook page
- Number of Pinterest followers
- Number of Google+ followers
Other information to include
If you have any high-profile mentions, features or awards, be sure to mention that. If Saveur Magazine listed you as one of the top bloggers, dance a jig, then feature that on your media page.
Placement of your media page
Some bloggers choose to place their media pages, in a .pdf format, on their blogs. Others prefer not to have their media page up for public viewing. Instead, they mention that a media page is available on request. If you choose to take the second route, be sure that it is very easy for the PR people to find your email address. If it takes them more than 15 seconds to find it, they’ll likely move onto the next blog.
For those of you who already have a media page, I look forward to hearing your thoughts about the most important items to include.
Dara Michalski is the recipe developer, photographer and writer behind the blog, Cookin’ Canuck. She grew up in Vancouver (and a piece of her heart remains there), but now lives in Utah with her husband and two sons. As a result of her travels and the influence of her Jamaican-raised mum, Dara enjoys incorporating international flavors into her recipes. Despite her focus on healthy eating, Dara occasionally indulges in Brie and Nutella (sometimes together). Dara can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
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Great article Dara – succinct and approachable – breaking it down so it’s not scary for those of us who *should* think about getting a media kit together!
Very nice post, Dara! i think a media kit is something every blogger should have and I need to get mine updated asap! I do have one question – when you give your stats on unique monthly visitors and pageviews, do you give data for the latest month or an average for some period of time (i.e., last three months, last year, etc.)?
These are some wonderful tips! The worst feeling on my end, is when I’m trying to give credit to a blogger for a beautiful recipe and I can’t find their social links. Sometimes I need to do some serious digging and searches before finding a twitter handle. Help us, help you! Thanks for sharing, it was an excellent read…
-Shannon
Love this post! My eyes glaze over when people say ‘media page’ but this is so much simpler than I had thought. On my blogging to do list!
Hi Lana, that’s a great question! I update my media page about every three months, and typically take an average of numbers across the past 6 months.
This is a fantastic post Dara. I’ve been bugging these guys to get someone to write a post on media kits, as I keep getting asked for them but never had an idea how to do them. I googled, but of course, all the variety out there is again quite mind boggling.
I am so glad you did it, its such a clearly written article, and coming from someone like you, its a fabulous resource. Off to do mine now!
Hey Dara, so you don’t send your media page out to any P.R companies? Do you just let them know the information is available to them if they want it?
Thanks for the great post!
Great post Dara~
Michelle, I’m so glad you found it useful!
Gerry, if I make a blind pitch to a brand/PR company, I will send my media page along with the pitch so they can get an idea of my numbers right off the bat.
Carrian, thank you!
Thanks for such a great post, Dara! I’ve been meaning to put together a media page for Taste As You Go for ages, and this is just what I needed to see to motivate me. Adding this to my to-do list for the upcoming new year!
Thanks for the awesome tips! I have just become aware of media pages and this reaffirms their importance!