Heart association using bloggers for firsthand insights

Female writers going through the paces of a new women’s health program — and driving site traffic

Keeping track of the conversations on the array of social media networks can gobble up your workday. So why not find someone else to do it for you?

The American Heart Association did just that, approaching four established bloggers with a proposal: Write about our new campaign, Go Red For Women: BetterU, and we’ll link to your blog from our site. BetterU is a 12-week online nutrition and fitness program to improve heart health among women.

AHA communicators use Twitter and Facebook to promote the campaign, but they enlisted women to provide firsthand accounts of their program experiences in their blogs.

“We’re asking the ladies to be real, to talk about the days they couldn’t fit [BetterU] in, or it was a struggle, or they just felt down, or the days that they were doing really well, and why, and offer tips to other ladies,” says Megan Lozito, senior manager for cause communications.