How to Interact with Bloggers
While interactivity in social media seems relevant to corporation-consumer relations, it is also very important to consider how to interact with bloggers. You may have heard of media relations, but as the channels in which people receive information change, PR practitioners should be seeking to perfect blogger relations as well.
As seen by the Jeff Jarvis “Dell Hell” situation, blogs can have incredible power. One person’s thought can have a profound impact to the groundswell. It is important to cultivate these outlets…if you aren’t a part of the conversation, it will happen without you.
Rockstar PR is a blog written by Jed Hallam, an employee of Wolfstar, a social media consultancy. Hallem cites 5 Things that traditional PR should learn from PR 2.0; one of which is to form a relationship with the blogger. It is important to actually read their blog, and seek out 2-way communication. Bloggers don’t want to hear another mindless pitch.
PR Squared blog by Todd Defren, a principal at Shift Communications, listed a few tips for blogger relations. I found it particularly noteworthy that the tips pointed out that bloggers are not journalists. What is interesting in the blogosphere is much different than what is interesting to The New York Times. This is another reason to read the blog: the content of the posts will demonstrate the blogger’s idea of what is newsworthy. Don’t send a blogger a pitch for a client’s new computer program when their blog is about knitting.
Essentially, it is key to treat bloggers with respect, and carefully consider how to handle relationships with them.
This is an important post: interactivity is not enough, it has to be effective. I completely agree. I think that with new social media it’s becoming increasingly difficult to interact appropriately and effectively with people, and (like you said) especially bloggers. I really like how you separated bloggers from journalists by saying that bloggers write about what THEY think is newsworthy…I never thought about that. It’s tough for the “old world” to step into the new because blogging is a completely new frontier.