Over at my old agency, Paul Stallard’s written an interesting post about the difference between journalists and bloggers and how to engage with them. He points out – quite rightly – that journalists have trained for a number of years and know more about fact checking, the legal side of things, ethics etc. and that bloggers haven’t.
Without getting into the debate about the role of journalism in the future, I think it throws up an interesting condundrum about how PRs should pitch to and liaise with bloggers.
To understand how to approach a blogger, I personally find it easier to consider what type they are:
Personal blogs
Problems exist because public relations consultants often treat personal bloggers like journalists – sending them press releases (often, sadly, not in their area), expecting coverage when interest has been shown in a story etc. It’s also worth remembering that personal bloggers aren’t answerable to anyone. There isn’t an editor, publisher or high profile advertiser hovering over them, or a requirement to be balanced or even accurate. This presents both advantages and challenges. To see how this sometimes manifests itself, check out the post from Blogger Dad.
Media blogs
These are usually much easier (or at least familiar) for PRs to deal with. They are mostly populated by professional journalists who are basically using a blog format to publish news and opinion. This can sometimes be on a traditional media’s website (e.g. the Guardian’s tech blog) or standalone media blogs (like green blog Treehugger), which often grew up from being successful personal blogs. So, it’s ok (although not always best) to send press releases, you can expect some kind of balance, and clients will often value the results more highly. The only issue is that PRs will also be all over them too and even more than traditional media, speed of response rules when it comes to getting coverage.
Business blogs
These are blogs written by companies, like Google, Skype or the one I edit for TalkTalk. A lot of PRs question the value of business blogs, but I think they’re one of the most under-exploited by the public relations community. The media and blogosphere increasingly use business blogs as sources for stories and quotes. It’s also worth finding out whether your client’s partners also have their own blogs. It’s an excellent opportunity to build strong ties and associations through comments, guest posts, linking etc. Again, it needs something a bit more sophisticated than a press release to get results, but that’s social media for you.
Another challenge for PRs is working out which are the important blogs worth concentrating on (I’ve long since abandoned Technorati as a reputable directory service). If I was the PR that handles Crocs, the example in Paul’s blog post, I’d have blown them out when threatened with bad posts unless I’d given free products away – bloggers that care about their craft will soon get a bad reputation for doing this kind of thing, whatever type they are.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice idea about breaking them down. I think fundamentally the most important thing is to read the blog, have a look at the about me section and understand who you are pitching in exactly the same way as you would a journalist.
Any decent PR wouldn’t just blindly send an email out to 100 journalists from a database and expect to achieve good results so why do the same with bloggers who are potenbtially even more niche.
That said, my post was looking at less how to pitch them but highlighting that they are in some cases a different beast to journalists and don’t be shocked if they liaise with you in a different and potentially less professional way (I’m talking about the minority here).
Thanks Paul, I think you’re right to highlight that blogger relations has potential pitfalls. For me, a lot of the problem is that PRs often treat bloggers like journalists. A personal blog is a different animal altogether – by its very nature it’s an opinion.
Rory Cellan-Jones co-hosted an event for us last year and said that he found the dot-life blog sometime frustrating because he still had to remember he was a journalist and needed to be balanced.
So, it’s not surprising that backlash or threats are not uncommon. Giving bloggers respect is a good start, but some PRs I’ve come across seem surprised that it doesn’t work like a sausage factory.