Happy New Year everyone!
The discussion around blogger relations is more relevant now than ever. And quite honestly, with every debate, exploration, and analysis, these conversations only fuel the advancement and improvement of Public Relations overall.
It makes us think.
Lest we forget, there is a significant percentage of bloggers, reporters, and analysts who think we’re useless – we’re merely spin artists who focus on pitching, blasting, and cranking out poorly written press releases. We contact people without caring or knowing their interests or passions without knowing what we’re talking about or why it should matter to them. That’s the perception.
Don’t be that PR person.
No, seriously. Chances are, at one point in your career, you contributed to the stereotype. So, let’s do something about it now.
Believe it or not, I still arm wrestle with influencers defending PR. But in may cases, they’re right. And, a lot of it has to do with pushing down important outreach to people who are either too junior to engage with industry veterans or not concerned with educating themselves as to why they’re reaching out in the first place and why it matters to the person they’re contacting. But, this is another topic for another day.
Blogger relations is so much more than the recognition that bloggers ARE influencers in their own right. Now it’s the understanding of how PR can work with them in addition to their traditional day-to-day activity.
I compiled a series of articles into one ebook that I hope will contribute to the elevation of PR as a respected profession, not just by the clients and executives, but by the very people we hope to build relationships with to bridge our story to the people who matter.
View it here.
Download the Word Doc.
Download the PDF.
Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Plaxo, or Facebook
Good info
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on blogger relations in your ebook. Great work! As you know, I come from a traditional PR background
and as I listen to my peers, it’s not easy for PR pros to embrace all of the changes and new concepts. Your insight, suggestions and thoughts on PR 2.0
are very clear and easy to understand (which makes it more comfortable for PR people to accept these changes). I especially like that you discuss how
blogger relations is about relationships and people. When it comes down to it, great PR will always be about trust, relationships and valuable communication.
This was a great book, and one that I will share with others in my dept. Media relations has always been one of my strenghts and it would drive me nuts when people in our profession couldn’t grasp the basic principals, and worse, would add to the negative perception of PR. I now find myself doing much more blogger relations vs. media relations (and loving it) and trying to eductate others – as well as social media in general and how it is changing our profession (for the better). This has been a challenge, but it’s either learn and embrace or find yourself well behind. This book will serve as a great guide. Thanks for sharing it.
Hi Brian!
Thanks a lot for this free thoughts which are really very interesting for a young blogger like me 😉
Ciaooo from the ancient rome!
The evolution of science fiction movies over the last 50 years can be attributed to much more than the advances in special effects and movie-making technology (although those changes have had an effect); the biggest influence on scifi during this time period are the events that occurred in the real world. These past five decades leading up to today have been subject to an ever-accelerating onslaught of technological achievements and world-changing events.