Effective Blogger Relations: Debunking Myths, Discovering Reality

Blogger Relations & PR Debunking Myths … Discovering Reality #COPRSA Heather Whaling heather@gebencommunication.com prtini.com twitter.com/prTini linkedin.com/in/heatherwhaling

Why Blogger Relations? • 77% of Internet users read blogs • 89% of journalists conduct research on blogs • 72% of bloggers blog to share expertise • 61% of bloggers supplement their income by blogging tweetable tip: 89% of journs conduct research on blogs #COPRSA

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

“Blogger outreach has proliferated in the last year as firms and clients … see the value of exposing bloggers and their audiences to new campaigns and products … As you might have guessed, the big dogs … are getting solicited by agencies again and again and again and again and again and again.” -- Ogilvy PR

“The bottom line is, we’re tired of being marketed to; we just want to have a conversation.” -- Scott Monty

“At every one of my speeches, I say PR people are spammers. That gets everyone's attention so I have an opportunity to explain what I mean … I get several hundred unsolicited press releases and PR pitches every week. Well over 99% of them are not targeted to me, instead they are sent to me because I am on various PR people’s lists …” -- David Meerman Scott

(history repeats itself) 2007

Photo credit

The Realities of Blogger Outreach

Myth #1: Pre-existing relationships • Develop personal relationships with bloggers before making the pitch • “Cold-pitching” is forbidden

Reality: Be Smarter. • Relationships help, but aren’t required. • A solid pitch trumps a lukewarm relationship. • Personalization is the key to effective blogger outreach. • Help bloggers cut through the clutter tweetable tip: With bloggers, solid pitches trump lukewarm relationships #COPRSA

Myth #2: Bloggers = Media Photo credit

Reality: Blogger Relations = Media Relations • Most bloggers: – Aren’t breaking news – Answer to communities, not editors – Haven’t graduated from journalism school – Don’t want your press releases • Blogs aren’t newspapers or magazines, so don’t treat the content creators the same tweetable tip: Blogs aren’t newspapers. Treat content creators differently #COPRSA

Myth #3: Pay-to-Play, Swag & Ads Photo credit

Reality: Ethics, FTC Say “No Payola” • FTC requires disclosure from bloggers who receive cash or in-kind payments • Fake reviews do a disservice to a blogger’s community • Understand the difference between editorial, promotion, news, community access/integration tweetable tip: When pitching bloggers, know the difference btwn editorial, promotion, news & cmty access #COPRSA

“We believe we should be fairly compensated for promotional work, for providing material to be sold by a third party, for sharing our knowledge to companies who will profit from that said knowledge.” -- Independent Fashion Bloggers “Fair Compensation Manifesto”

Myth #4: Content is King

Reality: … Not So Fast • 5 C’s of Blogger Relations: – Cultivation – Collaboration – Content – Community – Communication (what’s the ask?) tweetable tip: 5 Cs of blogger outreach: Cultivation, Collaboration, Content, Community & Communication #CORPSA

Bad Blogger Relations Matrix courtesy of The Future Buzz (http://thefuturebuzz.com/2010/08/30/marketing-pr-fluency/)

Good Blogger Relations Matrix courtesy of The Future Buzz (http://thefuturebuzz.com/2010/08/30/marketing-pr-fluency/)

Heather Whaling www.GebenCommunication.com heather@gebencommunication.com @prTini for slides & resources: bit.ly/COPRSA subscribe to my blog: bit.ly/prTini Collaboration. Integration. Social Good.

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Effective Blogger Relations: Debunking Myths, Discovering Reality

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