Cipr Northern Conference

CIPR Northern Conference Thur 21 June St James’ Park BLOG WORKSHOP

Just like a website… But not

Frequently updated content

Written by a blogger (the blog’s author)

Covering a wide range of topics

Easy to add information

Think CONVERSATION

BLOG CHARACTERISTICS

A FEW NUMBERS

70 million blogs

This number doubled in the last 320 days

120,000 created every day

1.5m blog posts created every day

However…

Frequency of articles in UK national newspapers holding a mention of the word ‘blog’ Source: StrategyOne ONLINE & OFF CONVERGENCE

Two way communication

Show expertise/thought leadership

To be seen as open and transparent

Announcements

Bypass the media (gatekeepers)

Crisis communications

USES

WHO?

“ Well, until the blog was brought in to support the other sites (a bit like a web gusset if you will), not one penny had been earned from our web presence. Since the blog, exactly a year ago, we’re talking between 35-40% of last year’s turnover. It really isn’t that difficult a thing to track.” Paul Woodhouse – Butler Sheetmetal Ltd

WHO SHOULD BLOG?

Those who have got nothing to say should NOT blog

Employees

- Different skills

Business owners

Management

Junior staff

Find someone internally who really ‘gets’ blogging

3 TYPES OF BLOGGERS

Thinkers

- Sharing thoughts. Creative thoughts that weren’t there before.

- Usually long posts

Linkers

- Act as filters. Send their readers away so they return for more.

- Usually short posts

Stinkers

- Don’t have an interest (because it’s fashionable)

- Don’t have much to say

BLOG PLATFORMS

Start blogging inside your company (optional)

- Find out what it is; develop a writing style

Pilot your blogging concept

- Start with a single or small number of blogs

Get your bloggers (and other staff) reading and commenting on related blogs

Expand your site and develop your blogging culture

Don’t be afraid to make some mistakes

PROCESS

TRACKING Really Simple Syndication RSS

ONLINE PR TOOLS

Blog build and development

Blogger outreach/relations

Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Marketing

Word of Mouth

Customer engagement

Online brand monitoring

Online media relations

PR’S BLINDSPOT – THE WEB "I get 900,000+ visitors a week to whatcar.com and 127,000 readers a month to the magazine. But people still think that the magazine is much more valuable to be in." Steve Fowler, Group Editor, What Car Source: A Mayfield “ A third of our traffic on Guardian Unlimited comes from stories more than a month old. ” Emily Bell, Editor, Guardian Unlimited

PR’S BLINDSPOT – THE WEB