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There has been so much talk about how PRs have been annoying bloggers (‘mummy bloggers’ have been super vocal on this front) and how we would prefer to be worked with, that despite me blogging for over five years, (Alison for over three), you would almost believe that blogging was ‘new’. But actually what’s ‘new’ (and actually it’s not really fresh new) is that companies and their PR peeps are becoming increasingly aware of the influence of blogs and how they have to engage in ‘new’ PR.
Why? Social media has fragmented traditional media causing it to have less influence on their audiences who are consuming information about products, services, and brands across a variety of platforms from people they perceive to trust more because their opinions haven’t been filtered and watered down to dance to the beat of corporate honchos!
But…for all of the complaining, this has really got to be about creating your own experience and teaching the people you do deal with what to expect from you. This is very much echoed in the Text 100 Global Blogger Survey (really good slideshow presentation), which asked the opinions of 449 bloggers in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Interesting results and nuggets of info include:
Most bloggers are part time and blog for up to 9 hours a week. They say that PRs should adjust their strategies accordingly.
Bloggers aren’t too keen on podcasts with them being the least used – photographs are the most preferred.
Bloggers aren’t keen on intrusion devices – IM’ng and texting – we prefer to be emailed.
The majority of bloggers surveyed agreed strongly that they would acknowledge if their blog or a post is ’supported’ when they write positive posts in return for some sort of compensation – this should be standard and yet a lot of bloggers don’t disclose that they are being paid to write about a client.
We don’t want corporate announcements – news, reviews of new products, opinionated comments, and interviews with relevant people of note is the way to go.
It’s a great read whether you’re a PR or a blogger and gives a real insight into the shape of the ‘blogosphere’ although I don’t it will squash the conversation.
The biggest piece of advice I can give to PRs approaching bloggers is, whilst it’s a pain in the bum, don’t go with the blanket approach and get a sense of how they work and what the blog is about. It scores brownie points. My biggest piece of advice for bloggers dealing with PRs is where you feel the inclination to work with someone, tell them how you work and create a win:win.
[via Bitchbuzz]
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