Blogger Relations Tips For PR/Ad Agency People & Consultants

05/23/2008

Friends Sometimes it's tiring to try to be friends. Sigh ..

The following email from a PR Person came on the heels of an email from Marc Meyer - Emerson Direct Marketing Observations. Mark developed what he calls the 30 Top Social Media Experts, Pundits, Evangelists and Marketers. Follow-up post with a few more peeps. I am honored to be included. Send Marc some link love .. click and read who else is on the list. The PR Person is not on the list.

eMail Volley Between PR Person & Diva Marketing (modified so we can learn together and not embarrass.)

PR Person: Hi. Blah blah blah .. company (turns out to be a client) has a new product. If you’d like to learn more about blah blah please let  me know and I’d be happy to  set you up with  an appropriate executive.

Toby/Diva Marketing: I asked a question about the campaign.

PR Person:  I can not personally  comment on these types of questions but I’m happy to put you in touch with one of the marketing executives who would be better able to answer that for you. Just let me know.

Toby/Diva Marketing: That would be great. Thanks.

PR Person:  Sure thing. Do you happen to have any readership or unique visitor numbers handy?

Toby/Diva Marketing: Why?

PR Person: We always like to present our executives with as much  information as possible when approaching them with an interview opportunity.

Toby/Diva Marketing: I am not a journalist. Diva Marketing is not a media outlet. It is a blog with some extent of influence. That is not a question that I would answer unless I was negotiating for sponsorships on Diva (which I choose not to do).

Also, you approached me .. I did not approach you. In your email you offered information to learn more about the campaign. I asked you questions about it and you offered to forward them to the right person for a response. I did not request an interview.

Seems like you don't have much experience reaching out to bloggers. These posts might be useful:
Bloggers and PR People Should Be Friends
From Blogger Relations To Blogger Relations Programs
Agencies Miss The Relations In Blogger Relations Strategies

PR Person: Thanks for clarifying. I am still learning everyday when it comes to blogger outreach. If you are interested in potentially writing about the program on your blog, I would be happy to pass along your question.

Toby/Diva Marketing: Rule # one NEVER ask a blolgger to write about your product/campaign. And NEVER make an interview contingent on a post.

Blogger Relations Tips For PR/Ad Agency People & Consultants

1. Include your name and your company.
2. Indicate your relationship with your client.
3. Learn about the culture of the social media and blogger relations etiquette
4. Educate your client about what to expect when incorporating blogger relations into an outreach.
5. Help your client understand that bloggers are not journalists nor are they media outlets. This is a different game with its own unique rules.
6. Do not offer to provide access to your client or additional information unless you can produce it.
7. Never ask for a blogger's traffic stats or RSS subscriptions.
8. Do your research: read the past posts. If your client wants to understand the blogger's influence utilize tools like Technorati, Google and/or Alexa to learn more about the blogger.
9. Do not make an interview contingent for a blog post.
10. Social media and in this case Blogger Relations is about the relationship.

A tweet from hugh gapingvoid is a perfect way to close this conversation -

The question is not, "Should we blog?" The question is, "Do we want to talk to people differently from how we did in the past?

PR/Agency People and Consultants also have to learn to talk differently than they did in the past.

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Comments

It looks like PR person could have just visited your blog and read about it, looked at the number of posts, number of comments etc.. if they needed additional info to pass on to the executive.

Posted by: Carrie on May 24, 2008 3:17:03 PM

@Carrie - Agree. The funny thing about it is information about bloggers (except for traffic) is so easily accessed and for the most part free. Of course, you have to know that and you have to put the time into the research.

Posted by: Toby on May 24, 2008 5:04:41 PM

Now a day there is no person which does not know about blogs and who is not connected to blogs. People now a days use blogs for marketing their products. This way they are able to reach a lot many people with very less cost.

Posted by: Francesco on May 25, 2008 1:18:26 PM

Bloggers informations is very interesting. Social networking site that actually makes money is to niche-ify it to the extent that is speaks to a specific type of brand user and all the products or services that can be wrapped around the user.

Posted by: Jesmi on May 27, 2008 1:29:42 AM

@Jesmi, try writing something original instead of peeling it off of my site! Geez...

http://emersondirect.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/monetizing-social-networks-the-simplest-analogy-possible/

Posted by: Marc Meyer on May 27, 2008 1:11:50 PM

@marc - First time, that I know of, that I've come across "comment plagiarism." By the way Marc's article is a good read.

@Jesmi - as the saying goes .. the blogopshere self corrects and you got caught. next time play nicely.

Posted by: Toby on May 27, 2008 4:12:38 PM

This is my first time visiting your blog - great job. These are great "Blogger Relations" tips to keep in mind.

Posted by: Kristina on Jun 1, 2008 11:31:27 AM

I have a number of corporate marketing associates and I will certainly point this post out to them. I particularly like "bloggers are not journalists nor are they media outlets." It sums it up well.

Posted by: Lee on Jul 22, 2008 4:04:09 PM

Nice Site

br peter

Posted by: Wok on Jun 13, 2011 6:22:37 AM

The tipps are okay, but to my mind the most important is experience.

Posted by: Winterreifen on Jun 13, 2011 6:24:49 AM

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