How do you establish a spokesperson as an expert among media and bloggers?

___________________________________________________

By Jennifer Manocchio

This is a strategy we often use for clients to help increase brand awareness for a company or product, establish credibility and differentiate themselves from their competitors.  It is a process and does take time.

The key to positioning a company spokesperson as an expert is to first identify what areas he or she is truly an expert in and identify what makes him or her an expert.  For example, if he or she is an expert in the cleaning products industry, identify what specifically he or she can discuss about cleaning products.  Can he or she discuss chemical make-up, cleaning tips for specific surfaces, marketing, packaging or distribution?

Additionally, be sure to provide solid credentials to support your spokesperson as an expert.  This can include how many years he or she worked in the industry, education, accreditations, training, workshops/presentations he or she conducted and past media who have used him or her as a resource.

Second, create a biography using the information you have gathered that identifies why your spokesperson is an expert and what makes him or her an expert.  Third, let key gatekeepers like influential media and bloggers know he or she is an expert by sending them the biography.

But it doesn’t stop there.  It is imperative to continue providing the media and bloggers with relevant information for their audience related to your spokesperson’s expertise.  This can be accomplished a number of ways, including contacting media and bloggers with your expert’s opinion on recent news or events, sending media and bloggers tips or industry trends your expert identifies or comments on, and responding to media and blogger resources like ProfNet, HARO and PitchRate when your expert can be a resource. You can also schedule interviews with media and bloggers when your expert is attending industry shows/events, but be sure to give the media and bloggers a reason why your expert is worth their time. This is where dedication and continuous communication with the media and bloggers will pay off.

The most exciting aspect about establishing your spokesperson as an expert is the more exposure he or she receives, the more credibility he or she gains and the easier it becomes!

Have questions or want to learn more about establishing your spokesperson as an expert?  Contact me at jennifer at sweeneypr.com or 910.772.1688.

I’ve been working on a research project for the past few weeks regarding the pitching of bloggers. I’m reaching out to thousands of bloggers on behalf of the MatchPoint application for PR pros to gauge their interest in receiving pitches, news, notes, and social media news releases from MatchPoint’s clients.

The team that developed MatchPoint decided (thankfully!) to make it an Opt-In service and ask bloggers’ permission to provide the bloggers’ email addresses to MatchPoint’s clients. Many bloggers have been rightfully outing PR people for spamming when they use old school databases that mass-blast PR Spam from their media lists.

 
Of those bloggers with whom I spoke:

•12% expressed not wanting to have their email address visible to PR people nor wanted to receive pitches via email

•52% said they would be open to emails from PR, BUT ONLY if the pitch was exactly on point, relevant to their blog, or from a PR person who has obviously read their blog posts

•36% said they would opt in to receive PR emails and in fact rarely get any PR pitches
 
I think that last point is most significant. There are many bloggers who have a huge appetite for your news content! It’s notable that this is not an obscure group of bloggers; all were in the top 100,000 blogs by traffic. Most likely, that last group of bloggers is not in most PR Spam databases.

So go get ‘em! Just be sure you know each blogger’s preferred method of receiving pitches whether it’s email, via their blog, DM, or carrier pigeon. Also make sure your content is relevant to what they typically write.

Front of the Treasury Department Building

While I don’t typically discuss anything related to politics anymore (spent too many years in the political realm), I do want to discuss the recent Treasury Department meeting. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner held a meeting on Nov. 2 – which doesn’t seem out of the ordinary – except for the fact that he invited 20 key financial bloggers to attend in person.

Many of these bloggers had chastised the department and Geithner in the past, but have now changed their tune. Why? Because they were included in the real-world conversation – a first in the Treasury’s history. Of the 20 invited, eight showed up at their own expense. Not bad considering the economy; but fitting since it was at the Treasury Department.

According to an article in The New York Times yesterday, Tyler Cowen, an economics professor at George Mason University, who writes for the Marginal Revolution blog and contributes to The Times, said:

The meeting shows that the Obama administration is working very hard on outreach to a lot of different media sources… I think we were much better informed than the groups they’re used to talking to.

Andrew Williams, a spokesman for the Treasury who helped plan the event, stated that Geithner has “long valued the blogosphere.” Geithner had also commented that while serving as the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, he requested relevant daily blog posts.

Williams said another reason for the outreach is that the “blogs are influential, especially because they are read by reporters at more traditional outlets.”

How did PR impact this?
Geithner and his team made a smart decision to include financial bloggers in an ordinary, run-of-the-mill meeting. It made the bloggers, who usually feel disconnected, part of the conversation and decision-making process. They were able to ask questions in person, rather than make assumptions after hearing about it via a blog post.

Social Media is all about inclusion and developing strong conversations that resonate with your target audiences. I applaud the Treasury Department for its desire to take a step in the right direction – creating transparency, trust and advocates among their once weary target audience.

This is a great example of how a PR professional can influence the dissemination of information among target publics by being forward-thinking and proactive.

Steve Randy Waldman, blogger for the blog Interfluidity sums it up perfectly when he said:

I’d like to thank the “senior Treasury officials” for taking the time to meet with us, and for being very gracious hosts. Whatever disagreements one might have… It was an extreme privilege to sit across a conference table and have a chance to speak with these people… The mere invitation made me more favorably disposed to policy makers…

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請即發佈

新聞稿

首屆香港網誌年會雲集本地博客 見證本地網誌文化百花齊放

網絡世界無分疆界匯聚學生、青年、長者、傷健博客聚首一堂

2009年11月9日，香港訊 – 由DotAsia及老有網主辦，互聯網專業協會(iProA)、香港互聯網協會(ISOC HK)，及其他機構協辦的首屆香港網誌年會已於11月7日假香港梁顯利油麻地社區中心舉行經已圓滿結束，當日來自不同界別的博客踴躍參與和分享本地的網誌文化。首屆香港網誌年會為亞洲博客暴樂祭 (BlogFest.Asia)其中一個重要的環節，為本地大眾傳遞關於博客群的正面訊息。

主辦機構DotAsia行政總裁鍾宏安表示：「DotAsia很高興能在香港首辦一個屬於本地的網誌年會，希望透過此活動能夠讓本地博客一起討論網誌文化，以及積極推廣本地網誌及互聯網的文化，深入探討新媒體崛起對於本地文化的衝擊，強化本地的網潮力量。」

 是次香港網誌年會成功邀請了學生代表，與家長、老師及社工公開討論學生博客的話題，討論應否查看學生網誌及應對之道。當日香港基督教服務處 「網開新一面計畫」計畫主任孔憲正社工、慕光英文書院電腦科教師梁家雄老師、香港教育城助理計劃經理王天行，以及家長學生代表參與論壇。

重點項目：

• 網誌(blog)發展至今，已在本港形成一股網誌熱潮，任何主題透過網誌發佈後的迴響，仿如實況報導。正因為博客(Blogger) 寫網誌無分年齡、界別，因而造就網誌文化百花齊放的局面。香港網誌年會為首屆舉辦，旨在希望本地博客可以討論及分享網誌文化的甜酸苦辣，加強對於寫Blog的認識及體驗。
• HK Twit Group於年會上公佈首個香港Twitter用戶統計報告，就本地Twitter用戶數字、使用習慣及用量作出統計。根據調查機構Nielson的統計，今年上半年度全球Twitter用戶已比去年同期上升1,382%，用戶數目高達7,038,000；HK Twit Group統計數字顯示，香港Twitter用戶亦已高達一萬，可見其發展潛力實在不能小覤。

網誌文化百花齊放

• 是次香港網誌年會成功邀請了學生代表，與家長、老師及社工公開討論學生博客的話題，討論應否查看學生網誌及應對之道。當日香港基督教服務處 「網開新一面計畫」計畫主任孔憲正社工、慕光英文書院電腦科教師梁家雄老師、香港教育城助理計劃經理王天行，以及家長學生代表參與論壇。
• 「潮爆長者與你Blog一Blog」頒發獎項鼓勵長者博客，其中老友網年屆93歲的超伯更是博客中的表表者，大談如何以其網誌「超伯超伯 – 超伯」與家人溝通，網上分享天倫之樂。
• 「傷健人士分享上網快樂與辛酸」邀請堅毅不屈的兩位傷健人士到場分享，包括「路向四肢傷殘人士協會」代表詹嘉德，以及勵智協進會陳惠儀，與群眾分享如何克服困難，在上網尋找樂與悲的故事。
• 社會媒體的興起，社福機構想以此作為宣傳渠道之一但苦無對策，當日綠色和平、樂施會與香港資訊科技商會(HKITF)委員黃岳永分享社會媒體對於非牟利機構的應用。
• 隨著通訊科技的迅速發展，博客及群眾應如何應對互聯網的衝擊，「香港良知」發起人莫乃光與尹思哲在場與博客討論香港良知的話題，共建正面良好的本地網誌文化氛圍，同場更有「健康空氣行動」代表Joanne Ooi參與。
• 解渴誌(DrinkaZine)與香港漫遊協會(ITA)介紹旅遊與網上平台的互動 –ITA邀請會員以香港一日遊行程作題，設計行程後放在自己的網誌，將會現場分享行程；解渴誌介紹飲品與Web 2.0的互動關係，以及廣邀更多旅遊博客參加「旅遊大手茶」遊記寫作比賽。

解讀本地博客的迷思

• 當日邀請數位博客分享成功之道，包括著名博客袁彌明透過寫網誌開創其網上百貨，以及匯聚電影工作者、音樂人、時尚設計師和其他各類藝術家的網誌社群AliveNotDead的Raffi Kamalian及Andrew Lin (連凱)與你解構博客發展道路。
• 新一代喜將心聲以歌聲唱出來，香港投訴合唱團將源於芬蘭的「投訴合唱團」引入香港，當日帶領在場觀眾即席對唱。
• 就博客寫網誌是否需要申報利益為主題，由品牌負責人、博客及公關案內人討論本地網誌文化的發展。
• 博客大道展覽展示本地近年網誌大事回顧，詳情請參閱香港網誌年會大會網誌：http://www.hkbloggercon.asia

有關香港網誌年會之精彩相片及資料，將會上載於以下社交媒體網站：

主辦單位：

• DotAsia Organisation
• 老有網

協辦單位：

• 互聯網專業協會(iProA)
• 香港互聯網協會(ISOC HK)
• HKBlogger Union

支持機構：

• 香港投訴合唱團
• 香港社會服務聯會
• 樂施會
• 綠色和平
• 國際漫遊協會
• Smart Talents Marketing Communications
• Roundtable Community

贊助單位：

• 解渴誌
• Microsoft

關於DotAsia

DotAsia Organisation 是於香港成立的非牟利機構，致力貢獻社群及推動亞洲區內互聯網的應用和發展。DotAsia 是「 . Asia」頂級域名的管理組織及註冊處，由區內20 個國碼頂級域名機構(ccTLD)，包括.CN(中國) 、.JP(日本) 、.KR(韓國) 、.IN(印度)、.NZ(紐西蘭) 、.PH(菲律賓) 等和5 個區內互聯網組織APNIC、APNG、APCERT、PAN 和APTLD 以開放合作形式建立。亞洲目前在國際商業、政治及文化網絡舉足輕重，而「 . Asia」域名希望能將這股亞洲世紀的動力，凝聚成區內互聯網活動及發展的核心力量。欲知更多有關DotAsia 的資料，請瀏覽http :// www.registry.asia。

The online newsroom isn’t just for corporations; a New Communications Initiative report links to the newsroom of Greenpeace as a good example of how to make a successful social media newsroom. Greenpeace is a non-governmental organization known for their extreme measures to help save animals and the environment. Their newsroom is a great place for media representatives and publics to come to understand their organization and mission.

With only a glace the user will see their newsroom offers everything. The Greenpeace pressroom looks exactly like their Web site. The two sites are complementary of each other. In the newsroom, the viewer first sees the logo and how to donate or take action. Below this is the media center, numerous public relations contacts that have specified regions of expertise such as video or photos and are also organized by geographic region of the United States are listed with phone numbers and e-mail addresses. In the center of the page there are snippets from their latest press releases where there is an option to click, and read more. On the left side of the page they have links to Greenpeace news releases, press contacts, experts, pictures, reports, and a specified center for bloggers. There is also a box showcasing their Twitter feed and a corresponding link to follow them on Twitter. On her blog, Save the Media, Gina Chen talks about how when designing your company’s newsroom your first concern should be thinking about the web. Greenpeace’s newsroom is a prime example of this

The blogger center is the most interesting and innovative section. It perfectly illustrates the need for and attention to blogger relations in Web 2.0. Greenpeace wants to provide an area for people blogging about them. In the blogger center you can register your blog and see the latest stories, video, and images. Greenpeace understand that bloggers have become a huge influence. An article titled, How to Master Corporate Blogging stresses the importance of the blogger relating to the audience member and the corporate identity. The article also mentions that blogging is all about creating an identity and connecting. Greenpeace wants bloggers to relate and connect to their organization. According to a study from Arketi Group, blogs are not only important because consumers and other bloggers are reading them but also 72% of journalists are reading blogs and finding story ideas and facts from them. Blogging has become the new platform for news and information, Greenpeace is embracing this platform.

Should I send a product sample to this blogger?

I would love to feature your product with a product review and giveaway! My blog is receiving 18,000+ unique visitors per month – additional stats and information are available on my media page. I am happy to answer any questions and set up a review and giveaway for you.

Beth, marketing/sales director, consumer product company

________________________________________________________________

By Jennifer Manocchio

With millions of blogs on the web it can be a challenge to determine what blogs to invest your time and money.  This is precisely why we created a three-step approach at the agency to evaluate blogs prior to committing client’s products for reviews and giveaways.

1.  Review the blog content and consider the following:  content, voice and interaction.  Is the blog well written?  Do you like the approach the blogger is taking with product reviews?  Do you see other major product brands being reviewed on the blog? Are readers posting comments and interacting with the blogger?

2.  Check http://www.compete.com or http://www.quantcast.com to see if the web site statistics are available.  Traffic to blogs varies greatly so you want to be sure there is significant traffic coming to the blog.  However, Quantcast and Compete will not show statistics from some blog publishing platforms like WordPress and Blog Spot.  So don’t rule out blogs on WordPress or Blog Spot even though you cannot get an accurate number of visitors.

3.  Get the blog’s authority and ranking on http://www.technorati.com.  Technorati is a database of more than a million blogs.  While not all blogs are included in Technorati’s database, it is still beneficial to check because most credible and widely read blogs are in the system.

When you enter the blog into Technorati, you will typically get two numbers in the search results – the authority and the ranking.  The authority is the number of other blogs and web sites that are linking to that particular blog.  The higher the authority is, the more credible the blog.  The ranking indicates how well a blog compares to other blogs in the Technorati database.  The lower the number is, the higher the ranking, the more credible the blog.

Once you have the data, the next step is to determine whether the blog is a good fit.  Blog traffic and Technorati authority and ranking vary by industry.  For example, if you are evaluating mommy blogs they tend to get more traffic, have a higher Technorti authority and lower Technorait ranking than a blog focused on a specific topic like diabetes.  It will probably be beneficial to evaluate a few different blogs in a specific category to determine if the numbers are favorable.

If you have any questions about evaluating blogs or our approach to conducting blogger relations, please contact me at jennifer@sweeneypr.com or 910.772.1688.

Online media rooms (also known as newsrooms, press rooms and news pages) are a critical part of any organization’s Web site. Not only do these sites reach journalists who are covering your organizations, but online media rooms also provide information directly to your customers (or in the case of nonprofits, donors, volunteers and potential corporate partners).

I have been reading David Meerman Scott’s The New Rules of Marketing and PR, where I have found many, many good points about using social media to benefit companies from a marketing and PR standpoint. He gives several ideas for optimizing media rooms, including optimizing press releases for searching and browsing, publishing an online press kit in an easy-to-find location and including multimedia content. Scott also recommends including important information about the company’s products or services, a schedule of executives’ speaking engagements and appearances and ensuring the media room speaks to bloggers as well as traditional journalists. Scott also reminds his readers to syndicate their news feeds through RSS.

– Side note: David Meerman Scott provides great insight on his blog and continues to provide interesting points of view on a very regular basis. You can read and subscribe to his blog here. –

I really like that he points out the need to make an online media room capable of handling global inquiries, if appropriate. I had no idea that simple things such as making PDFs formatted for A4 size paper would make an online media room more international-user-friendly. This reminds me of a post on the Burrelles-Luce blog Fresh Ideas, stating that it’s important to do research before pitching media outlets. While a media room is not a direct pitch, I agree with the post on Fresh Ideas that communicators should do media research before approaching an outlet. I would also think those media rooms that then incorporate that research – keeping in mind the outlets that provide them with substantial coverage – would be the most successful.

I spent some time looking through online media rooms to find some examples of fantastic execution, and I believe it would be very difficult to top the U.S. Army Accessions Command Newsroom. The site includes clear links to news, multimedia, media resources and army events. Another brilliant thing about this site is that the contact information for communications officials is prominently displayed right underneath the site header. This makes it easy for journalists to contact the right people without having to search for their information. If I learned anything while I was in journalism school, it’s that reporters are busy and need to be able to know how to get in touch when they have questions.

The Army site also has feeds to stories mentioning them across the U.S., the ArmyStories Twitter feed, internal news and press releases. The site is engaging, provides links to more information and other social media outlets, and looks fantastic without deviating from the Army’s brand personality. The site also incorporates videos and photos that answer many of the questions prospective Army members might have.

Spend some time checking out the Army’s online newsroom. It’s really a shining example of how to provide journalists and audiences with information they’re trying to find.

In your experience, what do you find to be the most useful information on organizations’ online media rooms? What do you think are some practices to follow?  On the other hand, what would you say is the type of information that’s not completely necessary on online media room sites?

The only way a more perfect example of adapting and integrating classic PR and media relations strategy with contemporary social media tactics could exist is if it had been made available to me when I wrote about the subject a few days ago.

The Bad Pitch Blog posted a shining example of how to pitch bloggers…turns out it’s somewhat similar to pitching columnists. However, if you consider that not only did the public relations representative (let’s give her some credit – her name’s Tamara Gruber) get Tungle placed in an FIR podcast by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson – prominent voices in the PR world – but other bloggers (including myself) have begun writing about her and her company’s products and providing links to her company’s Web site.

While I am not saying my input will make this go viral, blogs like mine (fairly unknown, but which get a few hits here and there) are part of the steps toward such a result. Her company could potentially get a substantial increase in Web traffic as a result of her expertly executed pitch.

Read about how she executed such a sparkling example of using traditional strategy with contemporary vehicles on the Bad Pitch Blog and find out more about Tungle from their blog.

When to start engaging Smart Talents’ services? When you are ….

- looking for a team with passion, enthusiasms, creative, strong communications skills and self-motivated

- going to untap your company’s potentials

- going  to find someone who can THINK OUT OF THE BOX

- going to identify new market opportunities

何時開始選擇Smart Talents的服務? 當你正在…

- 尋找充滿熱誠、鬥志、創意、溝通能力強及自發性的團隊

- 準備發揮公司的潛能

- 尋找具備無限創意，打破傳統框框的團隊

- 尋找新市場商機

What does Smart Talents offer?

Integrated Marketing Communications service includes-

- PUBLIC RELATIONS: media relations, press release, press interview, press conference, bylined article, executive briefing, media training…

- MARKETING: marketing promotion, events,

- ONLINE ADVERTISEMENT: identify online networks (forums/blogs/websites), media planning

- DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS: social media strategy, blogger relations, social media tools

- COPYWRITING: translation, write-up, localization

Smart Talents 服務範圍包括…

整合的市場傳訊服務:

公共關係: 傳媒關係、新聞稿、傳媒專訪、記者會、供稿、如何面對傳媒工作坊

市場推廣: 推廣宣傳、大型活動

網上廣告: 物色合適網絡 (論壇、網誌、網站)

社會媒體: 網上媒體

Firstly, I should disclose that I have a very set view on the PR blackout. I work in marketing, and I used to work in journalism, so I have a real understanding of how important PR people are to the professional journalism industry. I also believe that mommy bloggers are perhaps the farthest group from real, professional journalists out there (there are MANY exceptions, as my colleagues and I discussed today – but people who charge for “editorial” coverage, demand free products, wardrobes, shoes, high ticket items and other merchandise in exchange for positive reviews are the polar opposite of any form of journalism I’ve encountered).

I also got an even better reason – today – to call bullshit on the PR blackout and its biggest advocates. Last night was the MomDot dinner. I wasn’t there, but the women who attended recapped the jist of the conversation, and that’s why I was so shocked today to witness the hypocrisy of the women who are advising their fellow bloggers to banish their PR reps. I was standing in line for one of the “swag suites” (a room where mom bloggers go to get free stuff – no PR people, just a huge variety of gimmes that women elbow at each other to grab), and I noticed three of the most vocal advocates for the PR blackout were literally the FIRST THREE WOMEN IN LINE! If you want to advocate for a PR boycott, why would you be the first people in line for handouts from the very people you’re boycotting? Are you just entitled to get things because you’re such important people?

I was sadly disappointed, and while I feel like I may face some retribution, I feel obligated to say “shame on you” to these women. The PR blackout advocates are asking mom bloggers – many of whom count on the money from their blog posts for extra cash or to contribute to household bills – to bite the hands that feed them and put an extra financial burden on their husbands during what is already a really tough economic climate. They’re asking these women to take on economic burden, risk the established relationships they have with the PR reps that give them exclusives, product samples, and all kinds of perks for coverage, to give that up. With a request like that – I would expect these women to lead by example – and not continue to take the handouts themselves.

I personally will not be participating in the blackout – but for those of you out there who are, I thought it was only fair for you all to know that this took place. I’m sure that this wasn’t the only swag line they were in, nor were these gimmes the only ones they took home.

One of my co-workers is looking for some top bloggers on health products, health supplements, fitness, etc. The plan is to send free product to bloggers to talk about the product…  have any tips?

Director of Operations, Canadian health supplements business

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By Kayleigh Fitch, Guest Blogger

Assuming the health products are being targeted at consumers and that blogger relations is just one element of a bigger, broader strategy, start by developing a blogger list or database of bloggers you want to target – bloggers who write about health products, supplements, fitness, etc.

1. Start by running a general Google search for fitness and health bloggers.

2. Take time to visit and read the blogs that come up as top results.  Get a feel for topics each blogger is interested in writing about.

3. Identify the blogs that appear to be the best fit – based on content – for the products you want to promote.

4. Most influential bloggers host lists of related blogs on their own web sites called blog rolls.  Use the blog rolls of the first bloggers you identify as starting points to learn about other influential blogs in the health and fitness industry.  You can simply click on the name of a blog, and it will link directly to the home page.  Now you can scan these newly identified blogs to see if their content is relevant to your product.

5. When you identify a relevant blog you want to include on your list, use free measurement tools to measure the influence of that blog.  At www.compete.com, you can track how many unique visitors the blog reaches each month. Using the search function at www.technorati.com, you will learn how many other sites link back to the blog (Authority) as well as the blog’s rank among all other blogs (the lower the number the better).

Keep track of these numbers, and only include blogs on your list that have the highest unique visitors per month, or authority rankings greater than 10.

If the blog isn’t very influential based on these statistics, but the blogger is an active participant in other social media endeavors such as Twitter, consider including the blog on your list.

As you research blogs you will notice certain bloggers are routinely linked to or referenced by other blogs and web sites in the industry, indicating the more popular and/or credible sources. Popular bloggers are often referenced and sourced by the traditional media as well.

6. In addition to measuring the influence of each blog, it is important to ensure blogs are not spam blogs or “splogs”, artificial blogs using unoriginal content created to promote or increase search engine rankings of affiliated web sites.  Splogs often lack contact information for the author or a simple blogger profile and are missing a human voice.

Ultimately, you should visit and become familiar with every blog in your database. It is a lot of work, but worth the effort in order to establish a quality database.

That, of course, is the easy part. Now, to run a campaign…

1. Determine the primary goal of your campaign: Do you want to promote product trial and positive reviews? Do you want the campaign to drive traffic to your web site? Do you simply want to build brand awareness and create impressions?

2. Based on your goals, decide whether you would like the blogger to simply review your product, conduct a giveaway for blog readers, or participate in a more involved challenge.

3. Craft an email to send to the bloggers introducing and describing your company, why it would be beneficial to test/review your product and share results with their readers, and what specifically you would like to offer.  Be honest and upfront in your email about what you will provide to the blogger and what you expect in return. Bloggers prefer a more conversational tone when communicating as opposed to business speak.   Your information should be more like an invitation than a news release.

4. Send the email and wait to see who responds. Be prepared to modify your offering for an influential blogger with a specific request (i.e. more products to giveaway or a greater sample size).  Most bloggers do not post their telephone numbers, so follow-up is generally limited to a second email.  If you do not get the response you desire, you may need to improve your offer or send an email indicating the deadline for participation is approaching.

5. Once you have a final list of bloggers who have confirmed they will participate in your campaign, ship/mail products and immediately confirm by email when bloggers should expect the product samples.  Be sure to include a personal letter to each blogger, information about the product, and tips for product usage in the package to ensure the blogger understands the key messages to communicate with readers about your product.

6. Monitor blogs for reviews.

7. If a blogger has accepted a free sample, but has not posted a review, follow up to ensure they received the product and discover if they liked/disliked the product.

8. If the blogger has an issue with the product, do your best to address it quickly.  To provide the best information, refer back to proper use instructions and chemists or product engineers when possible.

Ultimately, if the blogger just does not like the product, he or she may choose not to post a review at all.

9. Finally, track campaign results (coverage and web site traffic) using Google alerts and analytics.

By Jennifer Manocchio

The short answer is yes.

Blog reviews can increase brand awareness, product trial, SEO rankings, web site traffic and retail and Internet sales.  Blog reviews can have this influence because many people read blogs regularly and consider the blogs they follow to be credible resources.  Consider that of the 42 million female Internet users in the United States who participate in social media, 43% visit blogs for advice or to get recommendations according to the 2009 Social Media Study.

The key is to identify the goals you want to achieve, identify the target audiences you want to reach and design a campaign that will specifically help you meet those goals.  It is also imperative the campaign include a method for measuring the results.

For example, if your goal is to increase product trial among stay-at-home moms, a positive blog review in top “Mommy” blogs will accomplish that goal by alerting followers that it is a good product.  You can enhance product trial by also offering giveaways to the blog followers.  Most bloggers appreciate giveaways because they engage followers and keep them coming back to their blog.

If you want the blog coverage to drive traffic to your web site or a microsite, employ promotional offers – like coupons, product samples or giveaways – on your site to encourage bloggers to provide a link to your site.

A Case in Point

Sweeney launched a blogger relations campaign for One TIME Wood – a leading outdoor wood sealer – during the second quarter of 2009.  The goal of the campaign was to create product awareness, drive consumer traffic to its web site, and increase online sales.

To achieve this objective, the agency created an interactive blogger relations campaign that allowed bloggers to test and compare One TIME’s product against competitive products. Sweeney created the One TIME Wood Protector Challenge and invited the Internet’s top home improvement and mommy bloggers to test One TIME Wood against any traditional wood sealer.

Participants received a challenge kit, including: One TIME Wood Protector, wood sample, paintbrushes, competitor’s sample and instructions. One influential home improvement blogger was given enough One TIME Wood Protector and One TIME Stain and Sealer Remover to refinish an entire deck.

Bloggers were encouraged to report the challenge results on their blogs (positive or negative).  As a benefit to the blogger and their readers, One TIME offered a 10% off promotional code for the purchase of One TIME Wood.  This also allowed Sweeney to track the sales.

The Results

One hundred percent of the participating bloggers raved to their followers about One TIME’s unique performance.  In turn, the blogger reviews generated awareness, traffic and sales. In fact, the company experienced 16% increase in Internet sales as a direct result of the blogger relations campaign.

Following is a representative sampling of the actual reviews:

http://www.mommygoggles.com/one-time-wood-sealer-challenge/

http://www.frommelissasdesk.com/2009/05/one-time-the-leader-in-wood-protection-review.html

http://gseemoore.blogspot.com/2009/05/one-time-wood-campaign.html

http://reesspace.blogspot.com/2009/05/check-out-my-one-time-wood-protector.html

In all, the campaign:

• reached more than 90,837 consumers…
• created 28 direct links to www.onetimewood.com…
• drove 135 consumers (53.32% new visitors) to                                    www.onetimewood.com; they visited an average of 5.24 pages each     and stayed on the web site for an average of 5:14 minutes.
• began generating awareness and establishing the One TIME brand as the best wood protector for decks and fences.

And because these blog reviews are online, they will remain available for consumers to read for many months and years to come.

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Have a marketing, public relations, social media or advertising question?  Post your question below or email exeqnation at gmail dot com.  We are committed to answering your marketing questions real time.  And if we don’t know the answer, we’ll contact one of our valued partners who will.

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Lot’s Of Great Articles Today…I’ve Got So Many Tabs Open & It’s Only 9:10…Man I’m Never Going To Get Them All!

When the Times Wire crackles – New York Times (Neiman Labs)

With PR on the Rise, Here’s a Refresher Course in the Basics – AdAge

Chipotle Tells Consumers: Make Your Own – ADWEEK

Google Talking to New York Times, Washington Post About…Something – All Things D

PR Isn’t Rocket Science: Shhh I’m Going To Let You In On A Secret - Communications Conversations

Selling Social Media Isn’t Hard; Implementing It Is – AdAge

Make Room for the Wide Load Ads – New York Times (Bits)

Twitter squatters creating brand confusion – Social Media Today

New Coca Cola Summer Can – Cyana Trend Land

Using Twitter for the Search – Wall Street Journal

It’s the worst hotel in the world –and proud of it – National Post

Google Dreams Come Untrue – Business Insider

Scamming Twitter Trends: This Needs To Be Fixed – Mashable

Making News Content Search & Social Media Friendly – Online Marketing Blog

6 Reasons Why Your Blog Is Your Most Important Social Media Tool – Content Marketing Today

Chrome on the boob tube as Google pitches browser to masses – Ars Techinca

Vitamins Found to Curb Exercise Benefits – New York Times

Out: PR Pros – In: Communications Pros – Flacker

The Art and Science of Blogger Relations – Updated eBook – PR 2.0

PR Pros Weigh in on Chevron’s ‘60 Minutes’ Offensive – AdAge

Twitter and ABC Launch a Tweetable News Show – Mashable

As Storefronts Become Vacant, Ads Arrive – New York Times (Stephanie Clifford)

Local News Needs PR to Survive: So Stop Releasing and Start Conversing – Bulldog Reporter

© Rainer Sturm; Pixelio

Der Pressespiegel ist bis heute noch ein wichtiger Gradmesser, wenn es darum geht, den Erfolg eines Projektes oder der eigenen Arbeit zu bewerten. Wie viele Zeitungsartikel wurden darüber geschrieben und veröffentlicht? Haben Radio und TV darüber berichtet und wenn ja, wie ausführlich?

Leider werden der Kunst und der Kultur immer weniger Platz eingeräumt, egal welches der klassischen Medien wir anschauen. Gut, die Gründe sind hinlänglich bekannt, aber was machen denn die Kulturbetriebe, um noch irgendwo in den Medien erwähnt zu werden? Schließlich ist es wichtig, in der Öffentlichkeit wahrgenommen zu werden, wenn es um die Akzeptanz des eigenen Angebots bzw. um die Auslastung geht.

Eine Möglichkeit ist der Aufbau einer Social Media Präsenz, was mittlerweile viele Kulturbetriebe erkannt haben und deshalb auf Twitter, Facebook, etc. zu finden sind. Nur reicht das schon, wenn ich über diese verschiedenen Kanäle mein Publikum zu erreichen versuche? Ich denke nicht, denn es fehlt der Multiplikatoreffekt, für den die Berichterstattung in den Feuilletons gesorgt hat bzw. sorgt, wenn es gelingt, dort hinein zu gelangen.

Für den Multiplikatoreffekt könnten z.B. Blogger sorgen. Nur wie geht man da vor? Ed Wohlfahrt hat ein recht schönes Beispiel aus dem Tourismusbereich entdeckt. In seinem Blogpost “Tourismus 2.0: Blogger Relations auf australische Art” erzählt er, wie Tourism Australia das macht. Dort setzt man auf Blogger und lädt diese ganz gezielt zu Veranstaltungen nach Australien ein. Der erste, der in den Genuss einer solchen Einladung kam (und darüber hinaus auch bezahlt wurde), war Scott Schuman, der mit The Sartorialist eines der einflussreichsten Modeblogs betreibt. Eingeladen wurde er zur Fashion Week nach Sydney, verbunden mit der Hoffnung, dass seine Berichte über diese Modemesse entsprechend Aufmerksamkeit erregen. Die Rechnung ging wohl auf, denn Schumann veröffentlichte auf seinem Blog, das monatlich ca. 3 Mio. Zugriffe aufweist, insgesamt 16 Beiträge und erhielt darauf mehr als 2.000 Kommentare.

Nun haben die Kulturbetriebe, um die es mir hier geht, in der Regel ihren Sitz nicht in Australien und sie hätten wahrscheinlich auch nicht das Geld, Blogger aus Europa, den USA oder sonst woher einzuladen. Hinzu kommt, dass es im Kunst- und Kulturbereich keine Weblogs gibt, die ein so große Reichweite aufweisen.

Was also tun? Einen möglichen Weg haben die Duisburger Philharmoniker aufgezeigt, die mit ihrer Aktion Web@Classic (siehe dazu: “Und was kommt nach dem Web2.0?“) die entsprechende Aufmerksamkeit im Social Web erreichen konnten.

In diesem Fall konnte man es sich leisten, eine relativ große Bloggerschar einzuladen, weil an freien Sitzplätzen kein Mangel herrschte. Was aber ist, wenn es sich um eine Premiere handelt, vielleicht mit bekannten KünstlerInnen? Verzichte ich dann darauf, Blogger einzuladen, weil ich auch so in den Medien auftauche und ein volles Haus erwarte?  Bzw. was mache ich, wenn Blogger um eine kostenlose Karte anfragen, weil sie über das Event berichten wollen? Ablehnen? Wahrscheinlich würde das nicht besonders gut ankommen und mittel- und langfristig dem Kulturbetrieb eher schaden.

Interessant ist in diesem Zusammenhang ein Blogpost von Amanda Ameer auf Life’s a Pitch. In ihrem Beitrag “No such thing as a free ticket” geht es genau um dieses Problem. Schließlich bedeutet die Einladung an einen oder mehrere Blogger eine finanzielle Einbusse, denn die Plätze ließen sich ja sonst verkaufen. Sie empfiehlt, sich im Falle einer Anfrage das Blog genau anzuschauen und auch die Statistik (Zugriffszahlen) zu berücksichtigen.

Was aber ist, wenn dann der Blogger die Veranstaltung dank einer kostenlosen Karte genießen kann, im Blog aber nicht darüber berichtet? Ameers Haltung ist da ganz eindeutig:

“I would also recommend giving many bloggers first chances but not so many second chances. If a blogger with a high number of page views is given a ticket to a concert and then doesn’t review it, it’s fine to turn down their next request as far as I’m concerned. Bloggers aren’t dealing with space constraints or editors, so there’s no excuse for accepting free tickets and then not reviewing.”,

schreibt sie. Auch sie hat im Fall eines ihrer Kunden auf Blogs gesetzt und sich ganz gezielt zwei einflussreiche herausgesucht. Nun gibt es mittlerweile auch bei uns einige Blogs, die sich der kulturellen Berichterstattung verschrieben haben. Was mich interessieren würde: wie gehen die Kultureinrichtungen damit um? Sprechen sie die Blogger ganz gezielt an und laden sie ein? Oder ist das Thema Blogger Relations dort noch gar nicht angekommen?

Und noch eine Frage habe ich dazu: interessieren sich Blogbetreiber überhaupt dafür, in die Rolle von Kulturjournalisten hineinzuwachsen, bei denen dann natürlich auch professionelle Maßstäbe gelten?

Christine Perkett recently wrote an interesting and provactive piece for her blog, Perkett Persuasion.

In it, she reminds us that PR is not dying but evolving. Media is changing and for PR firms and professionals to survive, we must evolve alongside it and adapt in order to really take advantage of  everything these changes offer.

Check out her post here: Your Turn: What Can We Do Better in Public Relations?

And Check out this post by David Mullen in which he Coins the Term ‘People Relations’ – Brought to you by @Dmullen @Ariherzog @shannonpaul & @missusp - The “P” in PR Should Stand for “People”

I think blogger relations and people relations have really gained value. Word of mouth no longer means generating buzz and executing stunts, it means keeping a consistent and constant dialogue with your audience or consumer base. Obviously, as twitter evolves and becomes more of a mainstream platform, this type of engagement should be a focus in PR. Similarly, blogs are powerful a powerful and influential medium that has come to rival the even the greatest of traditional media outlets, especially when catering to a niche market. Keeping up what blogs are popular, who blogs about what topic…etc is incredible difficult because it changes every day. But for social media people, this opens the door of potential exposure, if handled correctly. As print continues to flounder, people will turn to blogs and hybrid sites that combine brand blogging with user generated info (like Gereports.com – not affiliated with them in any way,just a good example). Everyone is now both a consumer and producer. Relying solely on traditional media for outreach isn’t taking advantage of the fact that everyone’s voice is equally powerful and valid, and continues to gain authority as social media evolves. The fact that this world is ‘online’ gives a lot of people who have been in PR for a long time, the feeling that it’s not a credible medium and that it’s not valuable. As such, social media or blogger relations…and ‘people relations’ aren’t taken seriously. Blogs are spammed, twitter is used to feed useless updates about company news or brand deals…and the potential is never seen and those feelings are validated because no effort is made. We need to, as an industry, learn to respect the online community and understand that individual people are as important as major newspapers & that doesn’t devalue our jobs, rather, it provides us with an unlimited number of outlets to work with. Understanding that will help take PR to the next level. Change = Good

Bloggers are more influential than ever. Some suggest that bloggers have more audience than printed media. I can believe this – I subscribe to the RSS feeds of over 100 blogs, but read less than one dozen magazines on any kind of a regular basis. Because of this, many organizations (and individuals) want to be profiled by bloggers. They know that the opinion of a popular blogger can launch or kill their brand. This has led to really bad blogger pitches.

I urge you to follow these essential tips for pitching bloggers.

1. Respect bloggers as you would respect a reporter. They may not have the legal standing of journalists, but these are people who are writing blogs out of a passion. Many bloggers make nothing, or very little, for their efforts. Some compare blogging to a second job, because bloggers spend a ton of time thinking of new topics, researching, writing drafts, and moderating feedback. For some, it can take hours to write one post! Most of the posts on this blog take about 45 minutes to write after thinking of the topic and researching.

2. Read the blog. Don’t rely on the Technorati tags or the About page of the blog – read several pages of posts. If you can easily imagine your product nestled in between other posts (and not just because you want press), then start drafting your message.

3. Address them by name, but not their first name. Most bloggers have their name somewhere on their blog. If possible, address them as Mr or Ms Surname. Don’t start your email with “Hey, girl!” or “Hi Bob” or even “Dear Jenny”. If their surname is nowhere to be found, start your message with their first name and a comma. You may feel like you know them through their writing, but they don’t know you at all! It’s better to be formal until instructed otherwise.

4. Send an actual letter, not just information. I received a pitch recently that wasn’t a letter or even a press release. It was an ad. It was a graphic embedded into an email about their product. No personal message. No clues as to why I was targeted or why my readers would enjoy the product. The product was moderately interesting, and had it been coupled with a personal message, I may have written about it. But now that company and their PR firm are on my blacklist.

5. Make it as easy as possible on the blogger. Let them know if you have exclusive info, if you are willing to be interviewed, where your online newsroom is, what they get out of the deal. However, don’t suggest what they write – it’s their job to write, and will be offended if you tell them what to say.

Those are the basic steps for a successful blogger pitch! Ignore them at the risk of being blacklisted, or even having your email send to Really Bad Pitches Blog and posted on Twitter under #PRfail. In the age of the internet, your bad pitch can follow you forever. Don’t let that happen.

Yesterday I wrote a post here about receiving a PR pitch in a blog comment from a representative of a skin/haircare company called Yes to Carrots titled, PR pitches disguised as blog comments make me feel so dirty.

In an interesting turn of events, I received a phone call this morning from the person who left the comment. He promptly apologized for leaving the comment and explained that he never intended to make me feel diminished in the manner I reported.

I also explained to him that I had absolutely no ill will against him and appreciated his apology and willingness to discuss the matter further with me. After all, isn’t this the kind of interaction that illustrates where the real power and potential of social media lies?

What followed was an interesting conversation about false intimacy.

He explained to me how he reads my blog on a regular basis – subscribes even. He said that he recognized my sense of humor and thought it would be fun to drop a line about the products even though he recognized the true meaning of my post.

My friend Jeremy Tanner and I talked a great deal about this subject over the past weekend during Startup Weekend Detroit: just because I read your blog on a regular basis, or just because I shook your hand at a conference doesn’t mean you know me.

I may feel like I know you because of my level of engagement in your work, which feels so personal, but unless we have had a more meaningful interaction, you don’t really know me.

Had this person engaged with my content, rather than just reading, I may have been in a better position to recognize our connection. I think I would still probably have preferred to be pitched in an email, but I’m sure I would have received the pitch very differently.

So, like so many negative feelings that result from basic human interaction, the true cause was miscommunication and false assumption — not just his. I wrongly assumed his comment signified a lack of knowledge and/or respect for what I do here. On that count, I was wrong, too.

The bottom line is that we’re all trying to navigate this social space with different sets of expectations within a new social paradigm. I hope we can all (myself included) learn to be more patient with one another as we find our way.

I’m confident there can still be a happy ending. A blog post — any blog post is never the end of the story, but only the very beginning of a conversation.

So, what’s next?

Photo by dr.ppr – QTR