Blogger relations remain controversial in any context. In PR, however, there are certain rules involved when pitching a story to a blogger.
Brian Solis’s e-book, A Guide to Blogger Relations, details the intricacies of PR/blogger relationships and suggests that many professionals in the PR industry need to improve both their knowledge and practices in regards to blogs.
In his e-book, Solis says,
“Oh trust me, I know you’re thinking, ‘Who has time to do this? To dedicate one-on-one time with bloggers in addition to traditional media exceeds the amount of hours in a day!’ Let me say this as clear as possible, ‘make the time.’”
Solis proposes a legitimate problem. However, it is not simply that there is not enough time in the day to dig through material on both mainstream media and blogs (or simply mainstream if you believe that blogging is mainstream, as Technorati asserts). But rather, how does PR as a whole deal with Social Media, and specifically-blogging? If there are mixed feelings on whether blogs are a legitimate concern and source of information, then how does one compare the use of Social Media from one PR firm to the next? In other words, Social Media may be creating enormous barriers between the PR industry itself.
In fact, Solis even suggests that some PR professionals (or perhaps un-professionals) are marketing Social Media as a service that they provide to clients when in fact they have no experience or understanding of what it is and how to use it (Solis 12). In my opinion, Social Media tools have become vital to the sustainability of a company and yet, many companies simply choose to ignore them or advertise that they understand, when really, they do everything they can to avoid them.
Solis outlines 10 steps for PR agents to adhere by:
1. What do you stand for? Answer that first before you try to convince people that are busier than you why they should take time to stop what they’re doing to pay you any attention.
2. It’s more than doing your homework. To some doing homework is building lists. Figure out what your are representing and why it matters. How does it compare to other things. What do people need? What are their pains?
3. Practice saying it aloud in one to two minutes or less to a friend or in front of a mirror. Seriously. It works. If you don’t get it no one else will.
4. Less is more. Find the right people, not just because you read their profile in a database, but because you read their work and understand their perspective.
5. Engage in conversations outside of when you need something.
6. Build relationships not lists.
7. Humanize the process and remember that this is about people
8. Stop whining and making excuses. You are responsible for your actions so arm yourself with what you need to be successful.
9. Stop sending press releases without summarizing what the news is and why it is IMPORTANT to the individual person you’re sending it to.
10. Remember the reputation and the future of PR is on you. If you’re not in this to do your job better, then ask yourself why you’re here. If you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem (Solis 20).
I completely agree with each of Solis’s points, but would also suggest one more:
11. Provide information yourself. A person is only as reputable as what they produce and if you don’t produce anything worthwhile yourself, no one will believe that what you are pitching is worthwhile.
This applies to representatives as well as entire agencies. I feel that it is extremely important for PR firms to maintain blogs themselves. It is simply hypocritical to claim an understanding for the importance of Social Media (blogging specifically) if one does not participate in it. As a blog editor, I would personally be more apt to accept a story pitch if I knew that the pitcher understood blogging themselves and contributed useful material to the blogosphere.
