Bloggers & PR #bwe08

Brian Solis, Jason Falls, Chris Brogan and Lee Odden filling in for Michael Clark

Chris tells the crowd of PR professionals that they’re not in the wrong profession and not to feel badly about what they do, no matter what everyone else is telling them.

Must do a better job. If you’re blasting 400 people in the bcc field you’re an idiot. It’s wrong, and you wouldn’t respond to that pitch either. You must know the 400 people individually.

Shotgun approach doesn’t work in social media environment.

Jason Falls: Don’t start with the technology/tools; start with the goal or objective. The tools will reveal themselves.

Odden: Marketers want some strange stuff, like getting on 2nd life or high rankings OVER sales. Bring them back to something they can understand.

How to approach bloggers? PR pros often target PR bloggers first.

How are bloggers (part of) the problem? The bloggers may not know the story behind the story. Don’t know how to say no politely.

How can PR pros better do a pitch? Brevity. Focus on relationship, not the pitch. Don’t use the BCC field.

Engage the blogger (comments.) Send In and Out Burger coupons. (Find out the blogger’s weak spots and use them!) Brian did that and now this a-list blogger always writes up his stuff. Relevancy is key.

How else do you get bloggers’ attention? Bloggers are narcissists; they search their name. If you have a blog, doesn’t hurt to call them out w/in your own post.

Building relationships can’t be goal driven. If you engage to pitch, there could be a problem. Must build trust first.

@lizstrauss gets up and says that “little bloggers grow.” In other words, you can talk to lesser known bloggers and build relationships over the long term.

Ultimately PR is about relationships. (Seems obvious, but I don’t think everyone gets it.)