Monday, July 23, 2007

Yet More Thoughts on PR and Bloggers, and a Book Recommendation

The responses to my posts on how PR people and bloggers can work with each other were generally positive, which makes me happy, mainly because positive relationships between PR types and media people can be beneficial for everyone.

I did get a few negative emails, however, which leads me to ask: if you think that all bloggers are clueless hacks (obviously this is not my opinion), then why are you reading blogs? Also, many bloggers start because they're passionate about something - for every blog loaded with widgets and poor grammar, there's another blog that's well-researched, thoughtful, and possibly even written by an expert. Read before you judge.

Of course, I'm still getting blanket pitches or pitches that, while they do use my actual name, have little to do with anything I write about. Clearly, there is still work to be done when it comes to PR-blogger relations. Of course, I'd still rather be getting a few irrelevant pitches than none at all - it only takes me a few seconds to scan and delete, and I have been turned on to some great products by publicists.

One thing I found myself recommending is the book Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way that Businesses Talk with Customers by Shel Israel and Robert Scoble it gives some good background on the blogosphere and social media, and may spark some great ideas. It's an excellent book for anyone who's involved in marketing, PR, or media to read. Plus (warning: blatant narcissism ahead) the authors practice what they preach when it comes to talking with their readers, including me. (hey, I can never resist linking to a compliment).

So keep the pitches rolling in (just make sure they're actually related to the general content of my blog!).

2 comments:

Shannon Nelson said...

I agree again! Sometimes the pitches I get, I have to wonder if they just fished my contact info from somewhere, as it is obvious they just didn't read my blog.

There are even those that send a press release that is relevant, but then when I email the rep. back, they don't respond. This tells me they simply want me to publish their press release and wanted nothing more to do with me. Those just get hit with the delete button. ;)

The Fashionable Kiffen said...

Yup! Sometimes I wonder whether sending out blanket press releases without interacting is a function of not understanding bloggers or just not caring to learn.