	Blogging for Public Relations: Linking, Monitoring, Outward Communications By Donna St. Jean Conti, APR Las October, I had the pleasure of talking with a group of public relations professionals at an Orange County Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) luncheon. I was asked to talk about blogging in public relations. When the speaker coordinator initially asked if I thought it would be a good topic for an Orange County PRSA speech, I said, “Of course! Just make sure that whoever gives the speech also talks about monitoring, not just outward communications.” I added, “It is essential that blog research be included in any clip monitoring program.” She responded, “OK, I’ll do that… How about you deliver the speech?” So, I did. To be honest, I struggled a bit with what to talk about. After all, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of blog posts and articles about blogging in public relations published everyday. I wondered what I could possibly add to the conversation that would be useful. Coincidentally, I gave a speech on the topic to a group of Orange County public information officers in October 2006. At that time, many people were still trying to decide if they should blog and, if so, how. Now, just one year later, blogging has proven to have a significant impact on marketing communications and has even become part of our popular culture. Most of us recognize that marketers should incorporate blogging in one or more of its forms in our public relations campaigns. It is just one tool among the many available to us; and I think that most of us can agree that it can be very useful. However, many of us still struggle with how best to incorporate it. One of the things I talked about in 2006 that I believe is still important to note, is the power of linking in blogging. It explains why blogging has become the phenomena that it is and, once people really understand this, they are motivated to at least consider, if not implement, blogging in their public relations programs. I also discussed one topic that is often overlooked in many posts and articles, the practice of monitoring. Finally, I covered outward communications; specifically, what one needs to think about when launching a blogging program, what successful bloggers have to say about how to pitch them, and how best to promote a blog once it is up and running. LINKING First, take a few minutes to look at the nature of blogs. Have you ever wondered why blogs are the phenomenon they’ve become? Why, when they are often written by just one person, are they so potentially powerful as to influence the reputations and fortunes of some our largest corporations? What is this secret behind blogging power? It is linking. Blogs often include links to other blogs and to resource information. Blogs gain followers who read posts and respond to or forward them with links to other blogs. Here’s an everyday example of how this works. Let us say someone posts something on her blog that is thought provoking or unusually creative. Someone else reads her post and enjoys it enough to post it to his blog, saying, “Hey, check out her post; it’s great, and it fits our discussion.” If it is as good as he thinks, then before you know it, several of her readers and several more of his readers have posted it to their sites, and, like that old shampoo commercial, she told two friends, and so on, and so on… Through this process, blog posts take on lives of their own and can permeate the messages and thoughts of a potentially unlimited number of people–one person at a time at incredibly fast speeds. In this way, bloggers have the power to not only raise awareness and provide third-party validation, but they can also influence search engine optimization (SEO) and overall web traffic. This is known as going viral, and it is through this process that a mention of an organization or client can have long-reaching impact –good or bad – whether the mention is true or not, whether its is posted by a credible source or not. It is also the way that communications messages take hold and spread across the blogosphere to drive those mentions that public relations professional work to get. Alan Scott, senior vice president and marketing officer of Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group, confirmed this trend in a recent post. He wrote, “…regardless of the credibility of a blog, once a viewpoint about a company’s brand, products or executives enters the sprawling marketplace of ideas and is indexed by search engines and delivered via feeds to millions of people, those thoughts and ideas are there forever.” MONITORING Now that we have established why even one blogger can have a major impact on our company’s or clients’ reputations, it’s easy to see why it is so important monitor blogs. If nothing else, monitoring blog posts can remind you of what your audience wants or needs to know. With hundreds or even thousands of new blogs each day, the process of monitoring them can be a time consuming activity, but, with most people using online clipping processes these days, it can be incorporated into an existing monitoring program. Your budget will determine how much you can do; how much time and effort you spend. I have found it to be cost-effective and efficient to narrow down the number of blogs monitored to those that have proven to yield relative posts. M ake sure to monitor these AND watch for new ones via Google and Yahoo! news alerts, which often pick up blog mentions. One of the first steps in developing a blog monitoring program is to go to three useful websites: Technorati (http://www.technorati.com/), Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/start), and OCBlog.net (http://www.ocblog.net/ocblog/). Of course, OCBlog.net is good for finding mentions on Orange County companies and people. All of these are aggregator sites that allow users to search blog sites in the same way that Internet search engines scour web sites. I also have clients who use eWatch, by public relations Newswire. eWatch claims to monitor hundreds of blogs as part of its service. What’s really useful is that their users can request the addition of previously unknown blog sites to those already monitored by the service. Another option for a blog monitoring service is CustomScoop. The fees and coverage options vary, so I recommend researching them to find out if they suit your program needs. Again, the scope of a monitoring program is dependent on budget constraints. Once you’ve started gathering quantitative information about blog posts—how many and where they were found—work on qualitative information. Posts can be extremely valuable to an organization that is sensitive to its brand images and the opinions of its audience, so pay attention to the significant trends in words and phrases, and work with decision makers to manage outgoing messages accordingly. It’s also a good idea to monitor posts about the competition: Does your company or client get the same number of mentions as the competition? How do these comments compare? A well-known blogger, David Meerman Scott, said in his latest book, The New Rules of Marketing & Public Relations, “…become an expert in what’s being said about your organization on blogs. There’s never been a better time for marketers to get a true feel for what’s going on in the real world.” If you haven’t read Scott’s book, I highly recommend it. It’s full of useful information and real-world examples. If you don’t have time to read his book, subscribe to his blog, Web Ink Now. Scott posts almost daily with very useful advice. OUTWARD COMMUNICATION So, now you’ve recognized blogging power and decided to incorporate the practice in your public relations planning. What’s next? You will either set up a site or post to existing ones, or both. The same questions that you ask in other marketing decisions are also relevant to blogging: Who should write the blog? Who is your target reader? What are you blogging about? What benefits do you expect? What needs to be restricted? Where will blogging appear? When will bloggers do the work? W hen will the company see results? Why are you doing this? Now for the launch…If you’re launching a blog, the best ones are lively, relevant, straightforward, and, though informal, well-written. They showcase their owners' distinctive voices, interests and expertise without crossing into overt marketing language. Leave the marketing pitches to the company web site; don’t bring it into your blog. Inform; don’t persuade. To do so would be viewed as rude and would likely alienate audiences who expect a give-and-take conversational environment. A good example is one owned by a very well known Orange County based blogger, Hugh Hewitt. Hewitt, a Chapman University law professor, author and radio talk-show host, describes his blog, HughHewitt.com, as being primarily about politics and breaking news. Like his radio show, though, he can also include items on anything that interests him, including the Cleveland Browns and Indians and Ohio State and Notre Dame football. Hewitt also is the author of the New York Times best selling book, BLOG: Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World. Now that you have the planning and content figured out, what’s the best way to go about posting to other’s blogs? Well, it can be done even as you are sending emails to mainstream editors and reporters. Just tailor your blogger emails to their preferences: use links, real world examples and references to other experts. Think “sharing” rather than “pitching.” That bears repeating: Think “sharing” rather than “pitching.” Above all, resist the urge to use mass distribution techniques. Mark. R. Hinkle, editor-in-chief of Enterprise Open Source and owner of the EncoreOpus blog, recently posted on the topic of how to pitch a blogger. He wrote, “…tell a story that's relevant . Don't tell us what your product does (that’s boring and usually just goes down a rat hole of gobbledygook). Instead, tell us how your company solves problems for your customers.” He added that the key to getting pickups is to make sure the story stands on its own without the product pitch saying, “If it does and your product's included as part of the story it's likely people will investigate what you have to offer.” Hinkle’s words were actually music to my ears as he praised customer stories. I have a history of writing customer case studies, and I remain convinced that they are extremely valuable marketing tools, no matter the outlet. He also pointed out that bloggers are likely to comment on the story as it's unfolding, so sending an email to them as they comment on the evening news might get you mentioned and picked up by others who are commenting on the story. I would add that it’s also a good idea to post a few relevant and helpful comments to people’s blogs before ever posting something that you want them to investigate and comment on. Let the blogger and the audience know that you are familiar with the subject matter and that you are willing to give-and-take, so you won’t appear as simply self-serving. Advertise your blog. It is also important to remember that it’s not enough to simply launch a blog. As with any other form of communication, your audience has to know it is there. You need to promote it, at least in the beginning, to gain an audience. Sheila Ann Manuel Coggins, a blogger, book author and former contributor to About.com provides a very helpful list of the “Top 10 Tips on Promoting Your Blog” on the About.com site. She suggests: Provide quality content. Whatever the topic or style, popular blogs are always well written. And good photographs and illustrations help. Blog often. If your blog gets stale, blog readers will move on. Provide targeted content. Define the type of readers you want and create content for them. This will give them reasons to link back to your blog on an ongoing basis. Do not to stray from your topics or style too much. Use keywords. Search engines look for them. The more you use keywords, the better the chances your posts will appear in search results. Participate in communities. Social networking plays an important role in blogging. Take advantage of the power of linking. Get involved in other people's blogs. Leave thoughtful comments (not just the 'Visit my blog!' type of comments) and try to respond to emails. Mention your blog anywhere you can - in your email signature, in forums, on your business card and in conversations with associates. Submit your blog to directories and registries. Make sure you set your blog to ping tracking sites like Weblogs.com every time you make an update. Consider making use of free and inexpensive advertising tools, including traffic exchange communities. One note that I went over and want to reiterate is that, if you decide to launch your own blog, make time to post often, at least once a week, daily if possible. People expect blogs to operate like a dialogue. They are online conversations. Like any great conversation, you have to keep it going by offering your own ideas even as you respond to others’. So, there is a quick overview of Blogging in public relations - linking, monitoring and outward communications. Hopefully, I given you some useful information or have helped you decide how to proceed with a blogging strategy. There’s no doubt that it’s changed the way we do our business, and it’s not going away. It’s a new tool - a new tactic - and the first to learn how to best tap into its power will be far ahead of the others. # # #

Blogging for Public Relations: Linking, Monitoring, Outward Communications

By Donna St. Jean Conti, APR

Las October, I had the pleasure of talking with a group of public relations professionals at an Orange County Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) luncheon. I was asked to talk about blogging in public relations.

When the speaker coordinator initially asked if I thought it would be a good topic for an Orange County PRSA speech, I said, “Of course! Just make sure that whoever gives the speech also talks about monitoring, not just outward communications.” I added, “It is essential that blog research be included in any clip monitoring program.” She responded, “OK, I’ll do that… How about you deliver the speech?”

So, I did. To be honest, I struggled a bit with what to talk about. After all, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of blog posts and articles about blogging in public relations published everyday. I wondered what I could possibly add to the conversation that would be useful.

Coincidentally, I gave a speech on the topic to a group of Orange County public information officers in October 2006. At that time, many people were still trying to decide if they should blog and, if so, how. Now, just one year later, blogging has proven to have a significant impact on marketing communications and has even become part of our popular culture. Most of us recognize that marketers should incorporate blogging in one or more of its forms in our public relations campaigns. It is just one tool among the many available to us; and I think that most of us can agree that it can be very useful. However, many of us still struggle with how best to incorporate it.

One of the things I talked about in 2006 that I believe is still important to note, is the power of linking in blogging. It explains why blogging has become the phenomena that it is and, once people really understand this, they are motivated to at least consider, if not implement, blogging in their public relations programs.

I also discussed one topic that is often overlooked in many posts and articles, the practice of monitoring. Finally, I covered outward communications; specifically, what one needs to think about when launching a blogging program, what successful bloggers have to say about how to pitch them, and how best to promote a blog once it is up and running.

LINKING

First, take a few minutes to look at the nature of blogs. Have you ever wondered why blogs are the phenomenon they’ve become? Why, when they are often written by just one person, are they so potentially powerful as to influence the reputations and fortunes of some our largest corporations? What is this secret behind blogging power? It is linking. Blogs often include links to other blogs and to resource information. Blogs gain followers who read posts and respond to or forward them with links to other blogs. Here’s an everyday example of how this works. Let us say someone posts something on her blog that is thought provoking or unusually creative. Someone else reads her post and enjoys it enough to post it to his blog, saying, “Hey, check out her post; it’s great, and it fits our discussion.” If it is as good as he thinks, then before you know it, several of her readers and several more of his readers have posted it to their sites, and, like that old shampoo commercial, she told two friends, and so on, and so on…

Through this process, blog posts take on lives of their own and can permeate the messages and thoughts of a potentially unlimited number of people–one person at a time at incredibly fast speeds. In this way, bloggers have the power to not only raise awareness and provide third-party validation, but they can also influence search engine optimization (SEO) and overall web traffic.

This is known as going viral, and it is through this process that a mention of an organization or client can have long-reaching impact –good or bad – whether the mention is true or not, whether its is posted by a credible source or not. It is also the way that communications messages take hold and spread across the blogosphere to drive those mentions that public relations professional work to get.

Alan Scott, senior vice president and marketing officer of Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group, confirmed this trend in a recent post. He wrote, “…regardless of the credibility of a blog, once a viewpoint about a company’s brand, products or executives enters the sprawling marketplace of ideas and is indexed by search engines and delivered via feeds to millions of people, those thoughts and ideas are there forever.”

MONITORING

Now that we have established why even one blogger can have a major impact on our company’s or clients’ reputations, it’s easy to see why it is so important monitor blogs. If nothing else, monitoring blog posts can remind you of what your audience wants or needs to know.

With hundreds or even thousands of new blogs each day, the process of monitoring them can be a time consuming activity, but, with most people using online clipping processes these days, it can be incorporated into an existing monitoring program. Your budget will determine how much you can do; how much time and effort you spend.

I have found it to be cost-effective and efficient to narrow down the number of blogs monitored to those that have proven to yield relative posts. M ake sure to monitor these AND watch for new ones via Google and Yahoo! news alerts, which often pick up blog mentions.

One of the first steps in developing a blog monitoring program is to go to three useful websites: Technorati (http://www.technorati.com/), Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/start), and OCBlog.net (http://www.ocblog.net/ocblog/). Of course, OCBlog.net is good for finding mentions on Orange County companies and people. All of these are aggregator sites that allow users to search blog sites in the same way that Internet search engines scour web sites.

I also have clients who use eWatch, by public relations Newswire. eWatch claims to monitor hundreds of blogs as part of its service. What’s really useful is that their users can request the addition of previously unknown blog sites to those already monitored by the service. Another option for a blog monitoring service is CustomScoop. The fees and coverage options vary, so I recommend researching them to find out if they suit your program needs. Again, the scope of a monitoring program is dependent on budget constraints.

Once you’ve started gathering quantitative information about blog posts—how many and where they were found—work on qualitative information. Posts can be extremely valuable to an organization that is sensitive to its brand images and the opinions of its audience, so pay attention to the significant trends in words and phrases, and work with decision makers to manage outgoing messages accordingly.

It’s also a good idea to monitor posts about the competition:

Does your company or client get the same number of mentions as the competition?
How do these comments compare?

A well-known blogger, David Meerman Scott, said in his latest book, The New Rules of Marketing & Public Relations, “…become an expert in what’s being said about your organization on blogs. There’s never been a better time for marketers to get a true feel for what’s going on in the real world.”

If you haven’t read Scott’s book, I highly recommend it. It’s full of useful information and real-world examples. If you don’t have time to read his book, subscribe to his blog, Web Ink Now. Scott posts almost daily with very useful advice.

OUTWARD COMMUNICATION

So, now you’ve recognized blogging power and decided to incorporate the practice in your public relations planning. What’s next? You will either set up a site or post to existing ones, or both. The same questions that you ask in other marketing decisions are also relevant to blogging:

Who should write the blog?
Who is your target reader?
What are you blogging about?
What benefits do you expect?
What needs to be restricted?
Where will blogging appear?
When will bloggers do the work?
W hen will the company see results?
Why are you doing this?

Now for the launch…If you’re launching a blog, the best ones are lively, relevant, straightforward, and, though informal, well-written. They showcase their owners' distinctive voices, interests and expertise without crossing into overt marketing language. Leave the marketing pitches to the company web site; don’t bring it into your blog. Inform; don’t persuade. To do so would be viewed as rude and would likely alienate audiences who expect a give-and-take conversational environment.

A good example is one owned by a very well known Orange County based blogger, Hugh Hewitt. Hewitt, a Chapman University law professor, author and radio talk-show host, describes his blog, HughHewitt.com, as being primarily about politics and breaking news. Like his radio show, though, he can also include items on anything that interests him, including the Cleveland Browns and Indians and Ohio State and Notre Dame football. Hewitt also is the author of the New York Times best selling book, BLOG: Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World.

Now that you have the planning and content figured out, what’s the best way to go about posting to other’s blogs?

Well, it can be done even as you are sending emails to mainstream editors and reporters. Just tailor your blogger emails to their preferences: use links, real world examples and references to other experts. Think “sharing” rather than “pitching.” That bears repeating: Think “sharing” rather than “pitching.” Above all, resist the urge to use mass distribution techniques.

Mark. R. Hinkle, editor-in-chief of Enterprise Open Source and owner of the EncoreOpus blog, recently posted on the topic of how to pitch a blogger. He wrote, “…tell a story that's relevant . Don't tell us what your product does (that’s boring and usually just goes down a rat hole of gobbledygook). Instead, tell us how your company solves problems for your customers.” He added that the key to getting pickups is to make sure the story stands on its own without the product pitch saying, “If it does and your product's included as part of the story it's likely people will investigate what you have to offer.”

Hinkle’s words were actually music to my ears as he praised customer stories. I have a history of writing customer case studies, and I remain convinced that they are extremely valuable marketing tools, no matter the outlet.

He also pointed out that bloggers are likely to comment on the story as it's unfolding, so sending an email to them as they comment on the evening news might get you mentioned and picked up by others who are commenting on the story.

I would add that it’s also a good idea to post a few relevant and helpful comments to people’s blogs before ever posting something that you want them to investigate and comment on. Let the blogger and the audience know that you are familiar with the subject matter and that you are willing to give-and-take, so you won’t appear as simply self-serving.

Advertise your blog.

It is also important to remember that it’s not enough to simply launch a blog. As with any other form of communication, your audience has to know it is there. You need to promote it, at least in the beginning, to gain an audience.

Sheila Ann Manuel Coggins, a blogger, book author and former contributor to About.com provides a very helpful list of the “Top 10 Tips on Promoting Your Blog” on the About.com site. She suggests:

Provide quality content. Whatever the topic or style, popular blogs are always well written. And good photographs and illustrations help.
Blog often. If your blog gets stale, blog readers will move on.
Provide targeted content. Define the type of readers you want and create content for them. This will give them reasons to link back to your blog on an ongoing basis. Do not to stray from your topics or style too much.
Use keywords. Search engines look for them. The more you use keywords, the better the chances your posts will appear in search results.
Participate in communities. Social networking plays an important role in blogging. Take advantage of the power of linking.
Get involved in other people's blogs. Leave thoughtful comments (not just the 'Visit my blog!' type of comments) and try to respond to emails.
Mention your blog anywhere you can - in your email signature, in forums, on your business card and in conversations with associates.
Submit your blog to directories and registries.
Make sure you set your blog to ping tracking sites like Weblogs.com every time you make an update.
Consider making use of free and inexpensive advertising tools, including traffic exchange communities.

One note that I went over and want to reiterate is that, if you decide to launch your own blog, make time to post often, at least once a week, daily if possible. People expect blogs to operate like a dialogue. They are online conversations. Like any great conversation, you have to keep it going by offering your own ideas even as you respond to others’.

So, there is a quick overview of Blogging in public relations - linking, monitoring and outward communications. Hopefully, I given you some useful information or have helped you decide how to proceed with a blogging strategy. There’s no doubt that it’s changed the way we do our business, and it’s not going away. It’s a new tool - a new tactic - and the first to learn how to best tap into its power will be far ahead of the others.

# # #