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10 TIPS FOR GOOD BLOGGER RELATIONS
Posted by Rowan Wilkinson on March 16, 2009
For a presentation next week i’ve been researching the best ways to conduct blogger relations. I have compiled these points from a range of different blogs and articles, some written by professional bloggers and some written by PRs. Here are 10 tips for good blogger relations:
• RESEARCH:
• Find out which bloggers are writing about the field you’re interested in.
• Keep track of what they’re saying through RSS feeds.
• Use services such as Technorati or Techmeme to identify the key bloggers and others that it would be beneficial to get in touch with.
• Don’t just focus on the top 100 blogs. Also take into account the ‘magic middle’ – the blogs with between 20 – 1000 people linking to them.
• READ BLOG: It sounds obvious but it’s essential to read the blog that you will potentially be engaging.
• Don’t just read the latest post but read a load of their previous posts to gain an understanding of the blogger’s views and interests.
• Read comments that have been posted by other people.
• Check out the ‘about page’ to learn more about the blogger.
• Look at the blogroll to see which blogs they have linked to.
- JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
- Leave comments.
- Use links and trackbacks
- Engage with bloggers on social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook etc.
- Find out what the blogger’s preffered method of contact is and try and enter into a dialogue.
• SEND FREE STUFF: There is no harm in sending some schwag to a blogger to get reviewed or just as a token of appreciation.
• SOCIAL NETWORKS: There are other ways to engage with bloggers than just on their blog: Follow and speak to bloggers on social network sites such as Twitter or Facebook etc. Use social bookmarking tools such as Del.icio.us or Digg to collect links that might be of interest to the blogger.
• BE Personal: Never send impersonal group emails to the bloggers you are targeting. Also, never write two sentences about their blog and then just attach a press release. It is all about building relationships and engaging bloggers on a personal level.
• BE Honest: Be transparent about who you are and who you work for.
• BE Relevant: Make sure that what you have to say is relevant and will interest the blogger that you are saying it to.
• DON’T ‘Pitch’: Bloggers are not journalists. People don’t like to think they are being sold a product or being pressurized to do something. As Brian Solis says: ‘The pitch is dead’. Use the relationship that you have built up with the blogger to find out how you can help each other out.
• Add Value: When you leave a comment, make sure what you write adds value to the content. Engage in the conversation which means not leaving a meaningless comment on a post just for the sake of it.
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March 21st, 2009 at 7:39 am
I think blogger relations is something PR firms really need to work on.
We all know how important the blogoshpere is in terms of influence and if it’s not done right the PR profession is in danger of alienating the whole crowd. It’s lazy and thoughtless to apply traditional media relations practice to bloggers.
As a rule, I don’t think PR firms should even attempt blogger relations if they don’t have people who blog in the company. Done badly, its going to ruin the repuation of the profession.
March 28th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Well, as we said in our presentation on this, blogger relations is a fairly novel concept. So it hasn’t got a proper definition or code per se. So I think without real guidance, many go astray and practice blogger relations using the ‘media pitch’ style. Forward thinking PRs know that the pitch is dead, and the only way to go is through the building of relationships.