My good friend Aliza Sherman has a great post over on Web Worker Daily about the evolution of the blogger relations model.
The model of “blogger relations” is one that is constantly evolving. I think that both sides are learning what works best for them.
Ideally, the relationship is symbiotic. We pitch, they write. Our clients are happy, their audience is happy.
I think that by bringing up alternative ways to engage bloggers shows a couple of issues at work. First is the blogger vs. journalist argument. Sponsored posts and such don’t work for the bloggers that are considered journalists. Being mindful of that, there are still creative ways to engage. Take the “media tour” of old. Instead of setting up in a metro daily’s conference room, we are bringing clients to coffee shops, neighborhood haunts and home offices to chat with this new era of influencer.
But there’s still room for the “traditional” model. Working with people who blog as part of a news reporting organization (news paper, online media etc…) The goal is to drive coverage for our clients while providing elements that are genuinely “newsworthy.” (what passes for newsworthy is another discussion) We can do so by engaging in a genuine conversation with our pub targets. My advice? I think a solid model looks something like this if you’re able to do it:
- Obviously knowing your target is job one. Make sure they’re appropriate. If you have doubts, imagine what they’ll feel.
- The difference between “please write about this” and “I would love to hear more about what you’re working on and how this can fit in” is huge.
- Keep the relationship professional. This is hard. We know when our reporters get married, get fired or get scooped. But I think it’s important to keep the focus on the client and what your outreach brings to the table.
- Be brief. Be right. Be gone. Keep your outreach focused and to the point.
So, what do you think? How is this model changing and how are we changing with it?
Tags: blogger, ethics, friends, Pitching, PR Tips
A word of advice: I am not a lawyer. Nor am I a registered financial adviser. This is my opinion only and should be treated as such. For guidance, consult your legal counsel.Originally posted at PRBreakfastclub.
If you are in PR, IR, corporate communications or social media, chances are you’ll run into fun rules such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Regulation FD and FINRA guidelines. One of these things these rules have in common is that they are behind the times.
But the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has taken a pretty large step in modernizing the rules that financial services companies must follow while engaging in social media and PR. You can download the FINRA social media guidelines as a PDF.
The big takeaways
The important pieces of this update are the changes to the definitions of static and interactive content. Under the new rules, “Examples of static content typically available through social networking sites include profile, background or wall information.” This information is treated like an advertisement and is subject to regulator approval processes.
Interactive content is a bit more flexible. Tweets, blog comments etc… are interactive content and do not require the approval of an approved regulator. One of the interesting challenges, however are the monitoring and archival requirements.”firms may adopt procedures that require principal review of some or all interactive electronic communications prior to use or may adopt various
methods of post-use review, including sampling and lexicon-based search methodologies as discussed in Regulatory Notice 07-59.”
Others are discussing these social media regulation changes and giving advice on how to proceed as well.
The big impact
I know this is a bit more heady than what we normally discuss, but it’s important. Our society is changing. The way brands interact with us is changing. And the need for the government to monitor those interactions is changing.
As communications professionals, we need to be able to provide sound guidance for our client. But at the same time we need to be innovative in our approach to engaging with our target audiences. To that end, the best advice I can give is know the rules and come as close to breaking them as possible.
Having a policy in place is also essential for firms looking to engage in social media. Having a set of rules that outlines approved interactions will help avoid confusion and potential violations. But in doing so, make sure you’re consulting your legal counsel.
The times, they are a-changin’…
Tags: federally regulated, financial services, FINRA
Twitter has fundamentally changed our lives, whether we like it or not.
And people have written miles of books, blog posts and even tweets about best practices and what matters on Twitter. One of the biggest things that is almost universally agreed upon is to be genuine. So how do we as public relations professionals remain genuine when we’re asked to tweet about a client?
The precedent
Fundamentally you are free to talk about whatever the hell you want with your Twitter stream. It’s your content. It’s your copyright. It’s your reputation.
Your reputation? Yeah, your reputation. You put it on the line each and every time you post something to the public domain. When I hit publish on this post, I was subjecting myself to the judgment of past, present and future employers. It’s the same thing with Twitter.
If your precedent is to include links to client announcements or blog posts, then that’s fine. You’ve willingly shared that information. After all, without clients we wouldn’t be able to pay the electric bill so we could tweet, right? There is a conception that all posts in a social network should be neutral and objective. If you have a relationship, some feel it should be disclosed either up front or by using hash tags or other microsyntax. For example, James Governor from the analyst firm Redmonk uses “$client” to denote posts to his Twitter stream about his paying clients.
And that’s a judgement call you will have to make.
But what about when your employer says you must tweet on a client’s behalf?
Mandated tweeting
I see a potential for conflict when an employer mandates that an employee tweet on its behalf. Making a choice to share the announcement of a project you’ve worked on or a blog post from a co-worker is one thing.
Being told what to tweet and when to tweet it is another beast. The argument is that it’s not genuine. If you don’t want to post it, then why should you be obligated to? I’m all for being a team player. But sometimes you need to protect the community and precedent you have created. I don’t know what the right answer is. So, I’m asking you.
How would you respond to being given a pre-written tweet and being asked to post it? Would you? Why or why not?
Tags: best practices, failure, friends, genuine, Sincere, social media
The PR blogging world is thick. Funny thing about us PR folks is that we all seem to have opinions.
So, I was quite humbled when I was asked to contribute to one of the up and coming communities of bloggers at PRBreakfastClub. For an idea of why I am so excited to do this, you only need to look at the other bloggers on the site.
What do I bring to the table? I’m hoping a lot. I will be focused on a few of the things that I talk about here: federally regulated industries, B2B public relations, technical how tos and other best-practicey topics. To anybody who has found me from #PRBC, welcome here. I promise I’ll post regular content here to.
In the meantime, what do you want to see? What topics would you like to see me cover here or at PRBreakfastClub?
Tags: best practices, blogs, Eric Berto
We all do it. We sit down to make a press list for a project. We start by putting our friends and family on the list then we set out looking for “influencers.” But how do you know who they are?
In the new era of blogs and social media, our influencers no longer sit behind the desk at a major metro daily or behind an anchor desk. So, what makes an influencer in today’s media landscape? Simple: An influencer is somebody who people listen to.
What’s worth more to your client, a mention on the business page of a newspaper with a large circulation and possible syndication or mentions on the blogs, twitter accounts and facebook profiles of several lifestyle bloggers that frequently do product reviews and have a robust community?
The task for you as a PR person is to find the right influencers and get your client in front of them.
Tags: influencer, PR Tips, social media, Tips
What is the future of public relations? Is there one secret or are there multiple best practices that are being developed and refined? I’d like to think the latter. And I’d like to think that I’m contributing to the advancement of the practice of public relations.
As I sit here writing these words, I realize I have a lot of learning, a lot of growing and a lot of room to improve. In my former life, I was a reporter. I covered the gamut from high school sports, county government, education and cops & crime. A far cry from high-tech PR.
But that’s the path I’ve chosen. It’s brought me to some great companies and I have learned a lot.
And now it’s time to continue that education.
I am happy to announce that I am joining the global PR firm Waggener Edstrom as a member of its SWAT Team.
A new opportunity
Now a new era of opportunity begins. I am joining a renowned firm and will be working with Microsoft on a variety of projects. I get to further my education while working alongside some of the brightest minds in the public relations space. Leaders such as Tac Anderson, innovators such as Micheal Foley and a myriad of bloggers on the official Waggener Edstrom blogs (maybe they’ll let me post there occasionally) will be my coworkers and that has me pretty jazzed.
I know that agency life can be different and the company is quite a bit larger than others I’ve worked for. But that’s all part of the adventure. I’m hoping to add some value to WE and its clients. I’ve met a few of my future teammates and I think that there’s a lot of room for ass kicking.
So, this has been an exciting few weeks for me. First the announcement of Baby Berto and now this. On to rock 2010…
Tags: agency, job, new opportunity, professional
Send me a personalized, on-topic, short, timely and interesting pitch. That sums up the general rules set forth by most bloggers who dictate how they’d like to be pitched.
I get it, you’re busy, you have hundreds of companies pitching you per day. But for those of us in the PR field that have adapted to the shifting practice for placing stories, it can be frustrating to jump through the aforementioned hoops and see nothing. So how do we move on?
Well, you keep pitching. Journalists are busy. We’re busy. And pitching is the circle of life. Silicon Valley Watcher also has what it calls the killer pitch. That’s a topic for another day…
Sometimes life flies by so fast you look around and it’s been more than a month since you’ve posted a blog post. Well, maybe it’s just me.
But as a PR person and marketer, I know that fresh content is essential to staying top of mind with those that you want to be thinking about you. So how does one get back on the wagon?
Back on the pony, err, horse
Like Nike says, “Just do it.” Reemerging from the blogging black hole is as simple as opening your content management system and adding a new post. Now, I know this is over-simplifying things, but as a writer, it is your job to, well, to write. So start typing and hit publish.
One from the vault
We’ve all started a post, hit save and then forgot about it. Perhaps you just didn’t like how it sounded. Perhaps you called somebody out and your brain/keyboard filter engaged. Perhaps you thought you might be wrong with your perspective.
If you’ve hit a blogging wall, open your drafts folder and pick one to post. Take a risk and put yourself out there. After all, this is the Internet. Everybody’s right on the Internet.
I’m going to put my blog where my mouth is this week to back this up.
Short but sweet
I love writing short posts because they’re, well, they’re short. Write a quick post with no more than a link to something and three sentences with your opinions. We spend so much time worrying about if we’re right or if we’re in line with popular thought. If you think a campaign is dumb, say so. If you think a cohort’s blog post is nothing but genius, then say so. By keeping it short, you can turn the discussion to your commenters and get something off your chest.
Make a list
My Top 5 Reasons I haven’t Blogged Lately:
- Busy
- Working
- Busy
- Nothing to say
- Busy
In all seriousness, a Top X List post is about as cliché as they come, but they just work. They get you back in the flow of creating content and are easy to post.
Betting back on the blogging horse is difficult. I’ve had several lapses in blogging and each time I resolve to get back into it. What’s the longest you’ve gone without posting? How did you get out of your slump?
Tags: best practices, lull, ponies
Having your blog or Web site rank high in search engine is essentially a guaranteed way to convert sales. But as a PR person, how can you help your clients achieve number-one ranking nirvana?
While at the recent BlogWorld Expo, I sat in on a session that proposed the creation of a network of blogs with content specific to the various products or services your client sells. Relevant key words in the blogs’ titles and content will help it rank so that it does not dilute the keywords in other articles. The strategic use of keyword specific anchor text and linking structures will help as well.
Now, I’m not an SEO expert, but as a PR person, I see the many benefits to this. But there’s a side of me that asks, “Is this genuine?” There’s two sides to this. One of them is black, the other is white. So, I think it’s a gray hat strategy.
The Black Hat
From what I understand, the bad side of this comes in how the blogs are presented. If a network of blogs all have different designs, branding/names, domain registrations and IP addressees, then the assumption is that they are not related. But if all links and referrals point back to a single vendor, this is blatant link farming and search engines look at this extremely unfavorably.
This is a disingenuous method of boosting your page rank. And it does a dis-service to your readers. This will also, if identified by the search engines, end up hurting your ranking and site more as a result of being viewed as manipulative of the search engine results page.
The White Hat
Creating quality content is never a bad thing. But there’s a right way to do this. The theory is sound, but the practice needs to be executed properly.
If you keep the branding and disclose who runs the sites, then the benefits should still come. The underlying premise here is that the content is valuable. Provide information that helps guide a purchasing decision and that will help convert the traffic to revenue.
Technically, there’s more to good content than the words on a page. Ensuring that your site (or sites) is properly optimized with the appropriate links and anchor text, page structure (tagging, linking structure, focused keywords, etc.) and linking out to other quality content are just as important to helping your client’s blogs rank.
Sharing your content is where a different side of blogger outreach comes in to play. Spend time cultivating relationships with other bloggers and sites for content distribution and linking purposes, rather than develop this network artificially yourself. Develop authoritative sites that are on topic and link out to more sites than just your own.
So, in the end, it all comes back to “write quality content.” What do you think of this model, is it unethical? How would you improve upon this model?
~ Extra special thanks to Kristy Bolsinger for her help w/this post. Always good to have a fact checker 
Tags: bwe09, ethics, execution, PR, Tips
I recently had the pleasure of sitting on a panel that discussed how to effectively use social media in a federally regulated setting, such as a financial services company, public company or one of the “sin industries.”
A variety of federal agencies exist to monitor the practices of these industries from FINRA, the SEC and even the ATF. But none of them seem to have kept up with the rapid evolution of public relations and corporate communications practices. In fact, the FINRA document regulating online marketing practices for financial services companies is nearly a decade old.
But some government agencies are making strides to enter the modern information age. The SEC recently hired Mark Story to help connect to the new media scene. And its recent launch of investor.gov, a microsite dedicated to protecting and engaging with investors, shows just how far its come.
But there’s still a huge gap between accepted best practices for the use of social media technologies and what the federal government says you can and can’t do. The confrontationalist side of me says, if there are no rules, how can you break them?
But that is a dangerous precedent to set. Instead, we must develop suond practices that help interact with the community, but protect the interests of a company’s investors.
My advice
My simple advice is to know the rules. Then, come as close to breaking them as you can.
For example, about two years ago, the SEC revised its rules regarding the release of material information to include the use of a corporate blog as a means to do releases. So, time to set up that blog network for your audience. I have yet to see a company completely turn off its use of a wire service, however.
Also, FINRA has proposed an update to its rules, which strike me as a bit much. What do you think?
My value add is this presentation. Some of the elements didn’t quite make it into the Slideshare, but they were hilarious. Thanks again to Mark and Shannon Paul for taking the time to do this panel with me.
Tags: bwe09, Enterprise, ethics, REGFD, social media, Tips