Understanding the Power of New PR Technologies

Bulldog Reporter’s PR University
From: Understanding the Power of New PR Technologies: Blogs, RSS, Ezines and Podcasts. 

What is blog?

A blog can is an online diary. They can be political, personal, technical or even humorous in nature. Blogs use a special kind of software that allows authors and readers to instantly post comments, pictures and other content to the web site without the use of ftp or any other technical knowledge. That’s why blogs have become so popular – they are easy to use, allowing almost anyone to blog and post to blogs. 

Who is blogging?

·         Media: not institutions, but Individual journalists. Reading a journalist’s blog is a good way to start conversations on topics that they care about.
·         Corporate communicators: a blog can be a great way to keep an informal and accessible face to your customer base or other constituents.
·         Individuals: bloggers cover all aspects of society. They are citizen journalists, tastemakers, trendspotters, whistle-blowers, political organizers and enthusiasts. 

How are bloggers changing media relations?

·         Bloggers are becoming thought leaders
·         PR departments are heavily exposed by bloggers.  Analysts take their cues from blogs for a given industry.
·         Bloggers tend to be skeptical of traditional media relations and highly critical of corporate practices they find offensive or deceptive.
·         Blogs are organic and viral, and a post on one blog can easily by linked to by dozens of other blogs within the blogosphere (the network of blogs that has developed over the years), thus spreading very quickly to your core audience. 

How are blogs being used as a corporate communications tool?

Blogs provide a face and a voice to a company, a personal touch in an era of disconnect between company and consumer.  Blogs provide businesses the chance to interact on a personal level with their customers without expending too much effort.  An example of a highly effective corporate blog is one done by Macromedia, the maker of several advanced multimedia software products (see www.markme.com/mxna/index.cfm).  On their blog, Macromedia developers discuss new products, show web developers how to use new features and answer questions from their user community.  Blogs humanize a company and give the sense that there are real live people behind the products. 

Not all companies have the resources or commitment to create and maintain a successful blog.  Somebody (or a group of people) at the company must have the time, opinions and interest to maintain a blog.  When one of these conditions is missing the blog will fail.  For example, a CEO may have the opinions necessary to run a blog, but not the time, whereas a chief engineer may have the interest, opinions and time to maintain a dialogue with like-minded individuals.  For this engineer and company, a blog is a perfect fit.  Instead of marketing hype, the blog is filled with valuable opinions and becomes an important part of his company’s core audience.  The blog succeeds because of authenticity. Blogs also need to be unedited and free from the legal constraints that PR professionals often must deal with, or else the blog will lack credibility.  This is another challenge to maintaining a successful blog. 

How should my blog be promoted?

The real, valuable and authentic blogs invariably rise to the top.  Readers will link to your blog, and word of mouth will do the work for you.  Promotion should be restricted to promoting it on a company web site, in corporate literature and in creating connections with like-minded individuals.  Any covert communication is not recommended. 

How do I pitch a blog?

Bloggers, like traditional journalists, are constantly on the hunt for scoops.  But unlike traditional journalists (who are being constantly pitched from PR people), bloggers aren't in PR radar.  Advertisers have already begun courting popular blogs, but the PR community is much further behind. At a November 2003 blogging panel in New York, one expert advised that PR professionals should approach bloggers as they do traditional media: make your pitch personal, make it relevant, keep it short and skip the hype.  Bloggers can be especially skeptical of being spoon-fed marketing hype, so make your approach informal and to the point. 

What is RSS?

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is an easy way to send content to subscribers.  Blogs come with RSS built in because it makes linking and tracking content easy.  PR companies can leverage RSS by making news releases available via RSS. 

What is podcasting?

Podcasting is on-demand radio created by consumers.  Just how the Internet and blogging software enabled any consumer to become a journalist, podcasts allow any consumer to become a radio host.  Podcasts are usually made available via compressed audio formats like WMA or MP3.  Corporations can use podcasts to make otherwise static or uninteresting content come alive.  Amazon.com has used podcasts to tease new CDs, and Disney used podcasts of “man on the street” interviews with people enjoying the 50^th Anniversary celebrations to give Disneyland a personal voice, tone and appeal to consumers. 

What is an E-zine?
An e-zine is a fancy term for an emailed newsletter.  Email continues to lose popularity among audiences as spam continues to rise.  A good way to workaround that problem is to put e-zines in RSS format to avoid spam and to make sure your content is reaching your target audience.