The Fast Shift

Ever wondered what to do and consider when blogging, here are some helpful hints....

Do’s of Blogging

• Identify the top 10-20 bloggers your audiences should care about, based on:
• Topics they blog about
• Number of unique visitors
• Inbound/outbound links
• Audiences they reach
• Pick-up by mainstream media
• Google Page Rank
• Know what type of blogger they are (i.e. journalist, political pundit, corporate, gossip columnist, technology expert, etc.)
• Read them. Daily! Subscribe!
• Understand slant, tone, etiquette, and the writer’s bias.
• Be aware of how they have reacted to previous interactions with PR professionals.
• Look for rules of engagement. Many bloggers state these rules/guidelines up front.
• Identify frequent/influential links.
• Know your bloggers’ blogroll:
• Who’s on their radar screen?
• What do they watch, read, listen to?
• Use an RSS aggregator to track postings and links on relevant topics (i.e. Technorati, DayPop, Feedster, News Gator).
• Establish your own relationship with the blogger: Post a response, offer helpful resources and credible sources.
• Ensure your comments add value (key expertise, thoughtful analysis, new perspective, issue-oriented, etc.).
• Offer visuals, video clips and podcast interviews.
• Plan ahead: Establish relationships with bloggers by commenting on their sites, and linking to them for your own blog/client blog (if applicable).
• Understand the emerging role of blog networks

Don’ts of Blogging

• Assume blogs are a trendy fad.
• “Pitch” a blogger
• Contact the blog without first reading/ understanding its tone, topics, slants, audience.
• Genericize all blogs as equally important to your audience.
• Be afraid to have a conversation with a blogger; just do it cautiously.
• Assume a blogger will embargo news.
• Expect a positive spin.
• Communicate with a blogger as you do a journalist.
• Assume straight news reporting.
• Use an antagonistic or authoritarian tone.
• Bash competitors.
• Lavish undue praise on your products or business.
• Rant about topics you don’t fully understand.
• Discuss anything you don’t want blogged about.
• Anticipate anything you communicate with a blogger will not end up in a posting and linked to other blogs.
• “Flame” bloggers. Every relationship is valuable.

I have just joined another online community (the fourth for this week) called Scribd. I have been officially welcomed by Jason the community guy at Scribd.

Scribd is apparently the world’s largest document sharing community and you can do the following on it:

• blog
• upload and share documents
• search by category and topics
• you can also use Scribd platform which allows you to easily integrate iPaper and other Scribd features with your own website (I think you need to be a professional developer / publisher for this platform)

Daemon is using Scribd to upload and share case studies - this will encourage our clients, team and other stakeholders to join us on this online forum.

With all these online resources and communities - i wonder which ones will last and stand the test of time before another newbie with more features and technical capabilities comes along ?

New media Public Relations is about writing and publishing content that is specifically focused on the habits and needs of those using search engines on the internet

Media are not the only communication channel to the end consumer. Increasingly the consumer - via the web – wants to access news and information for themselves.

With print and broadcast media audiences continually declining “getting found on the web” becomes a desirable and essential  marketing and corporate imperative.

There are two ways to write a press release

1) Traditional Media Releases

These are sent and the media will assess, edit, re-write and publish these if they consider the content relevant for their audience. Companies have no control over the final copy.

2) Web Releases

These are drafted with the end consumer in mind and you have the opportunity for the consumer to see exactly what you want.

Disseminating your web releases is more than distributing to online editions of print publications – you need to start bypassing traditional media with your news so it ends up on Google, Yahoo and other search sites.

 Why do Press Release Optimisation?

• Daily newspaper circulation is falling and TV viewing in US and Australia TV viewing is declining
• Predominant keyword rankings – supports category, product, campaign and brand objectives
• Reaches new audiences
• Maximise online visibility and exposure
• Gain advantage over competitors
• Measurable traffic and sales      

Are you optimising your press releases?

I have found that igoogle is the best way to set-up all of my RSS feeds and to centralise all of my news updates from various companies.

Visit - http://www.google.com/ig and set this up as your internet homepage.

You will notice that alot of websites have an option to do an RSS feed at the bottom of their website. Select this and then set-it up so it links back to your igoogle homepage.

For me I have added the PRIA RSS feed so I can keep abreast of industry body updates and have set-up a number of others.

Is anyone else using igoogle like this?

The challenge for any communication practitioner is keeping up to date within the new media and digital space.

I am going to use this blog to take people on the journey with me as I try and bring myself up to speed with the rapid changes and developments in online communication. Hopefully we can all learn something together along the way....

Feel free to share, challenge and express your thoughts on this blog. I welcome lots of feedback and discussion ...lets get started!