PR Professionals Need to Write Good (and Other PR Blog Jots)

Good Writing: The Blogosphere's Sacrificial Lamb?

Tough Sledding

In a post after my very heart, Bill Sledzik bemoans the lack of proper grammar in the blogosphere, and urges bloggers not to sacrifice good writing on the altar of conversational style. He argues, correctly, that the casual nature of blogging needn’t promote sloppy, lazy writing.  I agree, particularly when you consider the PR ramifications of typo-ridden client blogs and poorly crafted social media releases. PR is at its core a business built around communicating effectively. We cannot allow the medium for that communication to undermine its effectiveness. “Can you achieve breezy, conversational style without soiling the language? Of course. You simply write as you speak. Then you edit, you polish and you proofread. It takes more time, but it’s what professionals who write for a living do.”

Googling Your Reputation

Hyku

Online reputation management has become its own industry, and Josh Hallett notes that this week’s Wired proved that point.  The cover story about CEO blogs and corporate transparency in the age of social media mentioned an interesting factor: that Google has become less of a search engine and more of a “reputation management system.”  Hallett recommends that companies in crisis all keep blogs with complete details on their side of the story that will show up in any online queries. “In many ways you're writing your own history. Yes this can be abused, but the blogosphere has a great system of checks and balances. They're called comments and links. If you try to BS or 'cover' a story you'll be outed. Stick with the truth. In the end, who is telling your story? Is it the media or a blogger. Why not tell it yourself?”

The PR Conversation

On Message

John Wagner offers a thoughtful post urging public relations practitioners to take the “road less traveled” more often, rather than letting worries about ROI dictate their strategy.  The “safe” route in PR is often just another boring press release to the same reporters; why is the industry afraid to take some risks? Wagner points out that often a long-term strategy for success involves engaging in a conversation. “In today's world, public relations and marketing should be designed to facilitate dialog and stimulate interest that will lead someone to learn -- on his or her own -- more about your product or service. That's a pathway that doesn't always lend itself to neat and tidy ROI measurement. But don't let that fear stop you from taking the road less traveled.”