Zzzz... (and Other PR Blog Jots)

Zzzzz....
Murphy’s Law
Congratulations, you’re boring me to tears! According to Tom Murphy, that’s the point when you know your social media program is starting to sink in with the public. I’m reminded of a rule regarding political stump speeches. Just when you think you’ve said the same thing so many times your head might explode if you say it again, that’s the moment when your target audience is starting to “get it.” Tom uses the blog as an example, while 2.0 enthusiasts consider the blog old news, the general public is finally starting to get on board. “When you think of Web 2.0 (snooze…) you don’t often think of blogs - they’re boring - they’re not on the bleeding edge. But that’s a good thing. While investors and entrepreneurs are hosting 2.0 love-ins across the world, the humble blog is continuing to be quietly and efficiently adopted.”

Never Write a Bad Blog Pitch Again
Social Media Marketing
Are PR professionals so hard-wired to the mass-email mentality that they’re incapable of courting bloggers effectively? Scott Monty offers three easy steps to effective blogger outreach programs, hoping to educate the practitioners so used to the blast method. Scott recognizes that to actually follow and interact with the number of bloggers a PR pro would want involved in any given program would be quite an undertaking, but he emphasizes the importance of doing just that. “And this is difficult to do when a PR professional - who, let's face it, is used to mass mail-merging press releases and pitches - is trying to contact maybe 100 different bloggers. To spend a couple of weeks of lead time following, reading and responding is a major commitment. But I think it's crucial.”

Personal vs Professional
Disruptive Conversations
Dan York examines the intersection of personal beliefs and political philosophies with professional networking; has Facebook changed the way we perceive our professional colleagues? He relates a story of finding, through Facebook, that a professional contact he had previously admired had listed political and religious views entirely opposite to his own. Dan wonders if bringing previously “taboo” topics such as religious beliefs into a professional network is very wise. “To me this is just yet another one of those areas where we don't fully understand the full impact of the profiles of Facebook and, in fairness, all the other social networking services. In the rush to join these services, we just fill out all sorts of information, not necessarily taking the time to think about the potential impact exposing that information may have.”

Crisis Comms Direct
Crisisblogger
Gerald Baron comments on the evolution of crisis communications in the era of short message systems (SMS), microblogging platforms and other direct communication tools that have altered the spread of critical information. He gives examples of communications during weather-related crises, notably a school district using email updates to alert parents to closings, and also notes that ad dollars are falling in the wake of skipping usage of the media to communicate. “The future, folks, is direct communication. Mass communication is now in the hands of people just like you who have access to the powerful tools that make that possible. Data management must be on the minds of all communicators.”

Reminder: Blogs Work
PRSA
In a post for the PRSA’s PR Evolution Conference, Paul Gillin argues the benefits of corporate blogging, and wonders what excuse a business could have for continuing to refrain from joining the conversation. He notes the widespread corporate fear of loss of message control, and of some of the more negative aspects of the conversation, going on to cite five examples of successful, positive corporate blogs that should serve as reminders that this medium can actually work. “But ignoring the enormous opportunity of business blogging for these relatively minor risks is like choosing not to drive because you might hit a telephone pole. With a little planning and a clear sense of purpose, blogging is a simple and inexpensive way to reach customers and the media.”

Comments

[Geoff Livingston]

Interesting to see all of the forays PRSA is making into social media...