This morning I participated in a panel discussion held by the Public Relations Society of America’s Memphis chapter. On the panel with me were some of the top Memphis bloggers, representing blogs like Mediaverse, Smart City Memphis, and The Gates of Memphis. Some excellent questions were asked, by both the moderator and the audience, and I thought it would be fun to give some more in-depth answers here.
One question that was asked: Do you take information from PR people to put on your blog? What can PR people do to work with bloggers to get their information out?
My answer is yes, I do take info from PR people, and am usually quite happy to get it. The reason why is that I believe the secret to successful blogging is to blog every day, to constantly have fresh content for my readers. However, like any writer, there are days when I get writer’s block, or when I’ve run out of upcoming events to talk about, or when I’m busy and just need something quick that I can copy, paste, publish. Announcements from PR people help me out in that regard.
Here are three pieces of advice I have for PR people who want to interact with bloggers:
1) Determine which blogs speak most directly to the target market you’re trying to reach. Then develop a personal relationship with those bloggers. I have PR people who have befriended me on Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. I’ve been out for drinks with a few of them. It builds credibility to get to know them face-to-face. Then, when they ask me to mention an event, I think, “Oh, this is for Katie,” or “Oh, this is for Ashley,” or whoever, and I’m a lot more likely to include their item in a future post, than I would be if I see some random e-mail address and name I don’t recognize. I’m more likely to help people I know, like, and trust.
2) For the blogs you select, figure out the blog’s overall message or theme, and try to tie items you send in with that theme. Doing it that way adds value for the blog’s readers. It keeps the blog from looking like a graveyard for random PR releases.
For example, my blog’s theme is “Downtown Memphis.” If you can tie your items to Downtown in some way, it’s more likely that I’ll include them. Example: A couple of years ago, I received several e-mails asking me to mention a weekly concert series at a casino in Tunica. I wanted to help and thought about it, but… I just couldn’t see it being of interest to many of my readers. Downtowners don’t drive that much. We tend to go to local events. I just couldn’t see a lot of value for my readers.
On the other hand, I mentioned a fundraiser at Hollywood Casino in Tunica just last week. Why? Because the chairpeople of the event were the owners of Big Foot Lodge, a very popular restaurant Downtown that we all enjoy. I know people would look at the announcement and go, “Oh, THEY’RE doing it, well, I’m buying a ticket, then.” It was something I knew would connect with my readers.
3) No matter how good a job you do, no matter how well you connect with me and present me with items that add value to my blog, if your client screws up, I can’t help you. You have to make sure your client is delivering a quality product or service. There are a couple of restaurants down here, for example, whose events I simply won’t promote on the blog. I’ve had too many friends and neighbors go there and report back that they had a lousy time – I’m talking on the order of 70% negative comments. I can’t in good conscience say, “Hey, go to Such-and-Such night at Restaurant X!” just to help a PR person out, knowing that my readers will probably have a bad experience there. Doing so would blow my credibility. It would make readers less willing to trust me the next time I heard of something truly outstanding that I wanted to share.
In my opinion, if a business is not turning out a quality product or quality service, the last thing in the world they should do is PR. They need to fix the problems first. Until they do, the less publicity they get, the better.
Hope that helps some of the PR people out there in Memphis. It was good meeting all of you, and I enjoyed the lunch at the U of M Holiday Inn.