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Online PR and Social Media Training
Blogs, RSS and Social Networking can be a minefield for PR practitioners

The digital PR space is hot right now. You see articles about online PR, blogs and social media in practically every mainstream newspaper and trade magazine.

One of the reasons is that it is a fast paced environment and there are always new ideas to report on - two years ago there was no YouTube or Del.icio.us And two years ago PR people were not as interested in finding out about the shifts in media consumption.

Bulldog Reporter's PR University has been plotting a course through this morass for PR practitioners and their Advanced PR tech workshops this week really got to the heart of online PR.

The New York seminar on Friday was filled to capacity, with both young PR people and old school stalwarts.

The sessions covered blogging, social media (tagging, sharing content, RSS. content syndication and bookmarking), online news and search, and how to measure these new online PR practices.

The recent high profile online PR and blogging debacles have shown that it is vital to get as much data about how to do digital SEO-PR as you can. Find someone who can demonstrate that they really know what they are doing and get your staff up to speed on these new ideas.

Many of the rules remain the same, but some are radically different. And if you violate those rules the backlash is instant and lasts far longer than in any other medium.

One analyst interviewed on TV about the John Kerry comments in San Diego remarked that with the advent of social media, and the ablity to post online immediately from a cell phone, a politcal blunder will be on YouTube before the speech is even finished. ValleyWag showed this comparison of the traffic on YouTube and MySpace

Mainstream media cannot work that fast. And instead of being seen by thousands it is now seen by millions.

While the online PR world may look like a very scary place, there are just as many opportunities for positive PR - if you know how to do it.

econsultancy wrote a great article about why so few businesses in the UK use online PR. Their conclusion?

"The fact is that most PR agencies are not even vaguely qualified to advise you on blogging, or even about online PR."

If you are in the San Francisco area, don't miss next Friday's workshop.

See Also

• Why PR Agencies Need to Learn How To Do Online PR
  Tthere are a few of us making a difference, managing online reputations and just maybe, we will be the agencies of the future.
• The 12 reasons why UK businesses don't blog
  Ask your PR agency to explain how Google works. Ask them about RSS. Ask them about anchor text. Ask them to give you some tips on online copywriting. Ask them why blogging would be a bad move, with all the above in mind?The fact is that most PR agencies are not even vaguely qualified to advise you on blogging, or even about online PR.

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Social Media Making Inroads Into Mainstream News Providers
Reuters Buys Into Blog and Feeds

You know you're making your mark when a media stalwart like Reuters pays millions of dollars for a share in a blog distribution start up. Social media could ask for no better endorsement .

Reuters has invested $7 million in Pluck, the world's biggest blog syndication network, called BlogBurst. BlogBurst connects newspapers and other media sites to 2,800 selected blogs, helping traditional media supplement their journalism with blog viewpoints, says the official announcement.

Web logs, or blogs, have become a major source of commentary and reader feedback on the Internet. Traditional media have increasingly turned to blogs for insight and analysis, says Reuters.

If you're still wondering whether a blog could be a good media relations and PR tool, perhaps this is the final push you need.

Of course Reuters won't be indexing just any blog. "Selected blogs" is the key phrase here. Technorati indexes millions of blogs and the number doubles every 6 months.

Pluck syndicates 2800.

In real estate the mantra is location, location, location. You need to think content, content, content.

They want blogs that offer insight and analysis - interesting content their readers will want to consume.

Keep in mind the eMarketer findings on why people read blogs - the number one reason is "to get news and information I can't find elsewhere."

Provide that in your blog and you'll have a good chance of making the cut.

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Public Relations Affected by Blogs
No discipline has been more affected by blogging than public relations

Like Americans, Europeans and Asians have become fervent bloggers, says the International Herald Tribune.

Many American brands, and some brands of other countries, are starting to include blogs in their marketing plans, using PR at a much earlier stage. By the time of the official "launch," a product may already have been slipped into the hands of bloggers several months before. Feedback from their online discussions with other devotees can help inform a marketer's subsequent advertising and media strategy.

One example of a soft launch using online content and bloggers is SkinMD Natural, a shielding lotion. The results caught the attention of PR Week.

But other companies are not as blog savvy. When Olay launched their Life in Close Up campaign for Olay Definity, the media bash did not include any beauty bloggers.

A search in Blog Pulse shows a few bloggers offering their free sample of Definity. With a better online brand strategy they could have had much more buzz in the bogs.

"A year ago, brands were saying, 'Oh no, not the blogosphere,'" said Peter Hirshberg, chief executive of Technorati."Now they re saying, this is a great opportunity."

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