Global PR Blog Week 2.0

By Matthew Podboy and Timothy Johnson, Voce Communications
EDITORS’ CHOICE | Education for the New PR

For many PR agencies, the advent of blogs and the new focus on reaching online communities has meant one thing: a new service to sell regardless of client need. For executives, blogs seem to be either embraced or feared. For net veterans and bloggers, the world is their oyster to share information.

Stuck somewhere in the forgotten middle is the communications pro who sits inside the company. These are the folks caught in the crossfire of blog fever and skepticism who feel daily pressure to embrace the blogosphere with reckless abandon, hear the agency pitches, manage the budget, get the Mainstream Media interview, write the case study, and hand-hold the C-level ego — simultaneously.

There’s enough buzz out there to rattle anyone, particularly those with enough already on their plate.

For those rattled in-house communications pros, we humbly offer some real-world advice.

• Don’t just “keep up with the Joneses.”
  Sure, it’s pretty exciting. Yep, your colleagues, friends and emails are all abuzz about it. But remember this: an online communication program may or may not be the thing your program needs. Look at your customers. Do they talk online? Are there key personalities online who influence your customers? What is their real influence? Some companies — usually those further removed from the end-customer or consumer — would be better served by a simple, selectively-promoted RSS-feed in their website’s newsroom. Others find their brands and products being discussed daily. Point being: keep your eyes forward and look at your customer and his or her sphere of influence. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
• Recruit like-minded colleagues.
  If you believe there is a need to engage in an online dialogue with customers and influencers then start recruiting inside your company. Enlist volunteers to help you check out blogs, newsrooms, competitor sites, message boards, and more. You’re most likely to find these volunteers in the tech side of your house: developers, engineers, sometimes sales folks. Ask around about who maintains a blog. Don’t start to sell this as a “new, official” program…just capitalize on the native enthusiasm of a few of your colleagues and keep it exploratory for now.
• Explore and identify.
  Look at the online communities that influence your customers, or your customers’ recommenders. Begin vetting online sources to gauge the “chatter level.” Locate opinion makers and influential news sources and begin tracking. Remember that you run an offline Mainstream Media program too — which online communities and influencers do your key reporters and editors read? That kind of thinking not only helps build an online program, but does it in the best possible way by reinforcing your traditional media program.
• Listen and plan.
  As you listen, keep both eyes and ears open for opportunities and challenges to your company. Be smart and goal-oriented. What is worth addressing, or changing? What tactics will work, and what are mere window-dressing? Get your volunteer colleagues together outside of the office and begin to synthesize what they’ve seen online and their opinions about it. Pretend you are building a lawyerly argument that identifies cause, effect, motive, need, and solution — because you are. Your jury is the online community and the judges are your colleagues and, ultimately, your C-level executives.
• Set Goals and Measurement Practices.
  You’ll never win the case without these. Admittedly, it’s difficult to set “numbers” to the influence you’ll create online. Start with the goals. Do you want the program to drive website traffic? Figure out a way to track how information spreads online, and select the tools that will track your incoming traffic and where it comes from. Many of the blogging software products like those from Six Apart and WordPress have traffic-monitoring tools as part of the service. Do you want a better understanding of online perceptions? Develop a standardized system of daily, weekly, or monthly reports that summarize key discussions/findings, and set a scoring standard. Do you want to begin building relationships with online influencers?Develop a baseline for measuring their current perception, and create a plan for communicating with them (yes, that means listening). If you need outside help, now’s the time to ask, before you actively engage. Consultancies with rich experience in the field can help you navigate the measurement issues.
• Start with the basics.
  Baby steps are generally good. Think of it as humbly dipping your toe into the water. Remember that, invariably, any communication with bloggers, message boards and other online communities will invariably draw readers to your website. What will be there to greet them? That’s yours to develop before you begin outreach. Good content is king, with an opt-in subscription system if you can get away with it. A web-savvy newsroom with RSS comes next. Start slowly and grow as required. Generally speaking, the more aggressive your online dialogue is “externally,” the more aggressively you should embrace the lexicon and practices of your online “internally.” If you want to have a truly effective voice among bloggers, have a blog yourself, but ensure it speaks to your audience and is free of vague platitudes, marketing-speak and defensive retorts. Always remember that, in general, online dialogue is roughly 15 percent talking and 85 percent listening. Start small and grow humbly. Undersell your progress. Others have been here before, with nothing to sell.
• Take it offline with some influencers.
  Inherently, the blogosphere lives online. But that’s no reason to not seek deeper ties with influencers who have genuine, helpful input on your universe. If that means flying them out for truly informational briefings and a face-to-face dialogue, do it. Note the differences between this and traditional media relations: with the latter, you may be used to reporters who are on a fact-finding mission in 30 minutes or less. Relationships matter, but facts are king. In the former, the priorities may be reversed. Bloggers aren’t necessarily compelled to break every story immediately. Instead, most tend to take a more intelligent, holistic view of markets and companies. Tell your story, but do it with respect — and when you can, do it in person.

Clearly, for the internal communications lead, good listening and planning is fundamental here. Don’t be swayed by the siren songs of either untold, online fame or abysmal, public failure. Don’t be confused by agencies promising the world, or colleagues promising a dead-end.

Instead, stick to your instinct: a good online communication program is designed to be a supplement to — not a replacement for — a smart and holistic communications program. The rules are different, but common sense, an open mind and hard work still apply.

About the authors

Matthew Podboy, Co-Founder, Client Supervisor, Voce Communications, Inc. | Active Voice

Matt oversees programs of established brands and private sector leaders across the infrastructure, online collaboration and P2P markets. Matt’s focus on technology allows him to provide strategic positioning, aggressive media and analyst relations, quarterly earnings counsel and competitive analysis, and build Digital Advocacy programs to identify customers, partners and influencers in the online community. He maintains strong relationships with key business media, trade media, market and financial analysts through identifying newsworthy announcements and communicating stories that include strategic, corporate and technical value.

Timothy Johnson, Co-Founder, Client Director, Voce Communications, Inc.

Timothy Johnson brings more than 15 years of communications consulting experience to Voce Communications, with a broad and deep background in technology communications, marketing consultation and journalism. He specializes in building creative, aggressive communications programs for Voce clients with a focus on both high-end business media and targeted influencer campaigns.

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