Global PR Blog Week 1.0

New to the Global PR Blog?

There is a huge amount of impressive, cutting edge comment on this site but I thought it was worth putting together a few quotes for those who, like me, are a bit lower on the learning curve. It's not a 'best of', just a taster to give a flavour of the rich variety of new ideas.

Trevor Cook: Re-thinking PR
What will blogs do? We have some inclinations but I think it is still far too early to tell with any real clarity and certainty. But we do know that the world of PR will be turned upside down over the next few years as we re-invent ourselves in response to this awe-inspiring new phenomenon.

Blogging is different from other mediums because it collapses the distinction between producer and consumer. Bloggers and blog readers are essentially the same people. Instead of largely passive audiences, complex webs of online communities and conversations are being created.

Intervening, and influencing, these communities and conversations, will require different skills, techniques, protocols and strategies. Up until now, ‘feedback’ has been the poor cousin of PR, which has been mostly concerned with the disciplined download of cleverly-crafted, and tightly-controlled, messages

Ryan May: Defining participatory journalism

As PR professionals we have two choices when it comes to blogging, either we can ignore it and hope our company never ends up in a blog or we can monitor blogs related to our business or our clients.

…. To which Elizabeth Albrycht added: I'd say we have a third choice. We should participate in the blogosphere itself (along with our clients). Don't just monitor from afar. Jump in with both feet.
PR people have been trained to be invisible in the old "control the message" world. In this new world, they need to celebrate their identity. Don't hide behind the client, but participate in public conversations with the client. Be open about what you are trying to persuade people to do and give them darn good reasons to take the action you want them too.

As the old adage says, talk TO people, not AT them.

Robert Scoble of Microsoft to Trevor Cook
... consumers now are getting knowledge networks that are unparalleled to learn about products that they are about to purchase. We can look up Consumer Reports latest ratings within minutes of them being posted. Thinking of buying a car or a book? Search Technorati and Feedster to see what people are thinking.
If people are saying your product isn't good, then you better have an answer. Why not link to those people and try to answer their concerns? Or, do you not care about your brand? Is sticking your head in the sand and trying to ignore the concerns of your customers going to do your company or your brand any good?

Companies traditionally are used to controlling the messages that go out... In the old world, word-of-mouth happened, but companies weren't able to be involved, and because word-of-mouth happened offline only, most corporate PR guys didn't worry too much ...

In the new world, however, word-of-mouth networks are far more efficient. Today people can email hundreds of friends within a few minutes of a news event...

I don't know if there should be rules, beyond a few common sense ones. But education is key. If you're going to have employees talking with the outside world, you should educate them about what's legally acceptable or not ... You should let them know what acceptable behavior is online. That will vary from company to company and product to product.

Trudy Schuett: All the basics in one place
(A blog is different from a traditional static website because) it can easily be set up and maintained by anyone who can comfortably use a word processing program ... send e-mail and surf the internet. The IT department of your organization need not be involved in the project at all.

John Cass: Microsoft Corporate Blogs and other stories
E-mail is losing its effectiveness as a communications tool. RSS will replace e-mail in key areas. RSS (really simple syndication), a method for syndicating content from a source (a website or a blog). RSS is providing an alternative to email as a way to keep in contact with websites and email newsletters. Tired with the barrage of permission-based e-mails, customers will switch to readers that read RSS content. A customer reads their RSS content through a reader on a daily basis. While, at the moment, it is presently culturally unacceptable to send too many emails, even permission based email. Armed with an RSS reader your audience will demand more content. Those corporate bloggers who provide regular content will be more likely to keep their audience’s attention in an RSS reader.

Blogs are communications tools that give your company a touch of honesty and establish the company has humans running the place. With a blog it is culturally acceptable for employees to use humor and inject their personality into their online conversations with an audience. Microsoft’s progress into corporate blogging (over 700 bloggers) illustrates that corporate blogging on a larger scale may subtly change an audience's perception about a company.

Wayne Hurlbert: Blogs as a website promotional tool
Blogs are communications tools that give your company a touch of honesty and establish the company has humans running the place. With a blog it is culturally acceptable for employees to use humor and inject their personality into their online conversations with an audience. Microsoft’s progress into corporate blogging (over 700 bloggers) illustrates that corporate blogging on a larger scale may subtly change an audience's perception about a company.

The very concept of adding a human element to your business, may seem a little obvious to many people. On the other hand, many business and website owners have overlooked the benefits of placing a personal stamp on their business. A blog can provide precisely that human element for you.

Robb Hecht: Blogs are Corporate Brand Threats… blogs are posing threats to Fortune 1000 brands and in order to meet the new brand threat that blogs pose, corporations are attempting to influence bloggers in their media relations outreach, as well as shifting media budgets to strenghthen their own online corporate brand voices.

Author: Philip Young | Jul 15, 04 | Permalink | 2 comments
Category: @ Philip Young | Announcements

 

 

About

The Global PR Blog Week 1.0 is an online event that will engage PR, marketing and business bloggers from around the globe in a discussion about blogging and communications. The event is scheduled for July 12 - 16, 2004.

Links

The New PR Wiki

Recent Entries

Looking forward to 2.0

Site Statistics and Trends

A participant’s final thoughts

Traditional PR is dead - Long Live DIY PR

Quiet is the new loud

Recent Comments

Rick Barry on A Very Brief Look at Blogging for the Uninitiated Executive

George Mc Quade on The Battle Over PR

Duncan Adams on Robert Scoble interviewed on Corporate Blogging

Kevin O'Keefe on How to launch a corporate blog for a professional services organization

William Luu on Site Statistics and Trends