Add Blogs to Your PR Mix
A few weeks ago, Tom Pick at Social Media Today wrote a great summary of the most effective ways to get your issue covered by blogs. By way of some client work we had reason to revisit Tom’s advice and wanted to pass it along. Read the whole article here: http://bit.ly/bqwcZj. As a teaser we’ve culled the top 3 Things you should make sure you are doing to be as successful as possible when doing blog outreach.
1. Keep It Personal. Don’t just blind copy hundreds of bloggers on a mass press release. Just like in traditional PR, getting the coverage you want is more often than not about building relationships based on trust and the promise of mutual assistance.
When reaching out to blogs, do it individually with personal messages that show you’ve actually read that persons blog and have some awareness of their point of view as well as a sense of who their reader is. Then, show them why your issue will be appealing as content to their readers specifically.
2. Let them know how it will help them. Everyone is busy, so be clear about why this is a good thing for them too. Tell them how you will spread the word about the post to your audience (thus expanding their potential readership). In addition, offer to write a guest post where you do all the work, and all they have to do it post it.
3. Start small. The best way to gain credibility with the big blogs is to get your content posted on small blogs first, and then work your way up. So, start with what Pick refers to as “C-List” blogs and establish yourself (or your organization) as thought-leaders, then leverage that presence when reaching out to B-list and then A-list blogs.
With studies showing that more and more Americans are looking to blogs as their primary source of news and information, organizations can no longer rely solely on “traditional media” to spread their message and establish their reputation. If your organization isn’t already reaching out to blogs as part of your communications mix, hopefully Tom’s great article can get you started.