Communication Best Practices

These are the best practices we found based on the 2007 survey. This is your field so we want to know what you think. Create a login to edit these best practices to help us better define PR professional and blogger relations.

Work in Real Time

The steps PR professionals take to engage bloggers and address their concerns should reflect the same urgency in which PR professionals address situations with traditional media.

Log in to edit this entry

Read the Blogs You Pitch

Just as beat reporters are not interested in hearing pitches outside their beat, bloggers want to make sure the materials they receive are relevant to the specific topics they are discussing. Read the blog and pitch only stories for which the author is likely to have interest. Demonstrate that you are a frequent reader.

Log in to edit this entry

Relationships are Key to Success

Not surprisingly, bloggers are more likely to respond to communication from people they know. Online relationships are built through reading and commenting on blogs, participating in relevant social network groups, responding to specific items in discussions and e-mails beyond the strict pitch.

Log in to edit this entry

Transparency is Non-negotiable

PR professionals have rightly insisted on transparency from bloggers when disclosing financial arrangements. PR professionals must also be completely transparent about who they are, who they represent, what they want and what they offer. This is essential to credibility in the medium and represents the cultural standard.

Log in to edit this entry

Don’t Get Tripped Up on Nomenclature

Bloggers are critical communicators, whether or not they call themselves journalists, though the rules that typically govern the PR executive/reporter relationship do not exist in discussions with bloggers. PR professionals should assume that all forms of communication with bloggers, including e-mail, are considered “on the record.”

Log in to edit this entry