“Rules” of Engagement

The PR industry should try to improve communication with the blogger community and promote best practices. PR professionals who understand the blogger “culture” have more success in communicating their messages to bloggers than those who do not. In turn, bloggers who are engaging with savvy, well-informed communicators have richer material to share with their readers.

From the research, we learned that:

• 42 percent of bloggers receive an e-mail pitch from a PR professional at least once a day
• 27 percent reported getting more than one a day
• 63 percent were contacted by a PR professional at least once a week
• 42 percent of respondents reported that they “write about something after being contacted” – at least sometimes – which, for the purposes of this study, was defined as “about half the time.”
• Another 42 percent reported writing “rarely” (about a quarter of the time)
• 15 percent said they never write in response to a pitch.

These responses suggest the blogosphere is relatively fertile ground for PR professionals – particularly those who embrace its “rules” of engagement.