What do bloggers really want from PRs?

This is the question on every PRs mind… ‘how can I grab the attention of the all important blogger?’ and it’s a highly relevant question that you will hear more and more over the next 24 months.

As both bloggers and PRs we see the challenge from both perspectives so hope that this article sheds some light on the matter.

I promise I’m not being patronising, but from experience I believe most PR’s with ‘traditional press’ experience could do with reading the famous book by Dale Carnegie ‘How To Win Friends and Influence People’ as it holds many truths in today’s social media crazy marketing arena!

All good PRs are starting to appreciate the power that some bloggers (not all) yield. Let’s put this into hard facts for you; according to The Blog Herald in Dec 08, Tecnorati were tracking 112.8 million blogs, but there were 72.82 million Chinese blogs alone! Now obviously the vast majority of these fall by the wayside after a few months BUT the ones that have either been kept alive for a few years already OR have a decent angle on their posts tend to command the majority of the traffic – these are the guys that the PR industry need to take greater notice of ideally.

Now, back to the question… ‘What do bloggers really want’?

Well, let’s first look at why individuals (not companies) choose to blog:

• Creative expression 52%
• Document personal experiences 50%
• Keep in touch with friends and family 37%
• Share skills & knowledge 34%
• To motivate other people to action 29%
• To entertain people 28%
• To make money 7%
Source - http://www.pewinternet.org

There you have it. Surprised? Let’s focus on the top two for the minute: Creative Expression and Document Personal Experiences. To understand the motivations of your target bloggers you first need to appreciate their motivation and these two reasons lay at the heart of the most successful bloggers. Blogging has given us all a voice – online marketing today is all about attracting followers rather than pushing too hard, it’s the way things are done online and it’s changing the face of business as we know it. Bloggers want to be heard, they have an opinion and they wish to share it with anyone who will listen. Most blogs are set up to report on a specific niche subject from the viewpoint of that blogger… and remember this, they are not being paid to write so MUST be doing it for another reason – and that reason is passion for a subject and that magic work ‘RECOGNITION’.

So… how do you get on a par with a popular blogger?

Start by trying to understand their passions and sharing their viewpoints by spending an hour or so reading their blog. Then personalise your approach and introduce yourself and ask them how you can assist them. You many never hear back… but from experience you have a better chance of coverage if they know and trust you.
Whatever you do don’t treat them as second class citizens and BCC them into every press release you send out… this is a one way ticket into the delete box. I have to add - for all those PR people that send me hundreds of emails a day with the latest gadget or gizmo… take your time and read my blogs, make sure it’s relevant and demonstrate why. I’m a human being and read every email, but if you can’t be bothered to see what I’m about then I can’t be bothered to see what you’re selling!
There are also a couple of other things you can do for bloggers that will grab their attention:

1 – Offer the exclusive. Once you have researched your blog target list prior to a campaign and know the most powerful in terms of traffic it’s time to offer them the all important exclusive. Bloggers love exclusives because when they feature something ‘hot’ 24-48 hours before everyone else they know that tens of other blogs in their niche will copy the story and link back to them – in turn growing their readership and assisting the performance of their blog.

2 – Offer a sample. This is a bit of a bone of contention amongst the journalism fraternity… but remember bloggers are often a very different breed of journalists and therefore don’t conform as much to old methods and policies. Now I’m certainly not supporting bribery, but sometimes it’s nice to be rewarded for what is a lot of hard work (blogging). A product sample to help the blogger understand the values of what they are writing about is often a good idea… especially if it doesn’t have to be returned. A blatant bottle of champers is certainly NOT the way to do it!

3 – Friendship. Broadly related to recognition, many bloggers that I know actually love socialising and feeling like they are making an important addition to their subject. What’s to stop you hiring a bar and getting all the bloggers along for a chat and some free drinks? Communicating with bloggers via email is far easier when you have met them in real life.

Final word… Look after bloggers and they will look after you tenfold.