Companies Should Empower Bloggers to Reach Their Goals

Steve Rubel:

At CooperKatz we talk a lot about empowerment programs. In other words, we're into building word of mouth campaigns that help bloggers achieve something they've always wanted to do. Every blogger has a motivation. Some want to share feedback, others want to make money from advertising or books, while some just want to become famous domain experts. We tell companies that if they can help bloggers reach these goals, it's a win win for everyone.

I can picture a conversation with a not-so clued-in company:

Company: How do we know what they want?
Clued in PR person: You have to ask them.
Company: How the hell are we supposed to do that?
Clued in PR person: IM, skype or email them
Company: What's skype? What's IM?  So, I am supposed to have my marketing and PR people start calling bloggers instead of calling media outlets? Is this really worth it?
Can't we just pay someone to do this in India or something?
Clued in PR person: Well, that might work for the ones that just want trinkets or keychains. But, that won't build much in the way of community. And it won't build much word of mouth.
Company: Word of Mouth. What's word of mouth have to do with blogs?
Clued in PR Person: Bloggers tend to have conversations by linking to each other. They are more likely to link to companies that join the conversation. You can even track who's linking to whom by using sites like blogdigger, pubsub, technorati and feedster.
Company: This really gets time consuming. I can't possibly hire enough people to monitor what's being said and respond. And what if they say something negative? That's all we need.
Clued in PR Person: You don't have to respond to everything. But, a simple acknowledgement by a company official is usually a good idea. Even if it is negative. In fact, bloggers will appreciate your acknowledgement of their criticism of you. They'll actually respect you more for listening and responding, even if you disagree respectfully. at the minimum, it shouldn't take too long to thank bloggers for a link or their feedback.
Company: Feedback. We can't even handle all of our customer complaints. Now, we have to listen to feedback and respond in public. Come on.
Clued in PR Person: Well, you can actually think of it as free focus groups. Bloggers are generally very passionate and informed people about the topics they cover. And if you have product managers that are trying to come up with new products and features and refine existing ones, this is a great opportunity to improve that iterative product development process.
Company: But, won't our competitors be able to read about what we are doing and beat us to market or atleast match us?
Clued in PR Person: Yes. They could. But, they won't have the blogging community evangelizing their product like they will yours. After all, if you engage them in the product development cycle, they'll feel a part of the process. They'll take pride and ownership in your products and evangelize them better than any advertising could ever inititiate.
Company: Alright. What's this going to cost me?

I'll let Steve or Dave answer that.

Comments

[Steve Rubel]

I wish you answered the last question. That's the $64,000 question! Cmon Peter.

[david]

I think it was Hugh MacLeod who said to me the main problem with clients who want to blog - especially the type you are describing above - is the damn things (the blogs) don't exactly write themselves.

I've spent too much time with people who just stare at me when I explain the whole social media universe to go down that road again.

So Steve, the answer to the last question is 'If you have to ask, you can't afford me...'

[Harry Chittenden]

Peter, clued-in-PR-person makes it all sound so easy. Can he help Company find the person with the right energy and enthusiasm to blog? Design an "editorial policy" for the blog? (Like what do we blog about?) Find ways of being a good conversationalist without being a huckster? Add useful information without giving the store away? Archive focus-group-like comments for future use by Company's other employees?
It's not easy being clued in.
Thanks for a great post,
Harry

[Peter Caputa]

Harry. Great points. This is by no means a real conversation. It is very trivialized. But, I think it demonstrates how far apart big company mentality and blog PR practicionaes are - in thinking.

Maybe we should throw up a wiki and finish the conversation? Or make it a little more realistic.

Or maybe we should pluck a brave BIGCO marketing big shot and put them on the spot in a podcast?

[Greg McGillis]

Perhaps I'm more like the big company exec than I am the clued in PR guy, but I am a PR guy who wants to be clued in. I recently ran a campaign where the candidate wanted to blog and to really work the blogs personally and as a group of campaigners, trying to make our points and at the same time respect the environment of blogging.

He was convinced that blogging was the key to a great local campaign. I don't think he thought through the details, I know I hadn't.

The whole experience was both good and bad. We lost, but we were in the blogosphere in a big way. We tried to be boy scouts, but got hammered on everything by the conservative opposition, sometime not truthfully. I could go on.

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