I can’t keep it in any longer!! Speaking at a conference fairly recently, I was asked a question from the floor that near left me speechless…in a room full of PR professionals, someone basically challenged the validity of my assertion that Social Media would become/is becoming increasingly influential in issues and crisis management campaigns. The person said (and I precis) “How is a blog different from a website and why would anyone in business or an organisation bother with one?” I think I bristled and sounded irked when responding. But how can modern comms practitioners not know the whats, whys and hows of the blogosphere????
I welcome any other pearls of wisdom you blogtypes may have heard of late…?
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It’s unfortunate that this question around the relevance of blogs is still being raised by business professionals…As technorati recently pointed out in their “State of the Blogoshpere 2008 Report” Blogs are pervasive and part of our every day lives…businesses can choose to ignore them at their peril. http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/
Traditional media channels are influenced by them and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to decipher between what is a blog and what is a mainstream media site as they are increasingly incorporating styles and formats from the blogoshpere.
David Meerman Scott (marketing strategist) has some excellent commentary on his blog on the subject http://www.webinknow.com/
It is to a company’s advantage to find and interact with specific communities of interest…conversations are happening and people are talking about your brand whether you’re listening or not…
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Yes blogs are like websites just a lot cheaper and a lot powerful. As someone who has 30 years experience in government and business I’ve never seen a smart person choose the more expensive and less effective option. People need to get over these debates and just do it. Asking why should we blog to me is like asking why do I need a phone?
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Lozza, Trevor…thanks. T you echo my point exactly; I said blogging for me was as easy and second nature as sending an email! Gerry
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I think I was at that conference and I think I can say behalf of most of the people in the room that it floored us too! As a comms professional I can’t tell you how this question still exists in our industry. Good presentation though Gerry- enjoyed and learnt from it!
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Thanks for feedback Jen…in gen, the conference was pretty thought provoking eh?
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i’m a filipino blogger and in the philippines, a lot of companies have already harnessed the power of blogs. they invite us events, product launches and concerts. but several companies have yet to be educated on the powers of the blogosphere.
i recently attended an event where the PR agency client has invited me several times in the past and the latest invite was for this morning. when i got there, i lined up to register when the PR managing partner of a PR agency accosted me and asked me who invited me to the party. after emailing me several times the past week and even calling me the day before, their pr person stops me from registering and asks if they can verify my invite? samsung should have gotten that PR agency Perlas and Luna. a pr disaster indeed. even did a blog post about it http://gadgets.arpeelazaro.com/?p=67
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Gerry
I understand your reaction. I’m doing work for a fairly large and well known agency. I’m trying to encourage them to enter the blog space at least by monitoring what is begin said about them (which is considerable. I’m having little luck.
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Ta Bob (great to hear from you); can’t fathom the resistance to informative, intelligence-rich, FREE, tools like online monitoring!
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In the real world, not many people care who bloggers are or what they have to say.
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I think one main hurdle to overcome resistance of ppeople to acknoowledge the power of social media is because tis is largely unregulated and unlike mainstream media, there are not a few cases of irresponsible use/abuse. respect for a medium, as in the real world, is earned.
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also, internet penetration rate of the country should be looked at. If rate isnt cosnidrable, i guess that’s where your problem lies.
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Sonny from Reputation Armor complemented me on my blog (says he reads it all the time)> I just havent appov’d his post as it had an overt site plug in it. Ta Sonny
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