Admittedly, they are biased, they are not constrained by the politics of the newsroom or journalistic creeds, and there and millions of them with more popping up every day which means that they are bloggers, and if a public relations professional plays her cards right, they can become her best friend in a PR campaign.

Where do people turn for the latest celebrity scoop? Gawker, TMZ, and blogs. Where do they turn for expert analysis of the latest political misstep? Blogs such as Politico or the Daily Pundit. Bloggers are changing the medial relations rules for PR professionals just as the blogosphere changed the rules for print media. Not only are they not required to stick to a set publication schedule, but they can also offer opinions or show bias, and they aren’t fans of the formulaic press release.

Here are 5 tips on how harness the power of the blogosphere for your public relations campaign:

Know What You Want – To test and review your new line of strollers, do you want influential mommy bloggers? Or do you simply want your latest newsworthy story mentioned on a blog catering to a segment of your customers? Before you ever begin to target a list of bloggers to reach out to, you should first know what you want the blogosphere to say about you.

Read the Blog First – So you want gadget blogs to review your new solar cell phone charger. You can’t just Google “blog” and “technology” and then send pitches out scattershot. This is a big mistake that will only lead to you either being ignored or even blacklisted in the blogosphere. Take the time to read the blogs you plan to approach instead. There is one technology blog that may not perform reviews at all and at the same time, another may be heavily biased against solar energy. As for the third blog you found for your initial list, it may not be a technology blog at all, but a blog that simply mentioned a technology topic once last fall.

Wooing the Blogger – Simply approaching the bloggers with a rote press release would leave them feeling cold because the majority of them do not have journalism backgrounds. Introducing yourself through a personal email is what you can do instead. Wooing the blogger by first leaving comments on posts over time, linking to their blog from your company’s site, or connecting with them on social media is a better idea. What happens in today’s society is that words, ideas and images come and go from an Internet user’s consciousness as quickly as they can click “X.” For a busy blogger, someone who takes the time to get to know them and their blog will leave an impression.

Sending a Personal Pitch – Just because you have had a few successful social media interactions with the blogger doesn’t mean that you can then simply add them to your press release distribution list and be done with it. When approaching a blogger as part of your PR campaign, especially for the first time, a personal note should be included. After awhile, when the blogger starts to trust you as a go-to source for blog ideas or industry information, you can probably get away with simply adding her to your press release distribution list, but a blogger won’t consider that standard operating procedure as a journalist probably would.

Remember the Rules of Federal Trade Commission – In 2009, the FTC began requiring bloggers to disclose any monetary compensation or freebies they received in exchange for product endorsements. So if you give a free widget to a blogger in exchange for a review, expect the entire world to see that you did so.

The rise of the blogosphere has changed the playing field in regard to the way the public receives information. There are also savvy PR pros that harness this new trend and don’t get left behind holding an old fashioned media list.

Searching for online press release service that sends your press release to the right people, at the right price? We provide press release template that work!

Be Sociable, Share!

•