Public Relations in the Blogosphere

1
Public Relations in the Blogosphere

• Neville Hobson
• www.nevon.net
• 12 October 2005

2
The New Media Ecosystem

• Social software
• Informal networks
• Conversational media
• Online diaries
• Personal expression engines
• When you want,where you want,on your terms

3
The New Media Ecosystem

• Blogs
• Wikis
• RSS
• Podcasts
• Videocasts / Vlogs
• Moblogs
• MMS

• Tools that facilitate
• Communication
• Engagement
• Transparency
• Trust
• Tool that are
• Complementary to traditional communication
  activities
• Used by organizations who recognize the social
  characteristics of effective communication

4
The Old World
5
The New World
6
Business Major Influencer

• You cannot afford to close your eyes to them,
  because they're simply the most explosive
  outbreak in the information world since the
  Internet itself.
• And they're going to shake up just about every
  business - including yours.
• It doesn't matter whether you're shipping paper
  clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a
  bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot
  ignore, postpone, or delegate.
• Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs
  are not a business elective.
• They're a prerequisite.
• Business Week, 2 May 2005

7
The Blogosphere July 2005

• 14 million blogs (English language)
• 80,000 new blogs every day
• 900,000 posts per day
• 37,000 posts per hour
• 616 posts per minute
• 10.2 posts every second of every day
• a lot of people talking and connecting
• more output than Reuters, AP, etc

8
Podcasts The Influence of Voice

• Delivered via RSS
• Time-shifted listen when you want
• Detach and go listen where you want
• Wide appeal kicks off in June 2005 Apple adds
  podcast support to iTunes
• Going mainstream Yahoo! Podcasts in October 2005

9
Whos Podcasting?
10
Growth Drivers

• Its easy
• Its inexpensive
• Its portable
• Its available

11
The PR Impact
12
If You Dont Pay Attention
13
Dont be Lame
14
Get It Right

• Our only goal was to engage the public regarding
  our products and services. The blog has become an
  important unfiltered voice for the company, our
  customers and auto enthusiasts We're learning
  on the run, but now we have an unfiltered voice,
  a direct line of communication. It has become
  indispensable.
• Bob Lutz
• Vice Chairman
• General Motors
• April 2005

15
People are Talking About You
16
Citizen Journalism Milestones
17
Why Blog?

• Build a genuine community
• Personalize your customer relationships
• Thought leadership in your industry/profession
• Make knowledge management easier
• Test new product ideas
• Improve search engine rankings

18
Why Podcast?

• Complementary extension of existing communication
  and marketing activities
• An appropriate channel to market
• Reach niche audiences otherwise (financially)
  unreachable
• Attract new, younger customers
• Create buzz, build viral marketing effect
• Be perceived to be at the leading edge
• Be the first to market with a cool new medium

19
Who Should?

• Corporate communications, PR, marketing, HR,
  investor relations, sales, employee
  communication, customer service, public affairs,
  community relations
• Externally engaging with customers
• Internally thought leadership, sharing thinking
  and knowledge news, information
• Who else?
• What about the CEO?

20
There Will Be Objections

• Another way for employees to waste time
• Well have no control think of the risks!
• We dont need this, we have the website, the
  email newsletter, the press release
• Worse Hey, we can stop doing press releases now
  that we have blogs!
• We cant allow employees to blog we have
  official spokespeople
• It will cost a lot in time and money to maintain

21
Current ThinkingPR/Blogger Surveys

• Technorati-Edelman Blogger Survey 2005
• September 821 responses worldwide participation
• https//extranet.edelman.com/bloggerstudy/Default.
  aspx
• Blog Relations PR Survey
• August 50 PR bloggers worldwide
• http//www.blog-relations.com/2005/09/26/responses
  -to-blog-relations-pr-survey/

22
Current ThinkingPR/Blogger Surveys
Source Blog Relations PR Survey, August 2005
23
What The New Media Ecosystem Is Not

• A replacement for press releases, brochures,
  bulletin boards/email lists, public websites or
  intranets
• But blogs can be replacements for static websites
  or brochureware sites
• A substitute for traditional communication tools
  and channels
• A surrogate for face-to-face communication
• The answer to all your communication prayers

24
What The New Media Ecosystem Is

• A giant global focus group
• A tool to engage with your publics
• A dynamic, complementary communication channel
• Create connections, develop influence
• Empowerment for your employees
• Empowerment for all your publics
• Build genuine community

25
Communication Choices
26
Conversation

• Neville HobsonAmsterdam
• www.nevon.net
• 31 629 323 28244 20 7558 82221 202 470
  2425nevonskype
• neville.hobson_at_gmail.com

This document is protected under a Creative
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license. No commercial use, no changes. But feel
free to share it, post it, print it, or copy it.
Details http//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc
-nd/2.5/. This presentation was created for the
session Public Relations in The Blogosphere at
Emerce Eday, Amsterdam, 12 October
2005.Information http//www.emerce.nl/eday/.