Blogging as a tool for PR

The Internet has changed everything. With the explosion of social media, people are using blogs and social networks to share their ideas and opinions. This instantaneous word of mouth communication is viral and reaches a large amount of people effortlessly. According to an article in About.com, a new blog is created every seven seconds. Public Relations practitioners have realized that the internet has become the new medium of communication and they better jump on that bandwagon immediately. Why wouldn’t they? It is less time consuming, less expensive and an opportunity to find out what people are saying at this very moment. PR builds, protects and strengthens a brand and blogs have created a way for PR practitioners to do just that. Never before have you been able to track or receive feedback about your client so quickly. It allows companies to engage in communication with customers on a one-on-one level, thereby increasing the relationship, understanding and most importantly brand value. In PR, you need to know your message, and get it to as many outlets as possible so they can start spreading the word.

Blogs raise awareness of your product or company through word-of-mouth. For example, I interned this past summer at Backstage Creations, an entertainment product placement company in Santa Monica, California. After creating a MySpace page for the company to promote our clients, it became pretty clear that blogs and bloggers were influential in creating exposure. After recently speaking with my boss, she informed me that they invited Mark Malkin, from E! Online to cover the gift lounge at the Golden Globes. Mark currently writes his own blog called “Planet Gossip” and Backstage Creations pitched this idea to him on behalf of their clients in order to generate exposure. To check out his blog go to: http://www.eonline.com/gossip/planetgossip/index.jsp

Another form of this social media is YouTube, something I’m sure everyone is familiar with by now. YouTube allows people to share and post video segments online. As I discussed in my previous post, Southwest Airlines has taken advantage of the Youtube craze. They have created a new “Wanna Get Away” campaign. After filming and posting a 20 second commercial on YouTube, Southwest will judge and pick a commercial to air on national television during the 2007 NBA Playoffs. Southwest Airlines found a way to use social media to promote their company and campaign to millions. To find out more go to: http://southwestwannagetaway.com/ also check out: http://youtube.com/

Perezhilton.com is a celebrity gossip blog and one of the most read entertainment sites on the internet. Perez is constantly thanking Hollywood publicists in his blogs for inviting him to premieres, parties and events. Why do you think they are doing this? It is obvious. They invite him to events in hopes that it will end up on his site. Hollywood publicists are using bloggers as a cultural barometer. If it is “popular” it will show up on a blog that markets itself as a gauge of what is new and cool. It seems like bloggers have become the voice of the people and PR is catching on quickly. To read his blog go to: http://perezhilton.com/

This explosion of opinion through blogging is picking up speed and PR practitioners have started to catch up. It will be interesting to see how technology and the internet continue to change communication.