Corporate Communications: Who should speak to bloggers?

Posted on January 6, 2008
Filed Under Blogging for Business, E-Marketing & E-PR |

Even as blogs come into their own as media outlets, bloggers will continue to be a ‘breed’ apart. One of the implications is the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach may not work with them. And the first thing companies need to do is identify the right persons internally who will engage with bloggers.

During my recent visit to the BlogWorld and New Media Expo in Las Vegas, I listened to and interacted with Mike Prosceno, VP, Marketplace Communications (Blogger Relations), SAP and Brian Solis, Principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning PR agency in Silicon Valley. And they shared some interesting insights on this topic.

According to Mike, bloggers are less interested in just the news; they are more keen on what we as companies are doing and why we are doing so. And there is a need to engage with them and have a 360 degree conversation. According to Brian, this means there is no place for a press release with bloggers; it has to go beyond this; while journalists are more interested in the news, bloggers want to express opinions.

If companies think just anyone can have effective conversations with bloggers, they may well be mistaken. I would agree with Mike when he said, “Sometimes, the official spokesperson policy needs to change. You need to find a community of spokespersons within an organization to do so. Companies need to find passionate voices to do so; these could be, say, product managers. Bloggers would like to speak to them. Companies are changing – slowly but surely. A lot of them are hiring community evangelists or advocates to do exactly this. And the importance of CEOs meeting face-to-face cannot be ignored. Yes, these are online communities, but CEOs need to meet bloggers in person from time to time to make the right impact.”

This may be an important insight for companies hoping for successful PR 2.0 campaigns. But many are still caught up in trying to reach out to new media like they do with traditional media – and then wonder where they are going wrong.

It may be time to start defining the concept of ‘Spokesperson 2.0.’