TechGazing

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. Continue reading »

Blogs in many countries like India, even the real high quality ones, do not generate the kind of traffic one sees in the west; nor do they get as many links and comments as they may deserve. (The reasons are a different subject altogether) Result: They stay low on the radars of PR professionals who would rather go for a clip in a print publication (even if it is one with even lower readership than many blogs).

But there are some reasons why a smart PR professional should pitch to a quality blogger. Here are ten: Read on for some thought-provoking stuff

In a previous post I had written about ten reasons why PR professionals could benefit from pitching to bloggers, including the smaller ones. While many still fail to see merit in the arguments presented, or are unable to find ways to monetise such coverage unlike a traditional press clip, the good news for bloggers is that many companies are engaging with bloggers already in India.

And these range from big organizations to smaller ones including start-ups. During a recent interaction with Arathi Vedantham, Head-Corporate Communications, Yahoo! India, she admitted bloggers hardly figure anywhere in PR plans for most agencies and their clients. “But they are important to us at least, and we engage with them on a regular basis,” she says. Proof of this? Bloggers and online media get invited to junkets by Yahoo India along with journalists from mainline media. Continue reading »