There is no doubt that technology has changed the way we communicate. The internet and new media has opened up new opportunities for the media, marketing and advertising industries, and has completely changed the way we communicate with each other on a daily basis.
One of the biggest (and best) changes that has occurred within new media is the emergence and popularity of blogs.
There’s no need to explain what a blog is, you’re reading one now! And I’m sure you read many different blogs whether they be relating to your profession, your interests, or just for some entertainment!
What we are here to acknowledge, is the relevance of blogs to a PR campaign, and how powerful blogs can be.
It’s important to note that bloggers are a different type of media – they are not journalists as such. We like to compare a blog to a diary – full of meaningful posts about things that they (and their followers) are interested in, and things that are relevant to them and their followers.
With this in mind, it is important to note that blogs (like all media) are specialised – they focus on different topics such as food, health, fashion, beauty and of course, parenting!
Unlike print media, blogs are not influenced by factors like advertising, media ownership and sales. This has helped developed a clear sense of trust between a blogger and its followers, and in turn has made blogs extremely influential.
While traditional media will simply ignore a product if they don’t like it, a blogger will provide an honest review. This type of open honesty is what followers appreciate; and is the key ingredient as to why bloggers are so influential.
Therefore, when a blogger writes good things about your product, it is an extremely valuable source of PR.
Here at WordStorm, we communicate with many types of blogs, but the one category we always love to deal with is the mummy blogger. Mummy bloggers are exactly what they sound like – mums who blog! Given WordStorm’s current array of kids and parenting products, we’ve dealt with them a lot in recent months.
So naturally, we were absolutely thrilled when we received an e-mail recently. A close media contact got in touch with us because she had been at a mummy blogger – PR event. The event was for PRs to get to know bloggers, and how they like to be approached.
One mummy blogger then said
““I have to say that there is one PR company called Wordstorm who is so fantastic that I would write about anything they send me. Even if I can’t write about it now, I’ll keep the information and I will write about it eventually. They are so nice.”
(!!!!)
Following this, another blogger stood up and said “I really love WordStorm as well”
(!!!!!!!)
The next day, we received a whole lot of love from our blogger friends via the WordStorm Twitter account, including a blogger who asked us to put her on our media list as she had heard so many lovely comments!
The whole team was absolutely thrilled at the response.
We would just like to take this moment to thank all of our blogger friends who we have been privileged to get to know. You are all extremely talented writers and we genuinely love reading your blogs, regardless of whether or not our clients appear in them. Thankyou for all of your kind words and compliments, as well as your support. We really appreciate it and we look forward to working with you all in the near future.
Love, Tash and the Stormettes xxxx
