Influencer Relations works, if you know what you’re talking about.
Mike Melanson asks “Does your PR firm need a PR firm” in a post on ReadWriteWeb.
Mike bemoans the crass “carpet bombing strategies” used by some PR firms, as reported by VC Jason Mendelson. These firms have simply added bloggers to their lists of victims for mass email blasts.
I bet they brag about being social-media-savvy.
The irony is that they are missing the real opportunity of social media for what we call “influencer relations.” Social media is all about sharing, not broadcasting. If you have information of value to share, you can maintain a relationship with an influencer.
Twenty years ago, you could only befriend journalists by socializing with them at events or taking them to dinner. I know, I was a journalist once and had some great meals on the corporate dime. One reason I took up running.
Now journalists write blogs and appreciate insightful comments. They use Twitter and appreciate responses and retweets that add value to the topics they cover. It’s not that hard to maintain an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship – if you know what you’re talking about!
So when your PR agency talks about how many bloggers they have in their email database, it may be a sign they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Tags: bloggers, blogs, influencer relations, PR, social media, Twitter