Blogs as the Afterworld for Interesting Articles

It's no secret that PR pros are paid to place positive stories about internal or external clients in the press. Even some journalists, albeit begrudgingly, will admit that they rely on PR pros, even if it’s just as facilitators.

When this system works properly, it’s symbiotic. The journalist shares valuable information with readers/viewers; news perhaps never told before. On the flip side, PR pros get to build client brand awareness through media coverage that often is fair and balanced (no Fox News Channel pun intended here). Once the mating dance is over, the journalist and publicist each go to their respective corners, on to the next great adventure…but maybe that shouldn’t be the case.

The blogosphere is the media afterworld. It’s where good stories go to live, not die. After a story runs online there’s an opportunity for PR pros to extend the shelf life of the story. You can do this by selectively notifying relevant blogs who cover your space that there’s a item they may want to blog. I have done this on a number of occasions and it has breathed new life into what some would say is old news. This needs to be approached carefully, however – a pitch letter doesn’t suffice. It’s just a short heads-up. Setting up topical RSS feeds just for bloggers to use is an alternative.

Interestingly, however, some journalists are also getting into the same game. Media companies, as I have pointed out, have an increasing need to build their brands. As some content companies build walled gardens, others encourage journalists to alert Weblogs about their scoops. Jim Romenesko told PR Week last week (story unavailable online) that he loves to hear from journalists who have broken big stories. And, what’s more, on his site Romensko clearly encourages them to send him tips.

As more and more “thin media” sites populate the blogosphere, there is a lot of potential for both journalists and PR pros to share relevant stories with even larger audiences than ever imagined. The key question on my mind as I write this is – if PR people and journalists are both actively pitching bloggers on the same stories, why can’t they work together to achieve the same goal?

Comments

[Tom]

Steve,

I think this is totally valid to consider blogs an afterworld of sorts - obviously once I write about a story that's already been in the New York Times or whatever, it's secondary source - but a reader to my site may not have read it just yet, so it's still primary - to that reader. But if I'm understanding what you're writing about, you describe sending out a blurb to a blogger sometime after the initial press release and initial pickup to some specific bloggers in order to garner some additional coverage, right?

I'm actually finding that by starting to use the wire services myself, I can publish firsthand and have been able to get quotes and brief interviews with execs and PR folks. The most recent development I have experienced is actually getting press releases in my inbox from PR folks who think they would be of interest for my media site. That's first wave, in my opinion.

For my day job, I'm responsible for sending out releases to my primary contacts at choice publications. For my blog, I've actually made it to the primary contacts lists for a few select places. I have also had online publications forward me updates when their media-related articles are up so I can blog about them... So is that second hand promotion, or first?

Forgive me if I'm missing the point of this entry, and if you're specifically focusing only on breathing some extra life into some news.

[Steve Rubel]

Tom wrote:

But if I'm understanding what you're writing about, you describe sending out a blurb to a blogger sometime after the initial press release and initial pickup to some specific bloggers in order to garner some additional coverage, right?

Correct. I was speaking about how PR pros can get additional mileage from press coverage and also how some journalists are taking the same approach to their scoops.