Online News

Managing PR content on corporate websites as a tactic was short-lived and not sufficient enough in the ever changing internet. With the sheer speed of information on the web through news sites, PR professionals had to figure out how to also grab attention from ‘authoritative’ old and new media news websites.

Online PR & SEO

The major seismal change for PR was the emergence of professional ‘online PR’ sites and Search Engine Optimisation. Online PR sites like PR Web & i-Newswire are the new ‘wire’ PR professionals send announcements through to in order to grab the attention of journalists, their industry and the web in general. PR professionals have had to figure out how to use these PR websites to their maximum capabilities. This is where the SEO/PR crossover has taken place.

As you know, Search Engine Optimisation is a collection of methodologies and processes aimed at improving the search engine rankings of websites. PR sites work well with the search engine optimisation process because they improve the link popularity of websites they promote. Because of this change, PR Professionals have had to either work with SEO professionals who undertake keyword research in order to discover popular, more commonly used keywords and help with link placements or have had to learn SEO themselves. I remember I used to provide our PR department with a set of keywords to use for press releases they sent through PR websites.

Blog

The next major wave to hit the PR industry was blogging. The advent of blogging empowered masses of people to have an opinion. The blog publishing industry tree has hundreds or perhaps thousands of branches of subjects and genres with loyal followers. Blogs have meant more specialisation on topics in the publishing industry. There are obvious quality issues in the blogosphere but there are also established authoritative blogs in every industry. PR professionals not only have to think about getting their brands out on Top notch blogs but also need to build somewhat authoritative blogs for their brands. Corporate blogs at the moment are the medium through which of PR departments can self-publicize the brands.

Twitter

Like blogging was not enough, micro-blogging has arrived. With roughly about 2.5 million users, Twitter is the defacto micro-blogging platform at the moment and is an area PR professionals and brand managers need to adapt to. It’s brevity is its strength and its potential to reach thousands of people must not be overlooked. Twitter can take your brand to another level if your PR strategy is well thought through. Business owners might have to look for Social media professionals to work with the public relations and marketing team to get the most out twitter. Its probably not the last platform PR professionals would have to adapt to but its certainly the current platform garnering huge attention at the moment. Social media in general should be watched really closely.

I will be blogging about tips on marketing on twitter and social media in general.

For further reading read…

The importance of Online PR (slideshow)

A Short Story About the Romance between Public Relations and the Internet…so far is a post from: Fuzz One Media

• Why should I have a blog?
• We are not an internet business, why should we blog?
• Does blogging really work for businesses?

This post is the first of a 5 part series on business blogging for small and medium businesses. I’ll be covering the basics in this post and then move to more advanced topics in subsequent posts.

The Concept of a Business Blog

First of all I would like to elaborate more on the definition of a business blog. According to blogossary, a business blog can be defined as

a regularly updated website managed by a business or company in order to increase sales, promote a product or service, and/or to open up the lines of communication with current or prospective customers.

Notice the phrase in the definition ‘regularly updated’ – I think that is key to the success of a blog. It enables businesses regularly update the public, existing and potential customers about their products, services, announcements and press releases.

Consistency

‘Regular updated’ could vary for several businesses; for instance a small size building repairs company looking to get more customers online via a blog would not need to blog every business day. ‘Regularly updated’ in this scenario could mean once a week updating the public about their timetable, new equipment, DIY tips, hires and general announcements.

For a law firm trying to garner an online audience and prospective customers, posting on a blog could be more regular due to the fact that there is a lot more to say. There are several case studies, announcements, changes in law, advice and FAQs from everyday interaction with clients. As an example of what I mean, check this popular law business blog based in China -  it gets updated on a daily basis.

The point I’m getting to is that businesses should blog within their means to keep the fire burning. There is no point bursting into publishing several posts at the start of a blog and then cooling off due to a lack ideas for posts. Consistency is key and you as a business owner, determine your means and level of consistency from day one.

Tip: Have a publishing schedule & stick to it!

Fluid Marketing and PR

Remember, 90 per cent of the time, most corporate websites tend to be static and rarely updated. Blogs provide your website the opportunity to be active and ever changing. This not only helps search engines assign authority and relevance to your site, but also gives your business a personality.

Your tone, message and content would inevitably get picked up by the press, customers or prospects from a well optimised blog.

Your blog is probably the cheapest and most effective PR tool you have.

Coming Up with Ideas

When implementing a blogging strategy for our clients, the starting point would usually be listing potential categories for posts. We would typical come up with 6 to 12 initial categories and then drill down to about 5 ideas for each category. The result of this exercise is to come up with an editorial schedule comprising of 30-60 post ideas.

If these ideas are not followed up, they inevitably become useless – so we immediately assign these post ideas to the writers (who could be full-time internal writers, members of staff with the required expertise or freelancers). Assigning a schedule puts a plan in stone for all parties to assume responsibility.

Conclusion

Now that we have a publishing schedule, what do we need to do to get visitors to the blog?

How do you market your business blog? Our next post would address this….so stay tuned.

Why Should You Blog As a Business Owner is a post from: Fuzz One Media