Recent encounter with a fellow blogger

Okay, so let’s be honest here, I’m talking about an encounter with a REAL blogger, not just some schmuck who thinks that people will be entertained, or even gain value from a silly little blog about life’s lessons...

The type of blogger I’m referring to is one that regularly posts for a top 500 site in the blogosphere. Huge, right?

So let’s start with a little background. One of the growing trends in the world of communications is what’s known as OEO, online editorial outreach. Instead of traditional media relations, public relations professionals are now reaching out to bloggers in a highly targeted way. Without thorough knowledge of the blog, and often the blogger that’s posting, it can be difficult to make a connection. Most often, this is not the blogger’s day job, so they aren’t getting paid to read the latest announcement from your company. That’s why it’s critical to present a blogger with an idea they will be interested in, and hopefully, buy into enough to blog about it.

Standard practice is not to follow-up with bloggers as you would with traditional media; if they’re interested, they’ll respond. Which can be stressful (I’d rather have a reporter tell me that no one in their right mind would cover my story than not to know at all) and time consuming (in that you need to continuously check back to see if anything has been posted).

For me, I was lucky. This particular blogger not only covered the topic we provided him, but he responded with thoughts on how to make our program survive in the world of online social media.

I often wonder if bloggers can spot fellow bloggers, by tone, by concept, or though intuition. However it happened this time will probably remain unknown; because as we all know, life is 50 percent chance; but I’m grateful, not only for his coverage, but for his time. He didn’t need to give suggestions, but because he truly believed in our issue, he took the time to provide us with his highly experienced opinion. So if you’re reading this, fellow blogger, thank you for your kindness, generosity, and understanding.

Cheers!

-A