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Marketing podcast with Paul Gillin (click to listen, right click and Save As to download)
Paul Gillin has written about technology and now social media’s influence on it, for years. Recently he stopped by to talk about his book The New Influencers on the Duct Tape Marketing podcast.
For many a PR firm the concept of bloggers, podcasters and other social media publishers as the new breed of journalist is a challenging one. Heck, the fact that anyone with a computer can now go directly, as a media channel, to its public has radically changed the media and PR landscape forever.
Marketers need to find new ways to tap into the power of this new breed of influencer and PR folks need to clue in and develop strategies to do the same or risk seeing entire chunks of their industry become obsolete.
Hint: You don’t get results by press release spamming with traditional media folks and you won’t get it with new media folks either.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 at May 27, 08 | 6:45 am and is filed under Blogging, Podcasting, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
I look forward to listening to the podcast - still so much to learn !
Blogging with a comment potential becomes personal and close. That is good for the direction the business world is taking. Some are thinking that new workers don’t want to work, but I believe they are bright and want to be recognized as REAL and acknowledged.Some of the social media tools are beyond my present scope, but they are the get-togethers (barn dances, parties, family events) of the past. When we as people are scattered about the country and world, these tools help us touch our family and colleagues just as we might have when EVERYONE lived in the same town their entire life.
Media people on the receiving end of the marketing press release or attempt to get into someone blog are REAL. Approaching them as people and not as entities with proposals will make a great difference. The words might be similar, but your spirit and attitude travels with them to present them differently. See beyond the ink and newsprint or monitor to the real person on the other end.
This new media is one of those channels that as soon as big companies and really “figure it out” and more importantly “figure out how to make money with it” it changes.
I work in the music biz where the blog reall took off first. It was a great tool and those who caught on fast really were able to take advantage of it. The bad thing (or good thing depending on your perspective) is that the blog was started with “pure” intentions. As soon as record labels started trying to use it like they did traditional press it changed and began rejecting that.
Business blogs are usally a little behind the curve (not duct tape though!
so looking at trends in the those fast moving industries like music can be very helpful to those in slower moving industries… a modern history of sorts.
I’ve been working in PR (and publishing prior to that) for more than 10 years now. The truth is that a good PR person would never expect to send out a press release randomly and get good results. Good PR comes from understanding what makes a story and what writers are interested in for their particular audience. This is true whether its “traditional” media or “new media.” (BTW, I’ll be glad when we get to a point where they won’t be considered two different things.)
I still get clients who assume that all you have to do is send out a press release, and the stories will start rolling in. I would argue that it’s not the PR people, but the client’s themselves who don’t understand what it takes to get a story. That’s okay. It’s our job to communicate that them.
I’ve also worked PR in the music business, with independent children’s musicians, and it was the bloggers who were the only ones who would review my client’s CDs. If it wasn’t for them, my client (Mr. David) would never have won the national exposure he did. Yet, I also sense that things are changing as those very same bloggers are getting bigger. That’s inevitable, though. It’s the nature of change.
@Tawnya - Agreed on the new media vs media, it’s just a label for now - maybe that’s worth a blog post
On the client vs PR firms and press release spam - I get press releases every day and they all come from PR firms that ought to know better - some really big name firms in fact. The point might be that they are so desperate to get any mention and show the customer the work is be done for the billing that they will just play numbers games.
Thanks also for the reminder that as a blogger gets bigger or any business really, don’t forget what got your there and don’t become one of those old media wonks!
It’s odd because in reading this post I realize that I am now part of the NEW INFLUENCERS lol. With a podcast and a blog that is highly positioned with the search engines. It’s odd to say the least. I’m looking forward to the read….
David Kamatoy