10 Rules for Blogger Etiquette

Most of us read blogs (you are reading one right now!), but do we know proper etiquette as a reader? Here is a list of suggestions for proper behavior when reading and interacting with a blog.

1.) If its your first time commenting, introduce yourself. Bloggers love to meet their readers and develop relationships with them. Let the blogger know where you found their blog and a little about who you are (but don't over promote yourself).

2.) Do not (immediately) self promote. Don't do it. Nothing will tick off a blogger quicker than if you enter their blog space, give nothing back to the conversation, and then plaster the comments with an unwelcome ad touting your work. Add value to the conversation, build a relationship, and work to naturally earn the attention you are seeking.

3.) If you read often or found the topic helpful, leave a comment. Blogging consistently about relevant topics can be hard (we post on Daily Axioms at least once a day), and leaving a comment is where writers can find the energy to keep working hard.

4.) Put quality into your comment. While its nice to leave a "great post!" remark for a blogger, its even more helpful put some time and thought into your comment. Leaving additional links and resources that add to the conversation will show the blogger that you read their post, understood what they were talking about, and want to be in the dialogue of the conversation.

4.) Read the other comments before leaving your own. You wouldn't come into a room and jump into the conversation without listening for a little bit first. Your idea or comment might have already been said, so make sure to get the full picture of where the conversation is at before sticking your foot in your mouth.

5.) If you found the topic helpful, click an ad. I got this idea from Seth Godin, and it has really changed my thinking about online ads. Clicking the ad is an easy way to throw a coin in the tip jar and say thank you to a blogger. Its free for you, only takes half a second, and rewards good content when you find it.

6.) Share the blog or post in other places. Another way to show the blogger love is to Tweet a link to their post, bookmark it on Digg, or send it to a friend on Facebook who would find it helpful. Bloggers will see this as an act that builds relationship and trust.

7.) If you are leaning towards commenting anonymously, think twice about what you are writing. A lot of people think that if they post a comment anonymously, they can write whatever they want. I have read a lot of horrible personal attacks and unfounded remarks made by anonymous commenters. Its okay to disagree, but do it in a constructive and respectful way.

8.) Do not mass email/pitch bloggers. This should not be done with newspapers or television either, and bloggers will delete your email just as fast. Figure out who the author is, read their blogs posts, and then if you still think your product or service would interest them, find the most appropriate way to let them know about it. Pitching yourself on their most recent post probably isn't the best way.

9.) Point out spelling errors, but do so discreetly. No one is perfect and when a grammar mistake, spelling blunder, or broken link slips through the cracks, bloggers want to fix the error as soon as they can. Help them out by kindly letting them know. Once again, a better option than a comment is to Tweet, email or Facebook them through a DM or private message.

10.) Stop lurking and join in! Become part of the conversation (notice the reoccurring theme yet?) and let the blogger know you are out there. Bloggers are not unlike you and can be very approachable especially if you just apply the Golden Rule. Who knows what mutual benefit could be formed if you actually got to know them?

I know you all have other suggestions. What are some of your rules for reading blogs?

Ditch the One Size Fits all Pitch

You must be completely naive to continue in the graces that is bad media relations, not PR, but bad media relations. Online spells transparency and as the frequency of bad flacks outweighs the good, you’re even more likely nowadays to end up on the Bad Pitch blog—or something a lot worse… the subjective of a forum flame war where you have to play defense.

Our Pitch-Perfect session last week featured the mastermind behind Axiom Marketing, an integrated communications business developed during prep days at Kellogg School of Management. Mr. Mike Reiber discussed the new frontier of new media and the passing of traditional tactics still in use by the many today.

Among the many topics discussed with Mike, one really hit home for me: Journalists have more to do now and less time to do it. I was informed of this earlier on as our team ventured off to meet with a Star Tribune reporter, herself reiterating the importance of learning Web so she and many others wouldn’t lose their job.

What this also means is you better have the pitch right the first time sent out. With all the e-mail clutter, all those microbloggers updating their Tweets to appeal to the news masses following, it’s time for a Cadillac to park in their garage.

If you’re a Ford lover, shame on you.

The medium is the message… to a reporter’s heart

It completely stuns me how self-proclaimed public relations gurus can think the medium doesn’t matter; rather, it’s only the pitch. Consider this, though. If you have a 400+ word document pasted in an e-mail line going to a Time Magazine reporter who covers short stints or mentions, do you think he/she will delete a long-winded message without reviewing the content? You bet they will. And you missed out.

Content is important, but format should also be considered in tailoring pitches. TV producers aren’t going to want attachments that lead to visual ads for a product or service. They’re going to want the opportunity for B-roll video, and perhaps then you might get lucky and end up on “the View”.

Another thing—thanks to NPR’s Carol Klinger – the ultimate decision-maker for booking sound bytes on “All Things Considered is (drum roll, please).... great sound content. If this is a surprise to you, then read up on your contacts. Maybe that will explain why you haven’t garnered black-and-white online or off, or even why you’re on someone’s naughty list this Christmas season. Thanks to Chris Anderson at WIRED for being Santa Claus

Pitch Perfect: Simple and SMRs

Today's session consisted of two webinars which detailed both the simple and the syndicated. RSS feeds, Wikis, Embeds, and Hubs are terms familiar to the new SMR, though don't discount the simple tactics when pitching, as one of Axiom's well-rounded interns Annie Vanasek observed:

There are many things that may come as obvious to-dos when pitching a reporter. But it is always nice to be reminded of what you should and should not do when delivering your pitch. For example, I had already been aware of the importance of researching your reporter and knowing their beat before you try to pitch them, but today's webinar seemed to hammer it into my brain.

The three tips to always follow are:

• You should develop your story into something that would be attractive to them. With a creative mind, you can give them what they want while still making sure your news is covered. (At the same time, if you are having trouble figuring out how the two relate, then you probably shouldn't be pitching them in the first place.)

• Something from their archives that can be useful to you in your pitch. For example, if you are pitching a restaurant's new recipe and you discovered that they have included recipes in their past articles.

• The final one is a combination of the two. You can grab the reporter's attention by referencing one of their past articles, then telling them how you can help them with your story.

Social Media Releases
Now a new topic emerges, though it's not new to the PR scene. Hardly. Since its inception by Todd Defren, the social media release (SMR) can be a journalist's best friend. How tech savvy do you have to be to navigate it? If you can't navigate the web, a blog, or some other web hub, you'll likely have difficulty.

PR/Web 2.0 enthusiast Brian Solis led the talk about SMRs and they're feasibility for a new and improved online press room, and wired services.

Before I go into more detail, check out the conversation prism as I delve into many blogs on this topic, including Solis' own Web site.

Pitch Perfect: Microblogging

Pitching is all about relationships. Twitter is all about instantaneous exchange of status updates/information. If you combine the two, you no longer need to muddle through stuffed inboxes and mailboxes to get to that prized reporter.

More reporters are hitting up the genius of Twitter nowadays, and they aren’t just tech reporters. You can now find a whole slew of journalism mavens positing themselves on Twitter, Friendfeed, and Facebook. In pitching a reporter, Facebook has been the exchange agent of choice, though your best bet is microblogging – because it’s personal, fast, and unconventional. Reporters love to be people.

In order to properly navigate this new information exchange, you might want to remind them of their humanness by sending a greeting. First, it’s important to see what they’ve “tweeted” and respond to it in a professional manner. You can even “follow” them first and type in an @ followed by their handle to send a message. Same principles of a pitch: if they like what they see, they’ll follow you too.

Next, check out their numerous tinyurl link updates that will give you access to their latest articles written. Follow same procedure as above, only this time mention their article and your client’s area of expertise—but as with the length of a voicemail pitch, you must do it in 140 characters or less.

Happy Tweeting! And for Pete’s Sake, stop poking on Facebook.

From the Phone Booth: It's okay to be human

Today's perfect pitch session featuring a podcast from maven Margo Mateas touched on a fear that looms over the touch-tone phones of PR people. We don't want to suck, so how do we sell?

Reporters are just as human, if not more so, than we are. Have you ever spoken to a reporter who couldn't communicate a clear sentence or said "um" more times than a Toastmasters member starting out? I always enjoy that because it helps me to conclude this really isn't that hard.

Of course, we can make it seem impossible by a glass-half-empty kind of mentality. "What if they hang up on me?".... better yet... "What if they say "No?" It's dreadful to hear but very common, and it's up to us to recover quickly and move on to our next potential relationship. A word of caution: Don't pitch until you're fully ready. There is nothing worse than a reporter hearing blabber for a minute and then stopping you (and yes, sometimes they hang up too).

You might also want to pitch the script, and I don't mean "pitch" as in "communicate." Throw it away. Work at sounding more like a conversationalist with mutual benefit for both parties.

Does anyone out there have any thoughts on voice mail pitches?