A newly-published white paper on blogs from PR agency group Edelman and marketing intelligence firm Intelliseek explores the importance of blogging for public relations and marketing, and provides a first-of-its-kind directory of influential bloggers, segmented by industry.
The report, Trust MEdia: How Real People Are Finally Being Heard (22-page PDF available for download from both firms’ websites) says that in a very short time, the blogging phenomenon has drastically altered the business landscape and challenged traditional beliefs about the control of messaging by corporations, the media, the government, marketers and company stakeholders.
In a press release issued yesterday, the two firms said that the white paper’s blog directory ranks and profiles top bloggers who cover six key industries:
- marketing and public relations
- business
- consumer packaged goods
- consumer technology
- health care
- public affairs
Two communicator bloggers profiled in the report are Steve Rubel and myself. BL Ochman is quoted. PR blogs mentioned in the blog segmentation sample are Corporate PR (Elizabeth Albrycht) and POP! PR (Jeremy Pepper). The detailed blog directory is available only to Edelman clients.
The paper provides detailed basic information and experienced advice on blogger behaviour, praise for (and drawbacks of) blogs, new rules for blogger engagement, legitimate public relations uses of blogs, and a blog lexicon. Intelliseek’s BlogPulse portal contributed to the metrics and guidelines used to determine inclusion, ranking and influence for the blog directory.
Some choice excerpts from the paper:
- For the advertising and public relations community, blogs’ quick rise to prominence poses serious questions. If bloggers were able to establish an influential presence in [the US] presidential election in a few short months, where will they turn their attention and scrutiny next? The media? The advertising community? The PR community? Marketers? Corporate America? Education? Government? Analysts? Regulators?
- Blogs can be fertile locations for companies hoping to find passionate advocates for all that bloggers write about: products or services, ideas, technology, health care, beauty, arts, crafts, movies, entertainment, political campaigns, and more. […] Blogs represent a paradigm shift that presents new challenges and opportunities for the advertising, public relations and marketing communities – challenges and opportunities that require quick responses, protocols and policies.
- Today, “news” and new ideas surface immediately from any variety of online sources, including blogs, some of them totally unexpected and off the radar. Often, news emerges in rich-media formats that include audio links, still images and video links. Bloggers can appear overnight, gaining traction and a reputation in a matter of days or weeks rather than building it over years.
- Essentially, bloggers have established a new micro-universe of information creation, dissemination and influence, a universe that warrants attention, response and consideration, and one where rules don’t follow the accepted norms and practices of the communications and media communities. It’s time for marketers and stakeholders to engage and participate with their customers instead of just transmitting to them.
This report is an excellent snapshot of where blogs currently ‘sit’ from a strategic business point of view, and provides some sound guidance for business leaders on how the reach and influence of this communication channel can be a powerful business tool.
To use an oft-quoted vogue phrase, you ignore blogs at your peril.
Edelman and Intelliseek say they will promote the white paper through a series of webinars, presentations and engagements to interested parties and clients across the US.
You can download the PDF from Intelliseek (registration required) or from Edelman.
Neville,
You are too modest. You left out that that NevOn was listed in the business to business category:
“About: Hobson is an independent British
communicator based in the Netherlands
who offers insights, links and commentary
about a variety of business issues and who
possesses a special interest in business
communications and technology and ways
that the latter can facilitate the former. He’s
been blogging since 2002 and says in his
blog biography that he feels he really found
his niche in the Blogosphere in 2004.”
Congradulations.
Well, thanks, Michael! You probably noticed that I don’t have a ‘shameless self promotion’ category in this blog so I couldn’t really say all that in my post 😉
In reality, though, what I was more interested in commenting on was the substance of the information in the white paper rather than on which blogger’s in what list. I think it would be best to view any names in the context of the complete list. But you can’t see that unless you’re an Edelman client.
Anyway, I think it’s a very good paper, one that I am telling my clients (and to-be clients) about. If you use it together with, say, the analysis from Forrester Research last November, then there’s a pretty compelling set of hard information that will be a great tool in supporting what you need to do as a communicator when making your case for blogs.
One thing I’d really like to see is something like this that’s specific to Europe. No one has yet published any such research or analysis, as far as I know.