Blog Relations

In August, we invited 50 PR professionals from around the world to fill in a survey about how they regard blogs as a business communications tool. We are now pleased to publish the results which are filed under their own category on The Angel Blog.

It’s a bit of a two pronged sword. Six out of ten PR people  believed that a disgruntled employee or a dissatisfied customer could use a blog to damage a company’s reputation. But eight out of ten PR PROs also think that blogs, if used correctly can be a useful communication tool for businesses.

Meanwhile, although 56 percent of PRs say that they have never pitched a blogger, 46 per cent of those same people think that there are already a "good number of influential blogs."  Perhaps they could be doing more to get their message out to them.

We focused on PR PROs for our survey because we thought that they should be able to provide a leading indicator of how businesses will take to blogging over the near future. After all, this group of people speak to businesses about their communications strategy on a daily basis. Besides which, the PR profession has taken to blogs in a big way – as is clear from the fact that many are active bloggers themsleves.

It is perhaps fair to say that the 50 PR PROs who took this survey are, in the main,  more blog-savvy than the profession as a whole, although the sample does include those who say they know little about blogs.

(By the way, Blog Relations, despite its name, is not a PR agency. Matthew and I are both professional journalists and we are in the business of providing media content, as well as help to businesses with blogs and podcasts.)

While this survey was in progress, two companies, Dell and Land Rover, were both experiencing the wrath of bloggers with gripes against their products. It was becoming clear that both these companies had underestimated the danger from this quarter.Over half of the PR professional surveyed believed that businesses in general have not yet woken up to the threat posed by blogs.

But on the brighter side, a majority of PR professionals also believe that blogs  can be an opportunity for companies as well. Overall, eight out of ten believe that businesses could benefit from setting up their own blogs. This seems liks a big number and it certainly took us by surprise. Perhaps it is because so many PR professionals have benefited from their own experiences of blogging.

We’ve managed to squeeze a good deal of data out of a relatively short questionaire by looking at it from this angle and that. It’s all published here in full detail. We hope you find it interesting.   The fact that many of those taking the survey were kind enough to leave on-the-record comments has helped us to round out the picture.  We hope you find it interesting .

Sorry I am turning off comments because of persistant spam attempts on this post

Sample of 50 PR PROs

The most striking conclusion is that PR Pros see blogs as posing a significant threat to corporate reputations. 64% agree that a disgruntled employee or a dissatisfied customer could use a blog to ignite a full blown crisis. 58 percent of respondents agree that businesses have not yet woken up to the threat posed by blogs.

A number of PR commentators emphasised that companies can mitigate the danger by being aware of what bloggers are saying about them. Joel Cere, Vice President at Hill & Knowlton in the UK, says that monitoring blogs is "a prerequisite in crisis preparedness" while Shel Holtz of Holtz Communication and Technology in the US writes that companies must "adapt to the speed of blogs and learn to address them."

Several respondents point out that blogs can be a conduit into the mainstream media. Sarah Forrester, a British based publicist specialising in PR for media companies, says, "It’s interesting that controversial items that are aired/exposed on these sites often end up in the printed media anyhow. What that proves is that it’s a much more immediate way of disseminating information – which surely is an issue for any business."

The only commentator to give an outright dismissal of the alleged threat from bloggers is Neil Boom of Gresham PR in London: "Why are blogs any different from any other form of company pressure group or mad crank?’ he asks. "If companies waste their time trying to deal with bloggers they will tie themselves up in knots."

Stewart Bruce of Bruce Marshal Associates in the UK was not aware of Boom’s comment when he wrote: "The PR who ignores blogs is an even bigger fool than those who think blogs change everything."

Tom Murphy, a long established PR blogger in Ireland, takes issue with the concept of blogs with the proposition: "The idea of blogs as a "threat" is, in my opinion, looking at the wrong perspective.

Overall, a total of 82 percent of the PR PROs taking the survey agree that there are either "quite a few" or "many" businesses that could benefit from setting up their own blogs. (48 percent for "quite a few" and 34 percent for "many").

"Blogs represent an opportunity for firms to better communicate with their audience(s) either directly (via employee or corporate blogs) or indirectly (via pitching third party blogs)," says Tom Murphy, while
Joel Cere, vice president Hill and Knowlton in the UK, notes that “Blogs are instrumental for executive profiling, thought leadership and building a rapport with stakeholders."

Blogging is seen as opening up a dialogue with stakeholders and this is seen by many as the main benefit:

"If we take the time to properly understand the value of a two-way conversation that a blog-platform offers, they can become a tremendous asset," says Matthew Podboy, co-founder of Voce Communications in the USA. Morgan McLintic, Vice President of Lewis Global Public relations in the USA, adds,"You never know, you might even learn something from your audience – which is the beauty of blogging and true communication."

But blogs can be hard work. Katie Paine, CEO of KDPaine & Partners in the US, emphasises the commitment required by blogging: "Like other marketing efforts, blogs require time, talent and money", she says.

Some more words of warning: Siobhan Aalders,  Director of APCO Europe, says that the main challenge for a company is to create "credibility" for the blog. Neil Boom of Gresham PR is scathing about companies that ‘pose’ as bloggers. "I think it’s dishonest,’ he says.