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May 31, 2005
Superblogger Scoble defends PR value of his links
First consultant Stephan Spencer explained new PR in the blogosphere this way. He says first you start a blog, then you mention Scoble or other top bloggers, so that they’ll link to you:
- With the new PR, you start your own blog (assuming of course you have something worthwhile to say) and you work to become one of the blogging elite. The goal is to get the more influential bloggers to notice you and blog about you. You wouldn’t just leave this to chance; you’d help the process along. If, for example, you want to catch Scoble’s eye, then you would say something interesting that somehow relates to Scoble and work in a mention of his name. Scoble, like many other bloggers, follows what’s being said about him in the blogosphere by subscribing to a PubSub search results feed for the word “scoble.” If Scoble likes your post, you could end up with a mention on Scoble’s link blog or, better still, on the Scobleizer blog.
Then Trevor Cook, a PR man from Sydney, called it nonsense:
- This sort of thing is often written up as ‘revolutionary’ when really it is the worst sort of schmoozing and publicity-seeking dressed up as something else. It has nothing to do with public relations, as most practitioners would understand it.
(Perhaps those Australians have PR down to a cold science now, but in the U.S., I think we’re still pro-publicity and schmoozing.) Anyway, then Scoble showed up in Trevor Cook’s comments, and made a compelling case for the Scoble-first strategy:
- Buzz Bruggeman, CEO of ActiveWords, reports that when I linked to ActiveWords they got about 400 downloads. When a famous national newspaper gave them a five-star review they got 32.
Also, if I link to someone generally they'll get a Google PageRank of four or five, which will put them above 95% of the rest of the Web. (Look at what happened to the law firm my brother works at once I linked to them, went from not found on first five pages to #1 result).
My take is that while getting a Scoble link or mention is a very fine thing, and Blogworks.org would never look askance at one, I can’t endorse Spencer’s scheme as a long-term strategy. First, we don’t recommend that every client begin blogging immediately. If blogging does make sense for company, it’s because they have a story to tell, because they like the idea of starting a conversation with customers, and because they passionately think it’s the right thing to do.
OK, so if the company starts a blog, it’s not a bad idea to work Scoble into a few posts. But after that, they’re going to have to come up with interesting material on their own. That's what will really get Scoble and other influential bloggers interested for the long haul.
Posted by Laurie Mayers at May 31, 2005 12:34 PM
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» Gaining PR influence by being a pest from Teblog
Link to an A-list blogger in your own postings and, if they mention you, you race up the Google rankings. No doubt everyone who starts blogging with 'attention' as the primary driver will have thought of this wheeze. Well, now [Read More]
Tracked on June 1, 2005 03:28 AM
Comments
And, this is what happens when you have "blogging consultants" advise PR firms and PR organizations on blogging - they may undestand blogging, but have no real understanding about PR.
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper at May 31, 2005 05:39 PM
Mate, I'm not opposed to schmoozing, I just don't think it's revolutionary. And I think it sucks if its too obvious and nakedly exploitative.
Posted by: Trevor Cook at June 1, 2005 05:39 AM
Glad to hear you're pro-schmoozing. Agreed, it's certainly not revolutionary.
Posted by: Laurie Mayers at June 1, 2005 12:00 PM
/sigh
I have never been accused of schmoozing.
An American Expat in Southeast Asia
Posted by: LHM at June 1, 2005 02:31 PM
