Drillbits Blog

It’s not old media, it’s not new media…it’s just plain media

If I am bringing anything back with me from BlogWorld, besides about a dozen new t-shirts, it’s the fact that new media is dead. Then again, so is old media. The only thing that remains is media itself – beautiful, content-rich and unattached to any particular platform. At least that’s the current thought among digital media professionals.

It might sound like idealism, but it turns out there is a lot of value in viewing media this way, particularly if you work in PR or marketing.  With serious bloggers increasing their frequency of blogging 44% in 2011 and the shift in the way we consume content, one of the emerging trends is that bloggers no longer think of themselves as bloggers.  The new term is “digital publishers,” and they have a lot more clout than any of us ever imagined.

Sure, traditional dailies and magazines still command an important presence in media consumption patterns. However, all you have to do is look at groups like mom bloggers – and the marketing campaigns that now target them – to realize just how much power even a moderately popular online publisher can command. The difference is that the people behind these online publications have real relationships with their audience and are able to command more influence than traditional writers.

Another big outcome of this shift is the way online publishers view their dialogue with PR professionals. I spoke to literally dozens of online publishers over the course of the weekend and found that each one of them had encounters with PR professionals that left a bad taste in their mouths. That’s too bad – and so unnecessary.

Most prominently, online publishers complained that they received way too many “craptastic” press releases and not enough targeted outreach and collaboration:

Online publishers genuinely welcome the help of PR professionals, but they want to be talked WITH rather than talked TO. Their advice: start with casual introductions after doing serious research into how and why they write about their topic. After the initial relationship is formed, they are glad to talk about potential resources a PR professional might be able to provide that relate to their specific clients:

I took a bunch of these testimonials, which can be viewed on our BlogWorld LA YouTube Playlist. They all pretty much say the same thing – it’s not about being treated differently than traditional journalists, it’s about crafting content that speaks to the personal relationship the online publisher has with their specific audience.

Finally, I’ll say that BlogWorld is a great experience for anyone in the PR or media field.  At a minimum, if you don’t go for the experience or the education, at least you can go for the t-shirts.

Photo Courtesy of jmoneyyyyyy

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Tagged blogworld, bwela, gapingvoid, online publishers