Blogs vs. Social Media

If someone were to walk up to you and ask you if social media had more of an influence on you than blogs when it comes to buying something, what would you say?  Off the top of my head, I'd guess that it would be social media.  Mostly because many of my friends hang out in Fakebook. It takes Technorati and the Social Media Examiner blog to prove me WRONG.

Apparently when folks are not hanging out on FB, they are reading and researching blogs!  Go figure.  Of course blogs are in third place as retail sites and brand sites are the top two when it comes to influencing a purchase.  But this does show how important it is to continue (or start) a blog presence in addition to making your company or services known on FB and other social media.

Welcome

I've decided to also blog about PR, something that I've been doing for over 15 years now, in addition to my art blog at Waiting for the Muse. I started doing PR after leaving a 10-year career in radio and print journalism. This gave me a unique background compared to most practitioners in that I had been on the receiving end of PR for many years.

• 
  

What is PR you might ask? It's simply the flow of information from a company or group to the general public via mass media and now, social networking. This can take the form of news releases, event announcements, media interviews, newsletters and blogs. I often call PR a crap shoot in getting a message to the public via mass media. Why? You might have a great, "sexy" story that you think the media will go with, only to be upstaged by a large local event like a huge fire, or a murder or a scandal involving a public figure.

• 
  

Although many think PR is more credible than advertising, the one thing you can't do really is control PR the way you can advertising. PR must be thought of as a long-term strategy that works together with your marketing and advertising plans.