Wanna Chat? I do!
I was contacted by the Central Ohio PRSA group asking if I would participate in a panel discussion on the relationships between bloggers and PR reps. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The panel is part of a half day seminar focusing on that topic specifically.
As bloggers, most of us have had interactions with PRs who are contacting us on behalf of XYZ company for ABC reason. We may have had excellent experiences and we may have had some not so excellent experiences.
Perhaps we’ve had both?
The goal of this seminar and the panel discussion is to help PR reps better communicate with bloggers and to form better relationships with bloggers.
I have some topics already that I hope to discuss at the panel including email solicitations, follow-up, and product delivery.
There was a brief discussion with some blogger friends of mine about some unfortunate interactions with PR reps and how frustrating that can be for a blogger. Some of those interactions include having a PR rep contact you only to turn around and take away the offer. That’s fun!
So friends, I want to know what are your praises and what are your frustrations with PR reps? This does not mean bashing a specific person, company, or firm. It just means, what have they done that surprised you, provided for a good working relationship, or frustrated you?
As bloggers we have a lot to offer in terms of feedback and I would like to hear your thoughts so I can provide as much information as possible at this event. Let’s discuss!
oh this sounds like a great thing to be a part of!! I definitely don’t respond to peopel who send emails that are not professional and realllly hate when they contact me and then are horrificly slow to respond to any follow up
Very interesting! I have had a lot of good experiences, but have had people contact me and offer things, then I have to chase them down. Like for the last giveaway I did. They contacted me about three weeks ago. They got back to me over a week later. I didn’t do the giveaway on my site until I had the goods in my house.
At the same time, I don’t expect anything from them, so if they want to remove the offer, that is fine.
The annoying thing is when random companies contact you pretending that they read your blog then asking you to link to their site… uh, no. I link to companies I USE!
I rarely contact companies for products to review, but when it is a company I admire and use products from frequently – I do (there have been two examples). Both companies shot me down immediately, saying I didn’t have enough traffic. In a way, I understand that. But I guess I expected a little more conversation since I was such a frequent customer of theirs and often wrote about their items on the blog anyway.
My interactions so far have been positive. The PR reps I’ve worked with have been professional and responded quickly to any questions I had. I do find this symbiotic relationship between bloggers and companies to be pretty interesting! I’d love to read more about the panel discussion you’re going to be involved in… posts to follow, I hope :)
I think doing PR is a win win on both ends. I definitely see how the blogging industry has taken off in the world of PR and rightly so! :) We are honest, we are crazy, and we are foodies.
Great discussion, wish Indiana would have a panel like that! Today I had a pr rep contact me telling me how she “read” my blog a lot & blah blah (tons of stuff). Then asks me to review their product which I just posted a review/giveaway for the day before! True, different rep but still,don’t they keep any kind of records? I had even emailed the review link to the company the day before when it posted.
Lots of giveaways up come visit if anyone can!
I think the seminar sounds great and I’m excited to hear the discussion that goes on and your opinions afterwards.
I’ve had some great experiences and some not so good. I’ve had a few that contacted me, I got back to them…and then nothing. I never heard from them again or received what they said they were sending, so I have no clue if they decided not to send it or if it got lost of what. Oh well.
If companies get back to you quickly, that makes a big difference to me. It means that they’re interested, and that means more to me than anything else.
Also, the emails from websites/companies just asking me to link to them when I have no clue who they are? Doesn’t happen.
Companies rarely contact me first. I’m assuming this is because my blog doesn’t generate a lot of traffic. Every now and then I’ll contact a company that I respect on my own and usually I get a decent response. What drives me nuts is when companies don’t respond at all. How rude is that?
Wow I wish there was a group like that here in Indy, I’d love to be a part of it.