I recommend this article about how PR backed blogging initiatives must start driving global brand conversations.

The fact that the Internet-focused workshops at the PRSA Conference were so well attended shows that Internet Strategies are high on the list of priorities for PR practitioners.

And well they should be.  What are we trying to accomplish in PR?  A favorable operating climate in which the enterprise can expand, prosper and be viable. 

We remove barriers, create opportunities and conversations.  Our job is to get into the hearts and minds and create mutual understanding using communication and reality.

As the Internet has become the medium of choice, so must it become the place PR operates.

The Internet is the ultimate communication revolution.  Instead of the old mass communication linear models, we’re operating in a wired world of networked conversations.

The Cluetrain is here - PR either has to get on, get a clue, or get left behind.

PR is the tool that builds and strengthens brands. Studies like one by the IAB clearly show the link between brand value and search results.

Al and Laura Ries describe the Internet as a phenomenal brand building mechanism.  You’re either building your brand click by click, or it’s eroding with each visitor that comes to your website.

Perception is reality. When a searcher gets a page of results, they believe that the names on the first page – specially the ones in the 1, 2 and 3 position - are the major players in that field.  And they place higher value on those in the natural search results than those in the paid or sponsored results.

It’s that advertising versus editorial third party endorsement thing.

So where does blogging come into all this?

Search engines like text, good content focused on keywords, and links. No wonder they like blogs.  A well executed corporate blog will

·         Increase your footprint on the Internet with a ‘cloud’ of content  on your subject

·         Create top ten search results on many keywords relevant to your industry

·         Establish you as an expert on these subjects

·         Raise awareness of your company, product or service

·         Create interaction with your  customers

·         Give your company a human voice

·         Make the company more real to your customers, raising the affinity and understanding.

·         Increase your brand value

·         Raise your visibility with the mainstream media

I discovered the Internet early in 1998 in South Africa.

When I was back there on a speaking tour earlier this year I realized how far behind the US they are in terms of Internet use.  I was amazed that I was online back then.  There were probably only a handful of us at that time.

It did not take me long to see the potential of this new medium. The Internet has completely changed the way we communicate and do business.

When I relocated to the USA in 1999 I worked for an Internet Service Provider who was on the cutting edge of broadband.  I learned a lot and had the benefit of some very advanced thinking about how to use the Net and what it could do.

When I spoke to other PRSA members about using the Net for PR I found very few like minded souls.  Mostly I got a lot of blank looks. 

That prompted me to hold workshops on the use of broadband and the Internet for marketing and PR professionals - and I've been doing it ever since.

My expertise and interest in the Internet has always been from the PR angle. My long interest in consumer behavior and research ( I lectured for Oxford-Brookes  University UK in these subjects for five years) has carried forward to the Internet.

I follow and participate in research that delves into user behavior and perceptions online. I have been very involved in studies about brand perceptions and search visibility in the past two years.

And so I came to blogging.  When it is done right it can affect search visibility and brand perception. My interest is in how  blogs affect the way people communcate, perceive and react online. 

More about what I do

Sally