All I Have Learned about Blogger Relations I learned in Kindergarten

When I first took on my FY 08 task list, something called "blogger relations" sat somewhere near the bottom of the list. I was not sure how exactly to take on this enormous task.

I sat is seminars, and read articles from "experts" on the subject. I heard that bloggers are tough to talk to, and if blogger relations is not done "right" it could be disastrous to your brand. I know a little about public relations, and no offense to the mainstream press, but they are not always kind to pr folks. Needless to say, my anxiety level kept this task untouched on my list until Q 3.

Finally one day, I had a press release, on a genetics topic, and via e-mail I introduced and shared some info with the blogger responsible for Genetics & Health. She was very nice, and great to work with. Now I realize that blogger relations is very similar to the first day of kindergarten, or the first day at a new school. Everyone is out in the playground.... Some of them already know each other... You can either sit on the outside watching them talk and play or you can step out, say hello, introduce yourself and tell them that you like to play too. On a personal note, my parents moved me around quite a bit. Between K and 12 I went to 10 different schools. I was the new kid practically every year. So this, I "get".

Still in the early stages, my blogger relations strategy thus far has been this. If I have news, or information that I know might be interesting to the blogger, or their readership I e-mail them, I tell them what I know, and I ask them if they might want to hear from me again if I get anything else. I am a blogger, I am always looking for interesting stuff to share, every time I get something good, I share it, and I don't care who or where it comes from, as long as the source is credible. Turns out, everyone else I have approached has felt the same way.

Just to round out the analogy, here is my simple blogger relations tip list

1 Don't poke your nose in if you have nothing to say
2 Use your good manners, please and thank you go a long way
3 If there is anything you can do for them in return, just do it
4 These are people and "blogger relations" is just a fancy term for making new friends
5 If they don't want to be your friend, leave them alone

If you have more basic blogger relations tips please feel free to add onto the list.

Cancer Patient Lost Everything / The Power of Social Media

My pal Dr. Miggy e-mailed me this weekend to tell me about a patient at the hospital that lost everything in a fire. She sent out a post on twitter about the chip in page that she created to raise money for the patient. "Just thought I'd share this with you. I set up a ChipIn page for donations to a patient and his family who recently lost everything in a house fire. What they were able to salvage got stolen out of their car while they were staying in a hotel. I sent out a tweet about it and so far, since about 2 PM, we have collected over $600 to give to the family. Now, I could be wrong, but I don't think this would have happened if it weren't for twitter. I'm truly overwhelmed by the generosity ofthis group of people." This for me truly illustrates the power of the social media and the one-to-one connection is creates often times between perfect strangers.

Expanding the Channels - Social Bookmarking

So I have to keep it moving with the social media program, so in my effort to expand the channels I found a new way to reach the "low hanging fruit". On the recommendation of our SEO agency, I have begun to expand into social bookmarking sites. This is proven to be an easy way to expand the program, and the number of links out there in the world.

The only problem here is the amount of ground there is to cover. There is no way to cover it all, so again I am picking my battles. With the help of my trusty browser "share this" icon I have set off to Stumble upon, Furl, Digg and Del.ici.ous everything wonderful that our site, content, or partners has to offer.

Want to see what I am doing... take a look
Stumble upon - http://mdandersonorg.stumbleupon.com/
Furl - http://www.furl.net/member/mdanderson
Del.ici.ous - http://del.icio.us/UTMDACC
Ma.gnolia - http://ma.gnolia.com/people/MDAnderson/bookmarks

Don't panic if you don't see your favorite stuff here. I promise I am working on it, and feel free to e-mail me if you want to speed up the process.