conducted By Rebecca McKinnon on journslists who cover news in China. 90% follow blogs.

Blogging 101Anne PokrifkaPokrifka Public Relations

www.PittsburghPublicRelations.com

Questions to be answered…

• What is a blog?

• How can I create one?

• What do I do with it?

• How can it help my company?

What is a Blog?

A way for individuals to publish A way for individuals to publish material on the internet for material on the internet for

everybody to read.everybody to read.

• Free• “Word of Mouth on Steroids”• Blogger

Step 1: How to I find them?

• Google

• Technorati

• Daypop

• Popdex

Step 2: Creating Your Own

1. Have a clear purpose

2. Research other blogs

3. Go to www.blogger.com

4. Create a content strategy

Step 3: Market Your Blog

• Add URL to email signature

• Submit to blog search engines

• Ping for each new post

• Use trackbacks and tags

• Include a growing blogroll

• Participate in other blogs

• Allow RSS subscriptions

Step 4: Keeping Track

• RSS (Really Simple Syndication)– Bloglines– Newsgator– Google Reader

• Google Alerts

Some Stats

• Over ½ of the marketers will have blogs

• 60% of marketers are using social networks

• 1.4 blogs created every second

How can it help my company?

• Business Blog Case Study• Stonyfield Farm of Londenderry, NH has a number of

blogs and the data to prove it's a good idea.Rick Bruner's interview with chief blog person, Christine Halvorson, brings out some interesting data about business blogging and its rewards."Our company has experienced phenomenal growth, and we have a certain "personality" in the world--we care about the environment; about healthy food; about supporting family farms.  With growth, we fear losing touch with what is a very loyal and committed customer base, and so our CEO, Gary Hirshberg, saw the blogs as a way to continue to personalize our relationship with our customers." –Christine Halvorson, Stonyfield Farms

Questions

What’s Next?

• Podcasting and Webcasting– (Think YouTube)