If I knew all the words

After spending three weeks on the topic of social media, I’m sure you could ask any student in the public relations track at the University of Oregon “what’s a great way to get your small business brand out there and spread the word?” Their reply, “Start blogging.” Now this could be good or this could be bad. Bad? really how could this be bad?!?!

Todd Defren PR Squared blogger talks about how the plight of minor bad buzz for small business bloggers can throw them off the charts, out on the streets, and their product in the trash. The big news online the past week has been Targets response to a bloggers concern regarding an inappropriate advertisement. Targets response was that they simply didn’t interact with non-traditional media such as blogging and did not answer this blogger and faithful consumer’s question.

I don’t know where those PR people went to school, but it sure wasn’t Oregon. Obviously this was not the way to handle the situation and the blogger wrote about it, which is great if the blogger has a large readership.

Now imagine you’re a new business. You barley have a Web site up, and you begin joining the conversation and blogging. Now lets say the product you sell has a flaw. One of your consumers blogs about the flaw. With not much media surrounding your product when someone goes to google to search for your product, within the first few posts there is this negative blog. Though, this isn’t the case for Target. When you go to google the store, the negative blog will be hiding deep within the pages of google because there are more relative site than you tiny little blog complaining about the way you were treated by the PR people.

So can blogs hurt or help small businesses? It’s a ‘double edge sword’ as Defren says. It is definently something you want to bring up to your small business clients and write down the pros (benefits) and the cons of having a blog for your small business. It may just be that risk you have to take to get into the world of social media.

 photo: netream

The bloggesphere can be a scary venue to many, especially for a young blogger such as myself. I’ve also heard the frustration of PR professionals and also my fellow students and colleagues from Allen Hall Public Relations, University of Oregon’s student-run PR firm, that many companies and organizations are nervous and unwilling to get involved in social media, especially blogging.

I have found that the more blogs I read and research I do I’m truly learning the power of blogging. Many may feel as though this form of informal communication is irrelevant because it isn’t in a professional format. Little do they know that this form of communication is becoming popular as well as beneficial.

According to Don Crowther’s Blog 101PublicRelations, “What the traditional media doesn’t recognize is that many bloggers, though unrestrained by traditional journalistic methods and ethics, have audiences and actual readership larger than many newspapers, television and radio shows,” Crowther said. “Plus this audience is often more loyal and able to be influenced than that of traditional media, giving bloggers tremendous power to shape opinions, actions and purchasing behavior.”

I believe many companies don’t understand the purpose of blogging and how there is an entire world of consumers and potential consumers who are talking about your product or service. Just because you feel as though social media is untraditional means you’re not listening to your customers and it removes you from the conversation and opportunity to make changes and advance in our constantly changing world.