PR Firms Track Blogs For Early, Inside Info

When Steve Rubel read the headline "WeatherBug 6.0 has to be one of the most annoying pieces of software ever," the PR executive flew into damage-control mode. The headline appeared on Gordon Gould's Weblog (which discussed Gould's dislike of the software's pop-up ads, among other things). Rubel, who works at WeatherBug's public relations shop, CooperKatz & Company, quickly responded by posting his own comment: "Gordon, I am with WeatherBug's PR agency, CooperKatz. I would like to set up a briefing for you with their team so that you can express these concerns directly. Interested?"Given the proliferation of blogs, this scenario is likely to become commonplace. PR executives are eager to master this new tool, which allows them to harness and measure the power of electronic word of mouth. Instead of conducting focus groups or other potentially time-consuming research, blogs allow executives to monitor consumer feedback and reactions to almost anything—in almost real time. To track what's being said about its clients, independent CooperKatz uses a myriad of blog measurement tools, such as Technorati, a real-time search engine that tracks the blogosphere and rates how much influence any given blog wields. CooperKatz uses other blog trackers, such as PubSub and BlogPulse, as well. It also developed its own tool: a buzz dashboard that culls data from blogs and then pulls it onto a single Web page. A buzz dashboard is where Rubel's team spotted the negative WeatherBug blog."If we find [a problem] that is serious, we will try to get an idea of how influential the blogger is by checking his profile on Technorati," said Rubel, director of the Micro Persuasion Practice at CooperKatz. The practice helps clients create PR strategies using blogs, RSS feeds and podcasting within larger marketing plans. "If we see someone has influence, we will definitely reach out to them," he said.Through text-mining and text-analysis, companies like Cymfony and Intelliseek offer blog-monitoring technologies that capture data about which blogs are talking about what clients. Cymfony works with Omnicom Group's Fleishman-Hillard and WPP Group's Ogilvy PR on undisclosed clients. Intelliseek works with Edelman, among others. "It's no longer about us talking [to the consumer]," said Rick Murray, executive vice president, diversified services at independent Edelman in Chicago. "It's a two-way dialog initiated by the consumer and acted upon by the marketer."According to its company site, Technorati tracks more than 7 million blogs, up from 100,000 two years ago. Data suggests the blogging trend will not be abating anytime soon: 27 percent of Web users say they read blogs, up from 17 percent in February, according to a survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The Washington-based nonprofit also found that 12 percent of Web users now write their own blog posts. The day after Rubel's post, Gould responded with the headline, "Managing opinions in the blogosphere—the new PR & customer service." He wrote, "Steve [Rubel] ... asked if I would ... chat with WeatherBug's management to provide them with feedback." He concludes, "That is great, proactive PR work on Steve's part, and WeatherBug should be glad they have him. It also improves my opinion of WeatherBug to know that they are ... trying to reach out to consumers to improve their product. Now if they would just get rid of those annoying pop-ups ..."

Brand Marketing

PR Firms Track Blogs For Early, Inside Info

Lisa Van Der Pool

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Lisa Van Der Pool