Something unexpected happened today. I talked with Martha Stewart. Yes. The Martha Stewart. Martha posted to her
Twitter account, @marthastewart, that she was accepting callers for her afternoon Sirius radio show.
I recently took to Martha when she and her esteemed pooches, Francesca and Sharkey started to blog at The Daily Wag. I love dogs.
The Daily Wag, written by a staff member of Stewart’s team, is an ingenious endeavor. Sponsored by Purina with links for products and charities, The Daily Wag offers dog lovers (a rabid bunch; pardon the pun) well-written content, ridiculously cute photos, a robust comments section and a purview into an intimate aspect of a celebrity’s life.
When Martha answered my call, I gushingly applauded the efforts of her dogs’ writing skills. I asked Martha when her French Bulldogs were going to start Twittering. Martha replied that they needed to first master blogging before Twittering.
Martha chatted effortlessly about Francesca and Sharkey’s respective work ethics, and how the pooches were angling for raises. (Francesca, if you do not follow the blog, is by far, the smarter of the two and according to Martha, held her ground about the raises). Martha was quite humorous playing along with her team of canine social media ambassadors
Martha and I connected around shared values, not products. In other words, we were two women with known affinities (one woman more known than the other) who shared a breezy exchange because we both loved dogs.
I do not recount this story to demonstrate that I was able to get Martha to open up and act silly. However, I do want to point out, something about our exchange that is crucial for PR professionals pitching ideas to bloggers and journalists.
The blogger and journalist are no different than you or I. We are professionals that collectively face a devastating economy where our work and how we execute our work is paramount. Given this new economy, time is precious, content even more so.
To that end, pitching is a new ball game, especially to bloggers. Bloggers will be receptive to those who have done their research, interact authentically with them and add value to their community.
Simple tips for pitching a blogger: Read the blog you would like to pitch. Read the archives, the comment section, and the archives. Get a feeling for what this blogger is passionate about.
There will also be opportunities to be part of the blogger’s community (Join their Facebook, Twitter). You should take every advantage to add value to their community by thoughtful commenting, suggesting relevant links and engaging with other commenters.
When you pitch, make sure you know how the blogger prefers to communicate. Most bloggers will post their emails. A word to the wise: bloggers loathe seeing a PR pitch in their comments’ section.
Pitching to a blogger is an art not a science. It takes time, engagement and mutuality.
END NOTE: The day after I spoke with Martha, she announces on Twitter that Francesca and Sharkey now have a twitter account @thedailywag. They have more followers than I do.
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June 26th, 2009 at 10:23 am
J’ai d
[Reply]
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Amanda,
Great read – was talking to @iggypintado about this very same concept of triggering emotional connections.
Looking forward to future exploits.
Dave
[Reply]
Amanda Beals Reply:
August 5th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Dave,
Thank you for reading. This blog has been in beta for two long but much has to do with leaving PR Newswire and procuring steady employment. My thoughts resonate with yours. I dont know about you but I never understand why there is so much discourse on the philosophy of great social media. And, while not being reductive, I think the equation for success is simply, connect on shared values ( a wonderful phrase I adopted by @susangetgood.
Who are you on Twitter? I apologize for not knowing ASAP. Have been traveling a fair bit.
best
Amanda
[Reply]
Dave C Reply:
August 5th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Amanda,
Lol – we’re already connected = @budtrap!
I think a lot of the discourse is brought on the by the fact the world is going through a transformation from mass media, ie renting a market through advertising to that of social connectivity & trust. For businesses that have built brands on the former, this presents all sorts of hurdles in presenting growth figures to their investors.
This were we enter guys like @armano & his collective thoughts http://darmano.typepad.com/ which do a good job at trying to rationalize these hurdles into a scalable action that can “work” to solve these problems.
I personally don’t know the answer, but feel that working in tribes & communities focuses the connectivity – carries a more meaningful conversation than blasting people with mass marketing & better yet works to become more sustainable – both environmentally (cradle to cradle – great book) and culturally.
Besides it’s more fun dealing with people you get on with!
Dave
[Reply]
Amanda Beals Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I am an idiot!!! I must say that the Purple Cow is what I needed. I felt less grounded this week in terms of thinking I knew how to grapple with what we are doing particularly. However, “shared values” is an excellent frame work. I had not married tribes with shared values. David-this was a great discovery!!!
August 25th, 2009 at 10:55 am
I read the article and missed the part about what exactly what you are pitching. I enjoyed your descriptive style otherwise.
Feel free to pitch me any time.
Max EP
[Reply]
Amanda Beals Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Hi LA Comedy Awards! I do not believe I was pitching anything. This was a mere post about social media and its roots in authenticity. thank you for your kind words. The blog is getting an overhaul so I just have posts populating it at this point.
[Reply]