Blogging done by PR Agencies

To blog or not to blog, that is the question. Large PR agencies have been faced with the dilemma of whether or not they should blog. Blogging is beginning to transform social media as we know it. Agencies are stepping away from traditions and transforming into a group that is no longer invisible. Some, though, feel PR agencies should remain invisible. Agencies fear that blogging could have significant consequences. They fear that relationships between clients and media could be jeopardized through blogging.

Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman Worldwide, has jumped on the blogging bandwagon with his blog ‘6 AM.’ He started sharing his thoughts on PR with the world on Sept. 29, 2004. In his first post, Edelman talks about how things are changing, “New Rules of Engagement--transparency, consistency, and respect. People want privacy out of a relationship. They also want a dialogue with a company.” I was struck by how transparent he seems to be. And I’m also incredibly impressed that the CEO of such a large company seems to be doing all of his own writing. I find Edelman to be a good example of what a PR blog should look like.

Hill and Knowlton takes a different approach to blogging. They have “collective conversations” where employees in all of their branches are able to contribute to a public forum. It takes on a sense of the marketplace of ideas theory with people being able to contribute anything and everything they want. It appears to be an unregulated forum which I find very interesting. It’s adding a certain amount of vulnerability to the company by letting their employee’s blog about whatever PR topic they want.

Sam Lawrence, Chief Marketing Officer for Jive Software, worked with an unnamed PR Agency on a project for Jive. While working with that agency, he suggested they should keep a blog of their work. The agency shut down his request on account of fear that they would be stepping on toes and that it would not provide for good future relationships. This was a weird switch of roles, usually agencies are begging for clients to be interested in blogging.

As I learned though, the agency above isn’t a lone. While several agencies are eager to get blogging, and have their whole agency blogging, others are hesitant of what it could do to relationships.