Blogging as a PR Tool

In my four years of studying communications at SMU, a few points have been repeated throughout the various classes I’ve taken, agreed upon my all of my professors. One such point is the importance of staying current for PR professionals. That said, it must also be important for PR professionals to show current and prospective clients, as well as the public, that they are in fact up-to-date on news, new technology, current events, etc… and that they as a professional have something more to offer than the competition, and blogging presents a perfect opportunity to achieve that. 

Blogs can be updated quickly, entries may be as short or as long as the story requires, and topics can be fairly diverse; really whatever the blogger wants to talk about that day. 

President and CEO of Edelman, the world famous PR company, appears to update his blog about once a week on topics ranging from his family’s winter vacation in Shanghai to an annual Edelman study being unveiled that day at the World Economic Forum (his “favorite four days of the year”). 

Heather Hamilton, Senior Marketing Recruiter at Microsoft Corporation, operates another popular blog. Hamilton often blogs on industry topics, but in a recent post she mentioned how she often has trouble coming up with interesting work-related topics, so she invited a “guest blogger,” Chris Russell, founder of All County Jobs. Inviting guest bloggers is an excellent way to drive traffic to your site. I found Russell’s post on moving up the corporate ladder relevant and interesting as a college senior in the midst of a career search. Also, I think Hamilton’s blog will be a unique source of knowledge for me in the future. The diversity of topics on her blog left me looking forward to future visits.