Our commitment to bloggers

Crossing the Rubicon to engage with bloggers requires courage. We know that the medium is evolving. We know that bloggers and Social media owners are not always keen to hear from a PR. Most of all we know that the old way of press releases and spin is dead.

We know bloggers are passionate about their subject. That is why they Blog after all.

We are exploring our relationship with the Blogosphere. Learning fast the etiquette and rules. Our commitment to bloggers, outlined below, is just our first draft. It emphasises our desire to get it right. We expect these to change as social media evolves. We expect to learn from our mistakes. We hope the blogosphere will help us get it right.

If you want to make suggestions for improving the way we approach social media, then drop This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  a line or visit our PR and social media blog to leave a Comment.

Contact and approach

• We will always read your blog before we approach you
• When we make contact, we will always fully disclose who we are and who we work for
• We will always contact you off blog: usually through email
• If you don’t want to talk to us, we wont approach you again
• We always start our first conversation with an introduction: openly explaining who we are and our client activity
• We will never contact you through the comments section of your blog, unless in our capacity as PR professionals where we have something to add to a debate that has a PR focus
• We will always be professional and warm and will not get overly personal
• We will maintain relationships beyond our client Campaign and endeavour to be supportive and helpful where we can

Sending ideas, news, exclusive and information

• We will never knowingly pass on false information of deceive bloggers
• We will NEVER send you a press release unless you request one
• We will only present you with relevant stories and assets: and we always try and keep to the point
• We always try and send exclusives and insider information
• We do not demand, or indeed expect, you to cover our clients. We hope that our information, previews, widgets or communications are inspiring enough
• We will never ask a Blogger to lie for us
• We never send attachments unless requested. Instead we will guide you to a relevant website
  We will tell you in advance if we are unable to supply information
• If we send products for review, we do not expect bloggers to be obliged to comment. Products can be returned at the bloggers discretion
• We will proactively ask bloggers to disclose the source of any products sent – to avoid a conflict of interest

Respect

• We never astroturf, fake it or pretend to be something we are not
• We aim to be open and honest about contacting you and which clients we represent
• we try and facilitate direct relationships with our clients, where we can
• we will respect the etiquette of the blogosphere and respect the guidelines set out by the community
• we will never use automated systems for posting comments or distributing information – all communication will be personal and relevant
• we will never sell to you, tell you what to say or behave unethically
• We are always open to bloggers views and suggestions. We want to work with you and our best relationships occur when the dialogue continues to be two way