RE: Just Causing Trouble for Funsies

 Email

By: Matt Clark

I work with a lot of bloggers for one of my clients.  I have enjoyed working with the Poker Blogs in the past, as it always entertaining to read their posts. Examples Here, Here, Here, Here and Here… and, as a sidebar, not my fault poker blogs talk about women.

Plus, I have a good relationship with most of them, especially after this years World Series of Poker.   So imagine my delight (sarcasm) when I woke up to the headline “Just Causing Trouble for Funsies” on Pokerati, with my client as the main target and my email copy and pasted for a blog post.

My first reaction was, well… what would your reaction be? We all know that everything we send a blogger is fair game.  They are not bound by journalistic ethics (neither are most journalists). So Dan had a right to pick apart my email and show it to the world.  Then I started laughing… only because I knew Dan and had his cell phone.  If I didn’t know the blogger we would have a bigger issue.

First thing I did was leave a comment.  This breaks a rule of mine. When a blog causes trouble just wait-  Take a deep breath, count to 10, etc…  I look at the size of the blog and how often their posts are picked up.  If it has industry pull, I would act right away, but most of the time I wait for an aftershock.

This time I wanted Dan to know that I got his message.  So I posted a comment as myself.  The comment was just a joking remark: “Really man? Lol,” under my name.  It broke down that nasty PR/Blogger relationship to a “lets get a beer and make fun of each other” relationship.  The biggest thing here was that I used my real name.  There is no man behind the curtain on the Web, so don’t hide.  Look at 5W for the reasons why not to lie to and hide from bloggers…

With in a few minutes he posted a comment back and I picked up the phone.  We had a laugh and talked about his post.  I really had no issue with the post.  I just didn’t want my email out there (he took it down).  The other reason I called was to work out a new system with Dan.  As a PR person, I deliver the news bloggers need.

I’m not even going to try to spin it here.  So much happens in my industry that many bloggers can’t keep up.  So I send them as much content and client updates as I can.  About 90% of the time they appreciate it, but sometimes they don’t like the weaker promotional stuff.  I understand, but it comes with the territory.

Often I need to know that I have some protection.  I tailor a lot of my news for the publication I’m sending it to… I can’t have those pitches getting out.

So this was my Friday.  It turned out harmless and I got to practice some fun blogger relations.  One key point to remember here is this:  I am not a flack for a small tech start-up pitching TechCrunch.  I am the PR pro for the largest company in my industry, working with the top bloggers.  So I have the ability to take a few liberties with how I react to things and work with people.  If you don’t have a 3-6 month working relationship with the blogger, and his/her phone number, you might not want to do what I did.