PR isn't dead. The traditional media is still around. Press releases and story leads and buttering up journalists is far from a thing of the past. For now...

...but there is a new PR kid in town. This one doesn't handle the press. This one doesn't write press releases. This one hardly even reads papers and magazines (except for pure pleasure over a Saturday morning coffee). But she definitely schmoozes and works at creating story leads. She definitely works hard at building a rapport in a powerfully broadcasted community.

Welcome the Blogosphere Relations specialist to the lineup of Public Relations professionals.

BR not PR.

On the surface, much of the work seems to be the same. Establish connections. Read everything you can about your industry. Get to know the people who write about the industry. Make friends with them. Keep them in the loop about what's happening in your company. Never seem desperate. Give them an angle to write about...but in BR, you have to do it several different ways:

• BR people need to be bloggers. Real bloggers.
  
• BR people need to be networkers with other bloggers. You know, hang out occasionally offline. You need to have some semblance of charisma.
  
• BR people need to talk about and link to everything and everyone else in the community while at the same time they are promoting their own product.
  
• and the most important thing: BR people have to be 100% genuine about it...

...'cause to be successful you have to be part of the conversation, and if you aren't part of the conversation, you are just wonking in your corner of the blogosphere. And you can't put this stuff on. You can't occasionally link to Robert Scoble or paste a hot quote from Doc Searls. You have to believe in what you are doing, writing and participating in.

Then, when you post your big news, other bloggers may even read it and link back to it. If it isn't interesting, you will know instantly by the silence of the blogosphere. Then you turn to SEO... ;)

Actually, no...as a BR person, you put your feelers out and ask, "So, why isn't this interesting?" and bloggers will deliver frank and public feedback. And you can ask, "What would be interesting?" and you may get some great ideas. Bloggers are very willing to offer a hand and an opinion.

And, for now, bloggers are a great deal more accessible than those busy journalists. There are more of them. They have definite niche audiences. You can find them and contact them pretty simply.

So, BR is like PR but with more conversation than pitch, more niche than volume, more feedback than slammed doors, more access points than is manageable and more RSS than output.

I like that a big part of my job is in BR. It's a 24/7 job, but it sure beats writing press releases.

Technorati Tags: blogging, BR, PR, marketing, blogosphere, waxingpoetic, docsearls, robertscoble