My intention this week was to spark off some blog posts on Best Practice as an antidote to the continual PR bashing which goes on around our work. I'm happy to take a bit of bashing over my opinions, as long as they are actually opinions I hold not ones which have been mistakenly attributed to me.

My original post was aimed at stirring up some discussion, prolly should've actually flagged that in the post itself. I should also have made it clearer that perhaps we should push back on clients or call out brands who do take a short term view and suggest a more reactive approach – again make it easy for assessts to be found or contact to be made.

Ian – am intrigued about your statement around PRs not getting paid as much to do the social media schizzle as they do 'proper' press as that's definitely not something I've come across.

First up thanks for the “noble” review re: the campaign. Before I cover my points re: blogger relations, on your point about the “need” for standards, or lack of – and isn't this conversation all about standards? – can I just leave you to chew over the following and get back to me with your thoughts.

In the industry I come from (accountancy) being a *qualified* professional (chartered in my case) is the default position for the vast majority. But despite three years of intensive training and rigorous examinations, never mind subsequent CPD requirements, we still have very, very extensive, detailed and strict guidelines. Is this because we have no idea what professional accounting practice and advice is like? No. It is so there is absolute clarity on what is required to perform professionally and so that this is a shared and agreed upon.

These standards are then required of the hundreds of thousands of people who are part of that profession from the largest such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (my old employer) down to the one person practice. At the same time this is an industry that generally makes 30-40% profit margins. Is that a coincidence? Or does it reflect an industry that as a whole takes quality *extremely* seriously, so that the baseline is set at a high level and then competes, ironically, on particular relevance to their clients rather than competence?

And yet we are only bean counters, we don't look after something as valuable as reputation

On the issue of blogger outreach as James says we are collectively the converted on whether, with the required investment in the relationship, there is huge potential value in engaging with niche bloggers. At RealWire we have asked ourselves should we even try and distribute to bloggers though because of the investment/relationship question? Our view is that since we only make a relatively limited investment in the relationship i.e. we aren’t part of their communities, we better make sure at the very least we are trying our best to be respectful and relevant – or we shouldn’t bother. I guarantee we don't achieve this 100 per cent, but we keep investing in trying to find ways to.

The keyword here is investment. I think Kerry’s point that picking people up and putting them down is very true and that it is better to do nothing than to drop standards. But this is because of the client’s level of investment and its short termist nature. Therefore as Ian says as professionals we need to focus on educating and more importantly, challenging, on the benefits of long term engagement and the investment this requires. This way standards aren't compromised and the benefits of engagement can be realised.

Thanks again
Adam

Blogger outreach as practised by anyone who contacts me as a blogger (as opposed to a journo who blogs) is universally piss-poor. “Dear blogger”, “Dear Ian + boilerplate”, “Dear Twopointouch”. Just fuck off. You're wasting everyone's time – except, actually, all you did was click the 'merge' button, so it's only my time.

I know, at the same time, that you guys aren't getting paid nearly the same amount to engage social media as you are to engage with 'proper' press. I would probably take the same shortcuts under the circumstances.

So, it needs to get pushed back a level. Social media is currently sold as an addition, and the social media folk are a burden on the account's cost-centre. And it's really expensive to keep a watch and some interaction with the social scene. It's 24/7/365. So it's fucked in any conventional agency.

Why do you [I don't mean you, Jed] do that and thus get yourselves into the sort of pickles that you do – you're compelled to short-change everyone? Grow some frickin balls.