Hey, Journalists and Bloggers: Are You Annoyed?
January 29th, 2012
The other day, Ragan’s PR Daily posted a list of 11 things that annoy journalists and bloggers. The list prompted a few thoughts, since I’ve been on both sides of the pitch for a long, long time. Here we go:
1. Blasting mass emails. Yeah, I totally get it. It’s not nearly the preferred method of communication, and certainly not the way you want to manage communications throughout the entire life cycle. But, as a first step to see who out there is interested, it can be of some use (if used, though, the specific language in the email is absolutely crucial).
2. Sending the same Twitter @ reply to 30 people. That just sucks. Conversation should not be saying the same thing over and over and over and …
3. Mailing big press kits. Anyone doing this anymore is missing the boat. Save that expense for a snappy media drop. Press kits? Create an attractive postcard that points to an online press room and give them what they need online.
4. “Just following up.” This is why I have caller ID.
5. Leaving phone messages. As long as you keep them short and to the point, what’s the problem?
6. Adding them to your newsletter. Not only is it annoying, it’s illegal. CAN-SPAM, people. Standards!
7. Giving them packed itineraries. Yep. Respect people’s time.
8. Booking press trips with 20 people. Yep. Respect people’s professionalism.
9. “Friending” them on Facebook. That’s an interesting one. I don’t think it’s necessary to know someone’s kids’ names and birthdays in order to friend them, and I think Ragan is being extremely conservative in this respect. I agree that the LinkedIn request is often more appropriate, but a Facebook connection is entirely dependent on the specific relationship. If it sorta feels right, then go for it; if it sorta feels wrong, then don’t push it.
10. Profile Pitches. Good point.
11. Send off-topic pitches. Yeah, that’s the downside of 1 above. It’s also the downside of working with a media database that’s woefully out of date. Or any media database for that matter: I’ve experienced multiple instances of running Cision searches for NY-area bloggers and winding up with a blogger in California (despite all search result evidence to the contrary). However, I’ve also used that California blogger’s annoyance as an opportunity to have a conversation and bring that person into my circle of contacts for the future, when something California-relevant does come along.
As is so often the case when it comes to these sorts of things, there are no hard-and-fast rules, but there are general guidelines. Observe them, but don’t be afraid to make the appropriate exception when it seems right.