The Art of Listening

(Cross-posted on the IAOCblog)

As PR professionals, we are trained to talk. We use phrases like messages, delivery, outreach and response. Think about the tools of our trade – press releases, media briefings, pitch letters – every single one of them address outbound communication. Now we have weblogs. But before running off and starting to publish, online communicators need to instead spend more time using blogs to listen and learn from the market. It’s the consumers control our message now. We must pay attention to what they say. This is not about "managing bloggers," but rather listening to what they have to say.

The Kryptonite Bike Lock Company is one who should have listened. Consider the following chain of events. On September 12, 2004, a forum poster at bikeforums.net noted that he can open his Kryptonite lock with a Bic pen. One day later, one of his fellow bikeforums.net forum members posts video of lock being picked, verifying the salacious claim. Before I go on with the story, think for a moment what might have happened had the company been listening and using monitoring tools and had learned of this incident while it was in this early embryonic stage. They might have been able to have prevent what happened next.

On September 14, Metafilter – a group edited site - picked up the trail. This was quickly followed by Engadget and dozens of other bloggers. Still, Kryptonite remained silent, probably unaware of the tsunami that was at their doorstep.

Finally, just a few days after the initial forum post, the story leaped into the mainstream media with a story on September 23 in The New York Times. “The Pen is Mightier Than the Lock,” the Times headline screamed. Finally, only after the New York Times ran their story, did the company awake from its slumber and post a statement on their Web site. But by then it was too late. AP and dozens of other media outlets had picked up the trail.

Now that you are convinced that listening matters perhaps more than talking, here are three more ways listening to bloggers can benefit the online PR professional…

* Bloggers are a leading indicator of online trends. Journalists monitor blogs for the next big idea and for news. By finding the relevant bloggers who cover your company or clients, you will be in a better position to identify trends before they swim upstream into the mainstream press.

* Almost all established forms of online communications are unidirectional. Once your message is out, it’s out. Blogging, however, is a conversation. Once your message is out you can monitor how it’s being received. This gives you instant access to a real-time focus group some of the greatest thinkers of our day and allows you to understand what works/doesn’t work so that you can shape future campaigns.

* Word of mouth is a mystique that, until now, was hard to understand and measure. Now it’s possible. Influential Microsoft uber-blogger Robert Scoble once told me that in the 1980s when he ran a camera store word of mouth was his leading source of sales. At the time, however, he was frustrated because he couldn’t be at the water cooler while those conversations were taking place. But now, however, thanks to blogs, not only can he listen to these conversations but can intelligently participate in them.

Technorati, a blog tracking service, is currently reporting there are 4 million blogs in the blogosphere – and it’s doubling rapidly. This torrent of information is intimidating and scares many PR professionals from taking the time to listen. After all, who has the time to visit so many sites when clients are looking for the next big idea or the next big placement? That’s where RSS enters the picture.

RSS – or really simple syndication –  is a new tool that helps you monitor blogs and news sites. RSS "Tivo’s" frequently updated Web sites and delivers it direct to you so that you can scan them all on a single Web page. It’s an online communicator’s new best friend. Learn to use it, and listening becomes easy. Here’s how…

* Sign up for My Yahoo! or Bloglines – two free online RSS newsreaders

* Visit PubSub.com and enter search terms that are related to your clients/company/product. (Disclaimer - PubSub has employed my employer, CooperKatz, for PR services) Include both the specific name of the product as well as any other terms you need to stay on top of – for example, competitors. PubSub will send you an RSS feed to add to your reader. Also visit Technorati and Feedster. These services, when used together, will enable you to pretty much catch anything relevant that hits the  blogosphere.

* Use IceRocket to conduct relevant blog searches and subscribe to the result-generated search feed.

In the end, while blogging is an outbound communications tool, online communicators who fail to listen, will fail at blogging. Take heed and keep your ear to the ground before you put your fingers on the keys and you'll be in a greater position to succeed.