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We like to get out and about here at Umpf and in a genius stroke of multi-tasking, last month we hit the big smoke to catch up with some journalists and attend a PR/Blogger Outreach Event organised by This Little Lady Went to London.

Hosted by Econsultancy’s Vicki Chowney and featuring a panel of three PRs and three bloggers, the event was designed to bring both disciplines together to discuss best practice and relationship building.

Having worked with a number of bloggers on recent campaigns (A Modern Mother, The Pink Whisk, The Boy Who Bakes), we were interested to hear what our peers had to say on the subject and pick up some more top tips from the bloggers themselves.

So what did we learn? Erm, that there are some really bad PR people in this world* (who honestly sends out blanket emails addressed, Dear Receiver?) That there are a lot of PRs who don’t understand the basic principles of working with bloggers – i.e. do your research first. And, that some people still don’t understand the differences between bloggers and journalists.

So whilst a lot of time was spent covering off the basics – much more for the benefit of the bad ‘dear receiver’ PR types who probably weren’t in the room – we did come away with some useful reminders of best practice:

1. Getting to know you – Don’t just have a quick skim-read of the blog, get to know the blogger a little bit too. Follow them on Twitter, reply to some tweets, etc, etc. That way you are already on their radar and you can be 100% confident that your pitch is well targeted
2. Quality not quantity – Remember that with a blog you are dealing with a much more targeted audience than the mainstream media. It is better to spend a bit of time with one or two bloggers getting some quality coverage, targeted very specifically to your audience than blanketing emailing a whole load of irrelevant ones and getting nothing. It goes back to the golden rule of ‘do your research first’ – making sure the blogger you approach is the right fit for your client and campaign will always ensure the best return
3. They like free lunches too – It’s no secret that the mainstream media like a bit of schmoozing, well it turns out those blogger types enjoy a bit of that too (doesn’t everyone?) Joking aside, as with journalists – a face-to-face with a key blogger every now and again gives you their undivided attention and you can have a proper two-way conversation about your ideas
4. Make it tailored – All of the bloggers on the panel agreed that they would never expect to be given an exclusive on a story but they would always appreciate being given their own angle which is specific to their interests or style – especially if the story is being sold-in to a number of blogs
5. Ask for their vital stats – The panel all agreed that bloggers should be transparent with their readership figures and the bloggers present would always be happy to supply this data so just ask
6. To pay or not to pay – Probably the most contentious discussion of the evening, should bloggers be paid for content and to run competitions. I think the majority of PR people would agree that there are times when it would be relevant to pay a blogger for their time if they were specifically working with you on a campaign that involved a lot of input from them or being used as an ‘expert’ commentator in media. The main issue was competitions and if bloggers should charge a placement fee. Whilst both sides have a point ‘it takes time for me to set up, run and promote the competition’ vs. ‘we are providing you with a prize of value which is helping drive traffic to your site’, it was the only subject that the two sides couldn’t agree on and in the end the debate could have raged on all night.

*we are not referring to the PRs on the panel!

Welcome back to our weekly instalment of what’s hot in the world of social media. In case you missed what happened over the past week, here’s a run-down of our top six:

1. A fake Facebook tattoo caused a stir this week when video emerged of an unnamed Dutch woman getting 152 of her Facebook friends’ profile pictures tattooed on to her arm. Many people smelt a rat and after 1.5 million YouTube views it was confirmed as a PR stunt to promote Pretty Social which makes Facebook themed gifts.

2. Facebook was under fire this week after rolling out its face recognition technology without telling anybody. Sparking complaints from privacy campaigners, the new technology can instantly recognise and tag people in pictures uploaded to the site. Designed to speed up the process of labelling friends in pictures, the technology was trialled in the US and then rolled out across the world with the default setting automatically turned on.

3. An issue of More Magazine created by its Facebook fans goes on sale today. More’s 100,000 Facebook fans were given the chance to input into all areas of the content including the cover star, fashion shoots and the beauty pages. Five ‘superfans’ were also recruited to go into the Bauer offices and work on the magazine with its editorial team.

4. Last week Apple announced that Twitter would be inbuilt into iOS 5 making it the default social network on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.  With what is regarded as a kick in the teeth for Facebook, when iOS 5 is released this Autumn device users will able to post videos, links and updates to Twitter with a single tap.

5. Iceland is using social media to crowdsource its constitution in a bid to galvanise the public into sharing their ideas. The document has been available for public comment online since April. The public can also take part in the discussion by joining the Facebook page. What is more, meetings of the council are open to the public and streamed live on to the website and Facebook page.

6. You can now remove the Youtube logo from video uploads. The move comes as online video uploads soar and is designed to appeal to serious video publishers.

Welcome back to our weekly instalment of what’s hot in the world of social media. In case you missed what happened over the past week, here’s our top five and don’t forget – if you see anything that really impresses you, why not let us know by emailing on social@umpf.co.uk Perhaps your suggestion will make the cut next week:

1. Tripadvisor launches a version of augmented reality for the iPad

2. An Egyptian family names their daughter Facebook

3. Nike sneakers get a web-friendly makeover

4. Bad habit? Too much Facebook gets Nun banished from her order

5. Is Quora already being valued at $1Billion? Is this dotcom bubble 2.0?

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have changed and challenged our traditional perceptions of friendship.  In our increasingly digital world, friendship no longer means meeting up face-to-face for a coffee once a week, but rather clicking ‘confirm’ on the friend request button on Facebook, or following someone interesting on Twitter.

So, it was no surprise to hear last week that latest research suggested that the more friends you had on Facebook, the more you were prone to greater levels of stress and ‘neurotic limbo’. Apparently, constantly providing interesting status updates, photos and posts on discussions pages can prove too much for some and panic ensues when there’s not enough going on in your life to provide witty, interesting and thought-provoking updates every hour of the day.

This research, whilst yet to be backed up by wider scientific study, does serve as a cautionary tale. At Umpf, we’ve always been clear that entering this brave new world of social media requires commitment on a long-term basis from brands and not just a ‘hop on, hop off’ approach. Recent stories about brands shutting down their Facebook and Twitter accounts, and the resultant negative press, only serves to back this up.

Social media represents a fantastic opportunity for many brands to engage with potential and existing consumers, but it’s about interaction and not just pushing out marketing messages on an ad-hoc basis. The phrase ‘making friends and influencing people’ no longer follows in the social media world. We can have friends without influencing them and we can influence people without first being friends. Influence counts for everything and only a long-term commitment to social media will engender this amongst consumers.

Welcome back to our weekly instalment of what’s hot in the world of social media. In case you missed what happened over the past week, here’s our top five and don’t forget – if you see anything that really impresses you, why not let us know by emailing on social@umpf.co.uk Perhaps your suggestion will make the cut next week:

1. Superbowl is the most checked into venue on Foursquare with a record 200,000 check-ins.

2. Great infographic, right, showing a breakdown of Linkedin users

3. New ‘Life Caching’ trend catches on with this latest platform from MyHistro. Life caching is collecting, storing and displaying your whole life; think of it like Foursquare on steroids.

4. Storify takes citizen journalism to the next level, with social media updates creating online stories. Could this be a foretaste of how journalism is changing because of social media?

5. The demographic of Facebook and Twitter users compared.