Following on from yesterday’s post on food bloggers and PR people, today Helen shares her insights about her blogging journey and the food blogger community.

RC/ How has blogging changed for you in the past year?

HY/ I find myself busier than ever, especially as my site, Grab Your Fork, has opened up a range of professional writing opportunities.  I now have my own column in Time Out Sydney covering hidden suburban eats in Sydney - a theme which ties in neatly with my philosophy of appreciating good food in all its varying forms and price ranges.  I was also responsible for writing the reviews for the just-published Food Lovers Guide to Chinatown, a free booklet designed to showcase Chinatown, as part of the City of Sydney’s new promotional campaign called Asia on Your Doorstep. 

RC/ Are you still working full-time and blogging on the side?

HY/ I continue to work full-time, maintaining the blog after hours and most often into the early hours of the morning.  Whilst I’d love to blog full-time, my day job is essential for paying the bills!  I’m blogging a little less often than last year, pershaps 3-4 posts a week rather than 5-7, and I’m forever trying to tackle a backlog of posts.

RC/ Has the acceptance of food blogging grown in the media?

HY/ I’d like to think so. I think that in the past, food blogs were too often dismissed as trivial or lacking credibility or credentials.  What media can’t dismiss is their growing influence, particularily as their visual format and personal writing style can attract thousands of loyal readers every day.  There is often an idea floated that bloggers see themselves as a threat or alternative to traditional print media.  I don’t think this is necessarily the case.  I believe that blog content complements, not replaces, commercial media outlets. What is interesting to see is how media outlets have themselves adapted their communication channels to incorporate many of the social aspects of blogging, e.g. adding comment functions to online articles and maintaining Twitter and Facebook accounts to provide a more personalised and interactive approach. 

RC/ What changes have you seen in the food blogger community over the past year?

HY/ The community continues to grow in leaps and bounds every year.  I maintain a list of active Sydney food blogs - 2008 saw the birth of 30 new food blogs; in 2009 that number more than doubled to 70. The explosion of food blogs means there is more content out there than ever before, covering a whole range of topics such as cooking, restaurant reviews, nutrition, travel and chefs.

RC/ Has there been any food blogger community events or initiatives?

HY/ The most fantastic aspect about the food blogger community is how tight-knit and supportive it can be.  Starting out as a new voice in the blogosphere is often daunting.  Fellow food bloggers recognise the importance of comments that provide both feedback and reassurance that yes, people are reading and appreciating your content!

Whilst we often interact with each other online, socialising face-to-face is always fun and more rewarding.  Together with food blogger Chocolatesuze, I organised a food bloggers’ Christmas picnic in December 2009 that was attended by over 50 Sydney food bloggers. Billy, from A Table For Two,  also organised a meet-up at a pub in the city that was attended by over 30 local food bloggers in April this year.  It can be hard trying to find suitable location, but it’s always fun to put faces to names, and find out a little more about the people behind the food blogs we read.

A big thanks to Helen for this interview.  If you’ve got any thoughts or comments on this interview please share them; we’d love to hear from you.

Posted by Renee Creer

It has been just over a year since Stellar* hosted a Food Blogger and PR Professionals’ Meet Up which resulted in this 15 Tips for Blogger Relations post.  A lot can happen in a month let alone a year, so I was keen to catch up with one of our panellists, Helen Yee from Grab Your Fork, to get an update and some tips and to hear what’s been happening in food blogger land.  This is a two part interview; the second part will be posted tomorrow.

RC/ Do you think PR people have improved their knowledge and understanding of how to work with food bloggers?

HY/ I’ve definitely noticed a change. There will always be a few incidents where approaches are less than desirable.  The successful PR agencies are the ones that recognise the personal nature of food blogging, and that these sites are maintained out of passion and as a labour of love.

RC/ What’s the biggest mistake PR professionals’ still make when approaching food bloggers?

HY/ Presuming that we need or want their content.  Unlike traditional media outlets, food blogs do not have blank spaces they are trying to fill with content.  Bloggers publish one post at a time - the headline story is the only story and this is why unique and interesting content is so essential.

RC/ Do you have any new insights or advice for PR people wanting to work with food bloggers?

HY/ It’s essential that PR agencies be familiar with food blogs and how bloggers communicate.  We do not expect you read every post, but it does not take long to flick through a few posts, identify the content focus or priorities, observe the writing style, and note the interaction with readers.  In many ways food bloggers are like columnists - people read them not just for their news, but their personality and opinions as well.  This dynamic plays a huge role in the type of content food bloggers will choose to feature.  Astute PR people will identify propositions that match a blogger’s values and interests and that are newsworthy for their readers.

Once you’ve done this preliminary research, a personalised approach is logical and easy.  Note that mass emails with automated address fields can be detected a mile away. If you’re going to address an email personally, make sure you get person’s name and blog name correct, otherwise don’t bother.  Take some time to tailor an opening paragraph or two.  Be friendly, honest and genuine. It makes a huge difference.

The personalised approach of blog content is often what underlies the appeal for blog readers and the perception of blogger integrity is vital.  PR people should not expect a guarantee of content after an experience or product dispatch.  If a blogger loves something, they will write about it, with candidness and fervour.

Food blogs are written and maintained, for the most part, by sole individuals as an after-hours hobby.  These are people who are working full-time or studying, but they come home, turn on their computer and edit photos, write posts, respond to comments and answer reader emails because they enjoy food and they want to share their love with others.  A blog is not just a regurgitation of random content - it’s people’s thoughts, lives, hearts and souls published online for the world to read!  Writing a post takes anywhere from one hour to eight hours and bloggers do this for free.

RC/ What kinds of opportunities and experiences are food bloggers looking for?

HY/ Food bloggers are always looking for engaging content that will spark conversations or comment by readers.  This might be an invitation to a food-related experience, a behind-the-scenes opportunity, receipt of relevant products or the chance to interview a personality or chef.  Bloggers are more likely to be interested in a new, interactive or personalised experience.  In addition, the opportunity for a blogger to take their own photos cannot be forgotten either.

It’s also worth remembering that whilst the number of food bloggers has grown exponentially, many blog readers tend to visit large patches of the food blogging circuit.  As the blogosphere becomes saturated, duplication of content will become a bigger issue and exclusive or customised propositions will offer greater appeal.

RC/ What’s the best PR / brand led experience or opportunity you’ve had in the last year?

HY/ There have been a few notable experiences but the most memorable was attending the Tasting Australia event in Adelaide as a guest of South Australian Tourism.  It was an exciting event that featured noted chefs from Australia and around the world, all congregating in a celebration of food.  The event culminated in the presentation of the World Food Media Awards.  What I appreciated most about this experience was being treated as part of the general media contingent. This meant access to the media room and facilities and being hosted for regional tours and restaurant dinners.

Other noteworthy events included attending the Wellington on a Plate Food Festival in New Zealand (Wellington Tourism); taking part in a MasterClass hosted by Tetsuya Wakuda (Openhaus); and visiting the Emirates luxury resort at Wolgan Valley (Professional Public Relations).

Part 2 of this interview is here.

Posted by Renee Creer.

On 29 June a bunch of PR people and food bloggers got together to discuss blogger relations in response to some recent and very public PR stuff ups involving food bloggers and journos.  At the meet up, a panel discussion was held with Helen from Grab Your Fork, Reem from I Am Obsessed with Food and Ed from Tomato.

L to R: Helen Yee, Ed Charles, Reem Abdelaty & Renee Creer

A few days prior to this, Text100 released their Blogger Survey 09 which reported that PR people were continuing some bad habits in regards to blogger outreach.  PR people:

• continue to blindly send corporate press releases to bloggers
• are failing to read the blogs and truly understand their target bloggers’ communities
• seem to expect bloggers to post corporate material, demonstrating a lack of understanding of the medium and the very reason why bloggers blog
• treat bloggers as they would journalists - not as influencers which is more appropriate

Based on my conversations with Helen, Reem and Ed and from the discussion on the night, I’ve put together some tips on blogger relations for PR people.

1. Question if blogger relations is appropriate. It might seem like a good idea at the time (you know, tag blogger outreach onto the back of your traditional publicity efforts to increase exposure - after all it’s a cheap way to generate some online buzz and impress your clients on how PR 2.0 savvy you are), however blogger outreach shouldn’t just be done because it looks like it can be done quickly, cheaply and easily.  Any PR activity must help to achieve overall objectives.
2. Understand the medium. A blog is essentially an online diary of someone’s experiences.  Blogging is a very personal endeavour, mostly undertaken in personal time.  The point of blogging is to have an opinion about something, share it and engage in two-way dialogue with other bloggers and readers.  Bloggers are driven by their own instincts and interests, they are not necessarily into the PR or media agenda and they are not mouthpieces for PR messages who can be easily bought.
3. Realise that bloggers don’t need PR people. Text100’s report highlighted that most bloggers get information from other bloggers or RSS feeds.  In addition, bloggers usually have a backlog of content they’d like to post so they don’t need PR people to provide content or news; they have done well enough without us for the last few years.
4. Understand a blogger’s needs. Interesting, valuable, remarkable content or experiences are important to bloggers; in this regard they are like traditional media. Bloggers also consider what their readers would like to hear about.  In addition, having time to post is a factor when it comes to blogging or not and for food bloggers in particular, having great pics is a necessity for a post.
5. Do your research. Take time to thoroughly look at and learn about the bloggers you wish to contact because they are not homogenous; they all have different interests, motivations and approaches.  Read the blogger’s ‘about’ page, read the ‘archives’ and use the ’search’ function. Learn what their interests are, how often and when they post - really get to know them and what they’re about.
6. Realise you can’t control bloggers. Bloggers are entitled to blog as they see fit and they are without external constraints (editors, stakeholders etc).  Just because you provide a product or experience and a blogger accepted it, it doesn’t mean they will write about it and it doesn’t mean they will write positively about it. Many bloggers feel uncomfortable with the sense of obligation implied or otherwise by accepting things, when it comes to being approached by PR people.
7. Realise you can’t control the message. In an industry built on managing or moulding messages, relinquishing control is often uncomfortable.  In some areas of PR and for some clients, having negative comments in the public sphere can be a bit of an affront.  Know that while bloggers will make corrections to errors it is inappropriate to request that negative posts or comments be removed.  As Mel from Fooderati said “you can’t ‘un-have’ an experience” so why would a blogger remove a post they have written?  As a PR, you can certainly respond and seek to rectify any issues but don’t expect posts or comments to be removed.
8. Take a personal approach. Do not send blanket ‘dear blogger’ or <insert name> emails and expect to get a reply.  When approaching bloggers, make a personal introduction - you’re trying to build a relationship after all - and don’t hard sell or waste people’s time with lame PR ideas. In addition, realise that some bloggers welcome PR contact but others don’t.  If a blogger hasn’t included their contact details on their blog, this would imply they do not wish to be contacted, so respect this.
9. Invest the time and best resources to do the job right. Constructing personal pitches and building relationships takes time and as Ed commented “intelligent targeting is labour intensive.”  Blogger relations requires time and competent, sensible, personable PR people.  If it’s a job given to junior staff, they will need a thorough understanding of the medium and the best way to approach bloggers.
10. Always explain and disclose. Saying “I do the PR for so and so” doesn’t mean much to someone who doesn’t know what PR is in the first place.  Go to the effort to explain who you are, what you’re doing, who the client is, how you see bloggers fitting into the picture; whatever you think will help the blogger understand why you have contacted them.  Always disclose and expect that if you provide something to a blogger, they will publicly disclose too.
11. Think about what you’re offering. Bloggers like to link to other blogs and many readers will read multiple blogs under the one area or topic.  It can be pretty boring if everyone is writing about Barry’s Biscuits in the one week, so think about what you’re offering and how you can offer something unique to each blogger.  Bloggers also want to be able to distinguish themselves from other bloggers.
12. Think about the content you’re providing. Many suggest that content for bloggers should be more conversational, should avoid corporate speak, and should be more web friendly.  Reem however made the point that bloggers are mostly all professionals so they’re familiar with corporate speak and don’t mind press releases.  In any regard, clear, concise information is best and sharable, condensed, web friendly content is recommended.
13. Be careful who you offer freebies or payment to.  Some bloggers will not accept any freebies because they feel it compromises their credibility.  It comes down to a personal choice so be mindful of this when approaching people.  In addition, it’s not appropriate to offer payment to bloggers.  While this does happen, in the States for example, and while you could probably find a ’pay for post’ blogger somewhere, it’s certainly not considered appropriate or ethical.
14. Follow up with manners not expectations. A great way to follow up with a blogger is: “is this of interest to you” not “when do you think you’ll write about this.”  As noted above, bloggers are not obliged to write about your product or service, so don’t assume this.  In addition, if a blogger has written a post on your client, sending a thank you email never goes astray.
15. Understand that bloggers talk. Food bloggers in particular are a large, tight knit community of people who regularly socialise together, link to each other’s blogs and talk all day (and night) on Twitter.  Know that if you spam them, are rude or inappropriate, or make unreasonable demands, they will all talk about you and your PR agency (within a matter of minutes) and it’s likely that your email will be circulated and possibly even published online.  Public naming and shaming has happened before.

That’s all for now.  I hope I’ve done the topic justice and I would love to hear feedback on these tips.  If you have any additional points, let me know.

You can listen to the full conversation here.

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Here are some additional blog posts you might like to check out:

• Last Appetite: 4 tips for food blog PR
• Not Quite Nigella: 10 things you should know about food bloggers
• Time Out London: When are food bloggers just meal blaggers?
• The Guardian: Food bloggers and PRs to meet
• The Guardian: When the food bloggers met the PRs

Last but not least, thanks to everyone who came along on the night and thanks to Helen, Reem, Ed,  Restaurant Arras and Glen Frost for the photos.

Posted by Renee Creer
Photos by Glen Frost, Frocomm

L to R: Melissa Leong, Reem Abdelaty & Ed Charles Pre-talk drinks

Pre-talk drinks

Proving that you’re never too old school to be new school, James Halliday has launched his own iPhone application.

For those who don’t know, James is a leading wine critic and vigneron whose career spans over 40 years. He has contributed to more than 50 books on wine and has had them translated into numerous languages.

What impressed me is the fact that Halliday, so we’re told, is a bit ‘traditional’ and chooses to hand write his wine reviews rather than type them into a computer.

So when I learnt about this new app at a Wine Communicators of Australia seminar about marketing wine to Gen Y, I quickly jumped on my iPhone and downloaded it.

The app is a succinct version of Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion 2009, arguably one of the most comprehensive directories of wineries in Australia. It allows wine lovers to search for wineries across the country by name or region and compile a list of favourites.

Each winery is listed with full contact details, cellar door opening times and reviews, which would come in very handy when trawling around the Hunter Valley looking for your next tipple stop. And the best thing is that its completely free.

So from the Stellar* team we’d like to say “good on you James” and welcome to the digital hood.

Download the new app at the Apple appstore.

Posted by Helen Lear

We’re in the business of blowing other people’s horns.  We’ve become so accustomed to this role we often forget to blow our own.  However, today we got this email from our client, The Wine Society, so we’re using it to blow our own horn:

“Thank you for all your hard work and dedication.  If people cannot see that Stellar* Concepts is the best PR agency in the known universe then there is something wrong with them.  I cannot wait to send around your PR update for the Young Winemaker of the Year because people will fall off their chairs” Eva Gero, Events Executive, The Wine Society

The finalists with MC, Jean Kittson

This is a big wrap.  It could be a slight exaggeration but who are we to disagree with a client.

What did we do to achieve such lavish praise?
For the second year we supported The Wine Society’s annual event, the Young Winemaker of the Year Award, with a publicity campaign.

What did we deliver?
This year to date we achieved 97 clippings nationwide and in NZ with a couple of big, juicy features still coming (see Sunday Magazine in Syd and Melb in Dec).  This equates to a circulation figure of 2,551,984.

Is this a lot of coverage?
Yes, yes indeed.  This is a veritable mountain of coverage.  If this coverage was a wine bottle it would be the size of a Melchizedek.

Why was this campaign so successful?
The story had national and international scope - so wide reaching appeal, while still being community centric (good for community press) + it allowed tailored, personal messages for specific media outlets.  Also, it was a newsworthy, topical event with a high number of participants which again, increased the appeal.

What was the business outcome?
Publicity helped drive a stronger field of entrants and attracted sommelier judges making the quality of the event greater.  It also helped to increase entrant numbers (up on 2007) and generated greater awareness around the awards program and The Wine Society itself.

I’ll drink to that!

Posted by Renee Creer

I once complained to friends about occupational food and wine fatigue brought on by Good Food Month.  The scorn that ensued was unparalleled.  I quickly learned that such talk about the struggle of eating and drinking one’s way through a month long parade of degustations, wine dinners, noodle markets, cheese tastings and the like, was best kept within industry circles with those who knew and could understand.

Indeed there are many conversations kept within industry circles.  This adds to the mystery of what we get up to here in the world of public relations.  This blog will hopefully expose some mysteries and open up some of those conversations to give you an insight into the industry at large and life at Stellar* Concepts.  Mostly we hope it will keep our clients, colleagues, friends and lurkers informed and entertained.

It seems fitting that we’ve launched our blog during Good Food Month; it’s by far our favourite time of year and we’ve been busy helping Brown Brothers, Citigroup, Brasserie Bread, Merivale, Café Sydney and The Trade Commission of Spain infect Sydney with their passion for food and wine.

Next year should be bigger and better with the recent announcement of the Sydney Morning Herald’s International Food Festival which will replace Good Food Month in 2009.

So, are we suffering from food and wine fatigue?  The question is, are you?

Posted by Renee Creer