Business advice: How to do PR via blogs

Want to make sure your business's name gets heard this year? You need to plan for PR, writes Rachel Meranus, Entrepreneur.com's "PR" columnist and director of public relations at PR Newswire, for MSNBC.com in her article Developing a PR Plan.

This is her advice to businesses when it comes to blogging and social media:

Blogs and social media have grown in popularity as communications tools because they offer a way to have an active discussion with a motivated audience. When considering PR tactics, don’t forget to research the blogs that relate to your industry and get to know the styles and personalities of their authors. Technorati, the leading blog search engine, is a great place to start. A presence in the blogosphere can add to your company’s perception as a thought leader. But remember, all material published on a blog is open to a wide audience and can initiate a line of discussion that may not always jive with your point of view. If you want to launch your own blog, there are free tools, such as Blogger and Blog.com, that enable you to do this easily. When it's all set up, make sure it gets listed on Technorati.

The internet also contains a number of social media networks such as del.icio.us and Digg. These networks are used to store and share content and information--like articles--among members. Additionally, if you have video content that you’d like to share with a consumer audience, you should familiarize yourself with video sharing sites such as YouTube and Metacafe.

Nothing new, plain and simple, but it is at least good to see that blogs are considered to be a valuable campaign instrument listed under tools and tactics.