Only two media outlets in Spanish-speaking countries offer RSS: the Spanish newspaper El Mundo and the Argentine newspaper Clarín. Although blogs are increasingly visible in the media and are becoming a topic of research, they are still something of small “evangelistic groups”, promoting their use … but this may change in a short time. To face this great challenge, Spanish-speaking public relations professionals have to identify the enormous opportunities that other colleagues, especially those whose mother tongue is English, use for their clients, their businesses and even for themselves.
Perhaps it would be easier for Anglo-Saxons, with a different culture, to accept that to enter the blogosphere they must rise from the pedestal on which they believe leaders should stand, and be closer to thousands of people directly. path, without obstacles. I find it hard to believe that a politician, a high official or an executive from Mexico, Spain, Peru or Argentina agrees to write a blog. Furthermore, with the exception of some industries (ie IT), the use of blogs to maintain direct communication with your audiences is still limited to political parties, governments and even successful companies. In recent years there has been a breakthrough, in which leaders have taken into account the advantages of having a website and have included it in their communication campaign. However, for some industries in Spanish-speaking countries, the Internet continues to be a strange, difficult and expensive tool, which is why they are unaware of its use to communicate with their audiences. The blogosphere offers exactly the opposite: it is a communication tool close to people, easy to use and with such a low price that, with so many resources available on the Internet, it can be practically free. It is easy to say that blogs could become a “democratizing” element with real possibilities of changing the traditional relationship between sources and the media with the public. Blogs will make “participatory journalism” possible, through which it will be possible to connect the problems of real people with other individuals with the same difficulties and concerns. The possibilities are endless in societies that are used to a lack of transparency in government activities and large companies, and even with media that lack credibility. In fact, what is already happening in many Spanish-speaking countries, as in the Anglo-Saxon world, is an explosion of blogs that offer alternative information to traditional media. Thousands of blogs appear to reflect, rate and denounce, not only government actions or political parties, but products, services or even plans that many companies are carrying out. Likewise, blogging may be seen as the real possibility for small and medium-sized businesses to access the Internet, without the need to contribute a large amount of resources or have to rely on IT people who do not necessarily understand. business or communication strategies. Perhaps here is the heart of the matter. These reasons make me think that there are many possibilities for the public relations industry in Spanish-speaking countries to explore blogging. It is possible that very soon blogs in Spanish will reach the same importance that other blogs are gaining gradually but firmly, in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada or Australia. Right now, I don’t think that truly independent blogs, that is, those that are not part of major communication groups or that are not written by professional journalists updating their blogs in parallel to their main activity, can be accredited as mainstream. media in important events such as political campaigns, as is already happening in the United States, and soon in the United Kingdom. The public relations industry in Spanish-speaking countries must be prepared to take full advantage of this phenomenon. How? I will address this through some proposed action plans. * Identify those blogs that have a good level of successes and organize them into categories: technology, political, media, etc. There are some directories that do this like Bitácoras.net [http://bitacoras.net/], Blogdir.com [http://www.blogdir.com], Blogsmexico.com, Blogalia.com, to name a few. We must be open to seeing all types of blogs, bearing in mind that there will be times when we will not share the views of the authors, but it is important that we take them into account. Take the case of video game websites. There are times when children as young as 12 become true opinion leaders, capable of destroying the launch of a new game in which thousands or even millions of euros were invested. * Enter the blogosphere with the aim of knowing the new medium, its tools, its possibilities and limitations, as well as the best-known authors, even if they are not Spanish-speaking. It may seem obvious, but there are many people who have never heard of RSS, feeds, posts, blogs, syndicated content, links, or anything like that.
A public relations consultant cannot suggest that his clients launch a blog without having previously informed the client about what it takes to be successful and, above all, he cannot afford not to know the answer to a problem that may arise in the blogosphere. * Before launching a corporate or institutional blog, you must have a clear strategy of what is expected to be communicated and it must be understood that the blogosphere has its own “network label”, that is, its own codes, which have implications in terms of to the update, the sources of information, the form, the tone of the communication … and, of course, the feedback from the public. We may find that a good idea can produce mediocre results if inappropriate tactics are chosen. In this sense, a blog is one more tool among the many available for public relations. And yes, it offers some unique possibilities that others don’t have. * Make the blog relevant, but keep in mind that it is a blog. There are people who still think that blogs are newspapers for teenagers, in part because it is true. However, this is not a bad thing as it shows how flexible blogging is. Therefore, when launching a blog, a balance must be found between the characteristics of the blogosphere with the objectives of the organization. One cannot do is create irrelevant posts or wait too long to update the blog. If a company does not have the ability to maintain continuous communication with its audience, whether for strategic reasons or other legal limitations, perhaps a website is better for its objectives. * Please note that results cannot be immediate. It is one of the main challenges that all public relations professionals face, not only with blogging, but when using any other tool. Perhaps in the case of blogs, the challenge is greater due to the novelty of the medium and, in the case of some Latin American countries, due to the low penetration of the Internet. * Be “blogging evangelists.” You have to know not only the blogosphere, you have to be part of it. This is the only way that a consultant will be able to offer his clients adequate advice. It is not about being a guru with thousands of visits a day, but it is necessary to be comfortable with the blogosphere and know who-is-who. The only way to persuade someone is to be convinced of what is being preached. The best business card for a consultant who uses the benefits of a blog for an organization should include, in addition to his email, his blog address. There will be a lot to do, but this could be a good start for the Spanish-speaking public relations industry, which has yet to see blogging as a tool with great potential. We must wait and see if the “blogging phenomenon”, which is taking place in several countries, will spread to the rest of the world. Low internet penetration in Latin American countries, an incipient culture of the use of information technologies and a different way of understanding social relations will be the main obstacles that will determine whether this phenomenon spreads as it has in Anglo-Saxon countries. , or perhaps a different movement may emerge with local peculiarities that have not yet been exploited. We will wait and see… and we better be prepared.
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