Only two media in Spanish-speaking countries offer RSS: the Spanish newspaper El Mundo and the Argentine Clarín. Although blogs are becoming more and more visible in the media and are becoming a topic of investigation, they are still something of small “evangelical groups” that promote their use… but this may change in a short time. To face this great challenge, Spanish-speaking public relations professionals must identify the enormous opportunities that other colleagues, mainly those whose native language is English, use for their clients, their businesses, and even for themselves.
Perhaps it would be easier for Anglo-Saxons, with another culture, to accept that to enter the blogosphere you have to get off the pedestal on which they believe leaders should be placed, and be closer to thousands of people live. way, without obstacles. I find it hard to believe that a politician, a senior official or an executive from Mexico, Spain, Peru or Argentina would agree to write a blog. Furthermore, with the exception of a few industries (for example, IT), the use of blogs to maintain direct communication with their audiences is still limited to political parties, governments and even successful companies. In recent years there has been a great advance, in which the leaders have taken into account the advantages of having a web page and have included it in their communication campaign. However, for some industries in Spanish-speaking countries, the Internet continues to be an alien, difficult, and expensive tool, which is why they neglect its use to communicate with their audiences. The blogosphere offers exactly the opposite: it is a communication tool that is close to the people, easy to use and so cheap 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 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 accustomed 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 are appearing to reflect on, qualify and denounce, not only government actions or political parties, but products, services or even plans that many companies are carrying out. Furthermore, it is possible that blogs could be seen as the real possibility for small and medium-sized businesses to access the Internet, without needing to provide a lot of resources or having to rely on IT people who don’t necessarily understand. commercial 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 little by little but firmly other blogs are gaining, in countries like 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 media groups or are not written by professional journalists who update their blogs in parallel with their main business – can be credited as mainstream. media in important events such as political campaigns, as is already happening in the US, and soon in the UK. 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 visits and organize them into categories: technology, politics, 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 mention a few. We should be open to seeing all kinds of blogs, keeping in mind that there will be times when we don’t 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 have been invested. * Enter the blogosphere with the aim of learning about 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 to his clients that they launch a blog without first informing the client about what it takes to be successful and, above all, he cannot afford the luxury of not knowing an answer to a problem that may be featured in the blogosphere. * Before launching a corporate or institutional blog, you must have a clear strategy of what you want to communicate and you must understand that the blogosphere has its own “net-etiquette”, 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 the wrong 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. * Make the blog relevant, but keep in mind that it is a blog. Some people still think that blogs are newspapers for teens, partly because it’s true. However, this is not a bad thing at all, as it shows how flexible blogs are. Therefore, when launching a blog, a balance must be found between the characteristics of the blogosphere with the objectives of the organization. What you can’t do is create irrelevant posts or wait too long to update the blog. If a business does not have the ability to maintain continuous communication with its audience, whether for strategic reasons or other legal constraints, a website may be better for its objectives. * Please note that results may not be immediate. It is one of the main challenges that every public relations professional must face, not only with blogs, 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 low Internet penetration. * Be “blog evangelists”. One must know not only the blogosphere, one must be a part of it. This is the only way in which a consultant will be able to offer his clients adequate advice. It’s not about being a guru with thousands of hits a day, but you have to be comfortable with the blogosphere and know who’s who. The only way to persuade someone is to be convinced of what is preached. The best business card for a consultant who uses the advantages of a blog for an organization must include, in addition to his email, his blog address. There will be many things to do, but this could be a good start for the Spanish-speaking public relations industry, which still does not see blogging as a tool with great potential. We will have to wait and see if the “blog phenomenon”, which is taking place in various countries, spreads to the rest of the world. Low Internet penetration in Latin American countries, an incipient culture of ICT use 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 such. Perhaps a different movement may emerge with local particularities that have not yet been exploited. We’ll wait and see… and we’d better be prepared.