Martin Stabe, Press Gazette’s digital guru has picked up an interesting story about The Economist Group giving stories to influential political bloggers before they’re published on the magazine’s home page. The initial hype around blogs came with speculation that magazines would be directly threatened by bloggers’ ultra-quick publishing cycles and that a stand-off would ensue.

However, as traditional media look to build their online presence, influential bloggers can actually be an ally, and drive readers to a specific site, something they are often happy to do if they feel a real engagement from a brand. The Economist’s strategy is simple but effective - identify your audience and give them something that’s not available elsewhere.

“In the US we identified the 100 most important political bloggers and we effectively give them content before it’s published in print, so that it builds a buzz around the thing before it’s there.”

Throughout the history of publishing, the media has held tightly to its exclusives. But by deliberately using blogs to build buzz for its stories, the Economist is recognising that the blogosphere serves a different, more discursive, purpose – one that can be harnessed to increase its own profile online. 

This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 10:14 am by Lewis Webb and is filed under Blogging, New Media, PR and Marcomms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.