How the McCain are running their blogger briefings

As an addendum to PR Week's news last week that John McCain is reaching out to right-wing UK bloggers, Staniforth and LabourHome blogger, Mark Hanson reveals that the McCain camp is currently briefing US bloggers via conference call.

Hanson writes that the briefings for the US Republican presidential hopeful are:

"hosted by Liz Mair, McCain’s Head of Comms. They are done by conference call and carry a briefing from staffers followed by open Q’s from bloggers who have dialled in."

Inviting bloggers onto conference calls is fairly standard practice for smart blogger relations in the US IMHO but continues to reiterate that bloggers are now seen as just a relevant media stakeholders as journalists.

Mark's blog post doesn't reveal whether the bloggers conference call is held jointly with journalists but he does provide a link to a taped briefing which may well answer that particular question.

Technorati tags: PR Week, John McCain, Mark Hanson, blogger relations

Comments

[Marshall Manson]

Simon,

McCain's blogger calls aren't really news. He's been doing them for months. Indeed, I joined a couple before I moved across, and a lot my friends join them regularly. They are generally held every week or two and are for bloggers only.

Lately, McCain's team have been trying to expand the participants. A few weeks ago, they started inviting some left-leaning and green bloggers, for example. So I'm not surprised that in the week when Obama is overseas, they reached out to some bloggers in the UK.

But you're right in one respect: Politicians here in the UK ought to consider this sort of outreach.

[Simon COllister]

I thought as much, Marshall, but I think you and Mark are right to spot the news angle here - that senior political figures are including bloggers in the media planning.

[Mark Hanson]

Marshall

Just to clarify, blogger briefings have been common in the US for years. Them inviting UK bloggers into the tent is significant. Especially bearing in mind UK politicians don't do this with UK bloggers, at least not in a 'real' way.

The reason I posted the recordings was for anoraks like me who are trying to put this into practice in UK politics and are just interested in hearing a real world example.