Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish - Anna Bradstreet

I attended Les Blogs in Paris this week and it was an eye opener to say the least. It’s great to see so many people involved in some pretty exciting projects. I was there to meet people and get their perspective on what is happening on the Internet at the moment rather than trying to make sales. However when I go back next year I intend on telling people what I do.

One of the panelists on the day said that she was a big fan of blogs. However she only read “expert blogs”, not somebody’s website which simply states what they had for dinner the night before. In my opinion, PR’s role in Social Media will be to create “expert blogs”.

So I’ve decided to start a second website in the New Year. I haven’t decided on a title or a domain yet, but it is going to be a travel website on Dublin aimed at showcasing Social Media.

If you read any PR blogs, the authors all tend to evangalise Social Media but very few of us practise what we preach. What I want to do is to show how companies can engage with their audience at a relatively low cost.

I’ve chosen to start a travel website for Dublin for a couple of reasons. The first reason is the most obvious, I live in Dublin so it gives me a natural advantage. Secondly, I’m sick and tired of seeing campaigns like the Taxi Tourism Challenge which I ranted about before which cost a few pretty pennies and added very little to the online conversation that is going on around us. The last, but possibly most important, reason why I’ve chosen to start a travel website about Dublin is that travel is one of the top three things people search for online.

This website isn’t intended to make me rich. It’s a simple example of how companies should reach out online and use all the emerging channels to engage with their customers. Most importantly, it’s going to illustrate that it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg to do this yourself.

You’ll hear all about it before long, but until then I’ve got plenty of work to do in preparation.

Technorati Tags: lesblogs, Piaras Kelly, PR, Dublin, Social Media