I’ve been asked to speak at the IABC Research and Measurement Conference about Blogger Outreach. As a blogger of Random Thoughts for 10 years or so, I’ve had my share of folks asking me to consider linking to them via blogroll (back when we hand coded our blogrolls), and even had companies offer me free trials of products that I might find interesting. I also get requests to link or comment on people’s posts pretty regularly. I evaluate these based on who’s asking, if I read their blog, or know them, and if the topic is something I write about. I also look to the email, tweet or comment to see if the person is sending me a bulk-mail press release about something irrelevant, or if there’s some personal, respectful outreach going on.

The tables turn, when, as a consultant, I try to get others to pay attention to a site, post or network that belongs to my client. At that point, I try to do the same thing for the other bloggers that I would do to reach myself. I tap my relationships and show respect. I do research to find out who in my extended network of bloggers and friends would be most interested in the content.

Sean Bohan has a great piece from the other day about Social Media Outreach:
 Outreach is Networking… for your Social Media efforts

Networking in your business life is a great parallel to Social Media Outreach. With Networking, you find people with interesting or similar ideas/thoughts/backgrounds/experience and add those people to your personal network. In the process, you become a member of lots of different communities/tribes/circles.

In this piece, Sean also asks: “Are you paying forward into Social Media’s equivalent of a 401k (relationships) by being an active participant? Or are you waiting and wondering why more users aren’t joining in?”

Sean provides a great “To Do” list for those looking to get attention in the communities online. This piece is a must-read.