I nearly want to print this thing out and put it in a time capsule. And, then 5 years from now, open it up and look and see what a relic it is.

I mean that in the best possible way: this conversation should be off the table by then. We shouldn’t be talking about this anymore in this context. Sending an email like the one you received should feel so jarring that it wouldn’t happen in the first place.

Above all the content they were suggesting I ran (frequently) was of an extremely commercial nature and which was obviously more free advertising than editorial content. You only have to look at my blog to see that it wasn’t suitable for me.

I replied, slightly tongue in cheek, saying I’ve read yr email carefully, but you seem to have forgotten to request my rate card. I received in reply a hectoring email:

“I’m not looking to advertise. This is an organic promotion, a story idea for your blog should you want to actually get tips for such things. If you want to run with a giveaway, I’m offering your readers a $50 gift card.

I’m sorry, but as a blogger myself, I understand that not all people have a budget to pay for ads. Sometimes a story tip is really just that.

Let me know if ever accept story tips or not. This is a benefit to your readers, and I wanted to invite you to participate.”

Excuse ME. A competition promoting yr low rent product is hardly a ’story tip’. And if the company have a budget to pay the agency, then they shld have the budget to pay ME.

But here’s the killer: the writer is a ’social media expert’ who has written a book on how to market on-line and has a blog where she expounds at great length on the subject of off topic pitches and public relations professionals who send messages that do not fit with the blogger’s beat and doesn’t account for the blogger’s feelings, thoughts, and ideas.

What hope is there for social media PR & marketing when the so-called experts themselves renege on their beliefs?

At the core, people don’t want to take the time to build relationships. Takes time and commitment. You can’t just pitch and ditch once you get what you want. Relationship building 101. Bloggers are people. Bloggers are not an “it.”

Seth Godin’s Sept. 23 post, “Everyone Get’s Paid on Commission” brings up another problem in publishing — numbers. Clients can count circulation numbers for mainstream media, but they don’t “get” the numbers for blogs. They “get” — and respect — inflated, large numbers, but don’t “get” solid, smaller numbers.

For example, a client might look at X magazine, which has Y circulation. X magazine is often shared with others, therefore Y is multiplied by two or three to determine that the “real” number of people reading is Z. Metric madness… And there are PR firms that support this “math.”

For bloggers, number inflation isn’t something that flies. What you see is what you get. Clients need to understand that what you get with smaller numbers from bloggers is often of greater worth than larger mainstream circulation numbers. And there are blogs that are, frankly, eclipsing mainstream numbers on their own.

Bloggers have readers who CHOOSE to be there. I don’t read every column in a newspaper or magazine, but for the blogs I follow, I’m there, all the time, reading. I’m dedicated. So while some bloggers have smaller numbers than lead MSM outlets, the bloggers have a more dedicated audience. They have a proactive audience – an audience that seeks out their favorite blogs, rather than waiting for the magazine to arrive in their mailbox. They have readers who are INTERESTED and ACTIVE.

I’d rather a few proactive people read something, than thousands of passive people. Just takes a few of the right people sharing it with their friends for something to really take off.

Seriously though, that gave me a long needed breath of fresh air. Hate having to scramble all over this rabble and crack heads just to show them a new source of light. I love being in this “social media” space, tons of fun eh?