As we create public relations and media plans for the new year, my clients are increasingly looking for ways to reach out to and communicate with bloggers and other online influencers. It’s not just about the traditional media anymore. It hasn’t been for a while, but many businesses are just catching up.

But with more than 112 million blogs out there, how do you find the ones you need to connect with?

In its recent study, the Society for New Communications Research asked social media power users in a number of industries to share how they evaluate the relevance of bloggers, podcasters and other online influencers.

Here’s what they had to say:

The number-one criteria is the quality of their content.

A close second is the relevance of the content to your business, brand or industry, followed by the influencer’s web site search engine rankings. Power users also cited a number of other factors to check out, such as name recognition, blog search engine rankings and overall traffic.

Less important, but still relevant was whether the influencers are affiliated with a traditional media outlet or have been quoted extensively within the traditional media.

Least important? Surprisingly, typical measures of audience engagement, such as active commenting on blog posts, content syndication and distribution methods, and the longevity of the blog, were ranked last.

Looking to target new media influencers in your PR efforts? Start with blog searches on your industry or business (try Google and Technorati for starters). Sort what you find with the criteria above. Then go ahead and start a conversation.

Sally Anne Giedrys is the founder of artisan communications, an independent copywriting and communications consultancy that works with businesses and nonprofit organizations to craft compelling marketing and PR messages. For more than 15 years, Sally has been making businesses “sound good” in print and online through a potent combination of great writing, savvy strategy and high integrity communications. Learn more about artisan’s services at www.artisancopy.com. Or reach Sally directly at sally@artisancopy.com.

As we create public relations and media plans for the new year, my clients are increasingly looking for ways to reach out to and communicate with bloggers and other online influencers. It’s not just about the traditional media anymore. It hasn’t been for a while, but many businesses are just now catching up.

But with more than 112 million blogs out there, how do you find the ones you need to connect with?

In its recent study, the Society for New Communications Research asked social media power users in a number of industries to share how they evaluate the relevance of bloggers, podcasters and other online influencers.

Here’s what they had to say:

The number-one criteria is the quality of their content.

A close second is the relevance of the content to your business, brand or industry, followed by the influencer’s web site search engine rankings. Power users also cited a number of other factors to check out, such as name recognition, blog search engine rankings and overall traffic.

Less important, but still relevant was whether the influencers are affiliated with a traditional media outlet or have been quoted extensively within the traditional media.

Least important? Surprisingly, typical measures of audience engagement, such as active commenting on blog posts, content syndication and distribution methods, and the longevity of the blog, were ranked last.

Looking to target new media influencers in your PR efforts? Start with blog searches on your industry or business (try Google and Technorati for starters). Sort what you find with the criteria above. Then go ahead and start a conversation.

Sally Anne Giedrys is the founder of artisan communications, an independent copywriting and communications consultancy that works with businesses and nonprofit organizations to craft compelling marketing and PR messages. For more than 15 years, Sally has been making businesses “sound good” in print and online through a potent combination of great writing, savvy strategy and high integrity communications. Learn more about artisan’s services at www.artisancopy.com. Or reach Sally directly at sally@artisancopy.com.

Maybe it’s because Larry McMurtry is one of my favorite writers, or maybe it’s because as a writer, I often think in metaphors – but lately I see myself this way:

I’m the scout for a wagon train (my client). We’re making our way across the social media frontier in the land of Web 2.0… It’s new territory. The hardy pioneers and I are willing to leave the familiar civilization of yesterday (literally, things change that fast) and venture into the Unknown. Our quest is to find gold, or at least a good site to build on and prosper…maybe we’re growing profit crops – okay, in a recession the quest is to at least stay alive.

My clients are small to medium-sized businesses, and I work hand-in-hand (sometimes figuratively hand-holding) with the owners, executive directors, and VPs. Most of them, including me, have been used to looking at the media-and-marketingscape with traditional tools and information. Many of those tools -print, newspapers, advertising mediums, etc. – are collapsing out from under us. We have to move forward and use new social media productively.

As a writer/consultant, one of the ways I earn my living is by learning, reading, exploring sites, gathering information, figuring out how this can benefit my client — and translating it back to them and to their clients. It’s about more than writing. It’s about thinking, analyzing, and having creative ideas that are based in sound information.

I have to admit, I’m just trying to read signs and keep from getting lost myself.

I’m a scout, not a Wizard behind a curtain. I don’t have magic answers – I don’t claim to know the territory like the back of my hand. I have to rely on my skills, instincts and yes-intuition — honed over years of experience — to read signs. My distinction is in being willing to risk and lead. To seek out useful information and leave the b.s. by the wayside where it belongs. To share that information for the benefit of my clients and colleagues.

As I come up over a ridge on the Web – I see an entire herd of buffalo drinking from a clean river. Information! Opportunity! Connections! Leads! Revenue stream! – I high-tail it back on my horse to the wagon train to tell them the good news.

Time is a precious commodity to people trying to do their jobs, run a profitable business, survive a shake-up – solve a problem. Very few have the time to read sites, read news, learn the latest-and-greatest technology. Part of my job is making time to keep track of what’s happening “out there”… recognize what is applicable and useful to the client… and send a flare by taking the information and idea to the right person. Offering options.

If you turn the wagon train a few degrees to the northwest, I tell them, you’ll be able to eat and drink for the next year.

Wagon trains are always worried about being lost and starving out there on the business prairie.

Will they be brave enough to change course and carve a new path to find resources? The brave thinkers will. The risk-takers will. The ingenious will. The others will go more slowly, but we’re all faced with that new frontier.

There’s a whole population out there who weren’t born into the tech world, and are uncomfortable with using social media. Heck, some of us don’t even know half of what our cell phones can do. But we can’t turn away from the revolution that’s taking place. I’m just saying – you may have to be gentle as you lead. Expect resistance. Some will see the opportunities and you’ll make progress together. But no one can afford to be left behind.

Being a scout can be a lonely job. The trails are confusing at times. There are so many things to check out. The pace of the wagon trains can be frustrating. Sustenance can be scarce. But you also can stumble on the perfect grazing area… a friendly town full of supplies… an unlimited horizon. Things you never knew existed.

As Jim Lodico said to me – you can read so much on the Web that you start feeling like you don’t know anything. You can certainly feel like the Lone Ranger, taking your ideas to a group that works together every day – whose mindset is sometimes in denial, or stuck in the do-as-it’s-always-been-done mode. But then — you connect with the right professional… the right business… a supportive network… a solution… You create a result that is more successful than you could’ve hoped.  The possibility is there in social marketing.

Are you a scout or on the wagon train? Are you excited about living in the Unknown? Are you feeling scared — maybe holding on to your rifle a little bit harder? Where are we headed?

Sit by the campfire and tell me your thoughts. For those of us just making the journey, it’s more likely we’ll “get there” if we help each other find the way.

When you get right down to it, it’s all about creating a productive, successful community. We’re all human. We need support. We seek it naturally. Social media is the natural extension of our need to communicate and thrive together. Only now we’re doing it on a global scale. For even the most cautious noobies among us – that has to be exciting.

Marci Diehl (www.marcidiehl.com) is an experienced, high-level commercial writer and consultant with an unusual background. She’s a content creator and storyteller who believes it’s not just writing-it’s solutions.