Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Chris Aarons and Geoff Nelson of Buzz Corps. Chris and Geoff are partners in the Austin based firm that is changing the way media relations and social media will be defined. In a world where technology is connecting all of us, and all of us have a voice, Buzz Corps helps large companies navigate through the the new realities in communications. I don’t have a business relationship with Geoff and Chris, but I would recommend them to anyone. They specialize in social media. If you or your company need to know how social media works; what you should be be doing to navigate the murky waters of blogs and bloggers; and, how you should relate to the people that are your customers, Chris and Geoff are extremely qualified to show you how it’s done.

There are several differentiators between Buzz Corps and the many public relations firms that are attempting to delve into social media as a part of their business offerings. First, Chris and Geoff are grounded in the technical aspects of public relations and marketing and did so for AMD before setting out on their own. They understand how it feels to be on the inside of a large tech company. Regardless of their strong backgrounds, however, they have chosen to specialize in social media. They only do social media relations.

While at AMD, they learned what it takes to convince the “influencers” inside the corporation to take bloggers seriously. There has been a natural and necessary process involved in learning that all bloggers are not teenagers in their underwear. In fact, the average age for tech bloggers is somewhere closer to 37. Geoff and Chris are experts in identifying where they are and what they care about.

They not only take these bloggers seriously, they get to know them. And since there is no handy guides to locate the bloggers who have the audiences their clients need to reach, Buzz Corps engages in a tremendous amount of digital detective work to find them. Their belief is that every major company needs a social media guru either on staff as a consultant.

Chris and Geoff also take a very different approach from the many advocates of social media who seem to be mainly about marketing themselves and socializing in the “fish bowl.” They are bloggers who don’t blog. Additionally, no press releases go out from Buzz Corps. Geoff and Chris deal directly with the bloggers.

During our conversation, we discussed the new realities in media relations including social media. There are a new set of rules. Pushing the message doesn’t work any more. You can’t hide behind the inverted pyramid structure press release. You have to be ready to engage in give and take. As an old lobbyist, I love it. You have to be able to think on your feet, be totally transparent, and if you ever get caught lying, you’re dead. As we all know, the best way to not get caught lying, is not to lie in the first place.

The new order in this arena of “public relations gone good” is the art of conversation. The blogger you’re engaged in a conversation with is a person. The comments on your blog come from people. People read your blog. People buy your products or they don’t. They’re all people. People connected by technology.

Chris and Geoff are great people from what I gathered in our conversation. I’m sure we’ll all read much more about them and Buzz Corps in the years to come.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Google Chris Aarons and read all about him, Geoff and Buzz Corps. It’s quite a story.