PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Social media tips for PR professionals - from journalists

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Social media tips for PR professionals - from journalists

READ ONLINE: Journalists: Where’s the Social Media Tips for PR Pros?, by Ryan Derousseau via www.techaffect.com


Every once in awhile, media companies pull down the shades and give tips to public relation professionals on how to pitch their journalists. Lets face it; PR folks love this because it gives us an opportunity to refresh our strategy with the outlet. And this refresh can lead to new hits for our clients. What’s not to love about that?

PR Newser recently refreshed their tips (Five Tips for More "Targeted" Press Releases), which range from updating your media list to telling your clients “No” when pitching to certain outlets, if the pitch doesn’t fit the journalist’s beat. They consist of more general tips, but would work for PR Newser as well.

This got me thinking, though. Why don’t media outlets include social media in these tips? Social media is everywhere else, but it’s rare to see anything about it in these tips. So, in the meantime, I came up with three tips that could help PR professionals better pitch journalists:

1) Litter Facebook With Stats
In a recent study by PR Genie, they found that 62% of journalists use Facebook in their reporting. That’s a large group. Besides obviously posting information about a new campaign on the page, you should use the Facebook page to highlight stats that the company wants a journalist to see. It could be stats about the company or stats on a study. But trickling these pieces of information out will help if a journalist sees your pitch then looks at the company Facebook page for more information.

2) Use Twitter Feeds and Lists to spread press releases
 Posting a press release on the company Twitter feed is social media 101. Everyone does it now, but go further, using outlets like MuckRack to post the press release. For a dollar a character, you can post a press release tweet on the MuckRack Twitter list. This is so journalists looking for a quick story can see the press release with a glance in one place, then open it from MuckRack. A great tool, that could be used by more PR pros. This can also satisfy the client, in reaching some journalists that aren’t necessarily a perfect fit for the press release, but still can be reached through this medium.

3) Interact with a Journalist on Social Media Before You Need Them
This is definitely a long-tail approach, but interacting with a journalist on Twitter or Facebook in a casual way, can help you when pitching. If you create positive interactions (meaning you’re actually helping or conversing with the journalist, not selling something) then they will remember you. So when you send that pitch, and they see your name in their email inbox, there’s more of a chance they will take a look.