Pitching media – Email is still the way to go

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Adam

As a PR pro, I’m always aiming to keep up with the rapidly evolving world of social media, and how it relates to what I do as a communicator. That’s why I have spent a lot of time debating (with myself, for the most part) whether or not I could effectively pitch a journalist through Twitter – a one-liner explaining the angle/why it’s a story, and a link to the presser, in essence.

I’ve never actually tried it, though I had been slanting toward the side of “yes, this could be very effective” – especially for pitching a journalist who uses Twitter frequently and as more than a story distribution channel.

While this may not be frowned on, per se, I got the answer from a journalist who is very engaging on Twitter – and that answer, in short, was “no”.

Matt Hartley, AKA @TheHartley, FP Tech Desk Editor at the National Post, spoke on a panel hosted by Business Wire on October 25 – “National Post Editorial Briefing Session – Press Release Optimization for Newspapers.” He, along with Hollie Shaw, AKA @FPhollisha, Marketing Editor and Retailing Reporter, Financial Post, and Grant Ellis, Managing Editor, National Post, provided some great insight on how to grab their attention and get your story covered, in an age where they are bombarded with literally hundreds of pitches in their inboxes and on their answering machines every day. How to stand out from the pack, if you will. You can view the session here, and if you are looking to hone your pitching skills it is a very worthwhile watch.

At the end of the panel session, there was some time for Q&A, so I jumped on the opportunity to ask Matt how he felt about being pitched over Twitter. My question was posed simply as “Matt, you mentioned getting pitches through Twitter – I was just wondering, how do you feel about that? Is it effective at all?”

During the panel he had mentioned that he receives pitches through a wide variety of mediums, from LinkedIn to Twitter, to even the odd Facebook message – so getting pitched through Twitter is clearly something he has experience with.

His answer, put simply, was that Twitter is a great way to connect with him – start, build, and maintain a relationship with him – which, in my mind, could very well help when it comes to pitching him using more traditional methods. However, he is not a fan of receiving pitches through Twitter as it puts him in a bit of an awkward position where he either has to publicly reply telling the person he’s not interested, or ignore the tweet, which he is even less a fan of.

Here’s Matt in his own words:
“Twitter’s a really good place to reach me sort of first off; I don’t tend to conduct a lot of business over Twitter is what I tend to say. I hate when people send me something in the public on Twitter and say ‘hey, let’s meet up for a coffee, I’d love to tell you about my company’, because then if I write back and say no, everyone can read it and I look like a jerk. So, I always try to tell people to email me if they can. My email is at the bottom of every story that I write, and it’s also on the website – it’s really easy to find…”

He goes on to say:
“Twitter is usually a good place to sort of get introduced to me – it’s also a good place to see what interests me because we obviously tweet every story that we write, so it has a good feed of everything from the Tech Desk…”

So, the moral of the story is: Twitter can be a great way to connect with journalists and foster a relationship with them, but when it comes to sending pitches, email is your best option. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and my advice would be to simply ask a journalist you’re pitching what their preference is for receiving pitches. I’ve found that asking a journalist simple things like that can go a long way in getting on their good side .

You can view the entire Business Wire briefing session here (note: you will have to enter some basic information to get in, but it takes seconds, literally). There is some great information to be pulled from it so it’s worth the watch if you’re looking to hone your media relations skills and hear what’s what right from the editors themselves.

Have you ever used Twitter to effectively pitch a story? What other ways do you use Twitter in your media relations efforts? Please share in the comments!

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(This post was written by Adam Weitner, Intermediate Consultant with Mansfield Communications. Connect with him online by clicking the links below).

@AdamWeitner
adam@mcipr.com

Twitter 101 – best practices for businesses

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Adam

So you’ve decided to take the plunge and get your business on Twitter. You created an account, wrote-up a nice little bio, added your logo and even had a beautiful custom background image developed for your profile landing page. But what now?

As you are probably aware, Twitter is a powerful tool that can allow you to tap in to the minds of your target demographic in ways never before possible – that’s why you’ve decided to get on board in the first place. It also gives you a new means of communicating with them (remember, even in business, Twitter is a platform built for two-way dialogue and should never be used only to promote your business or share your news releases). And, perhaps most importantly, it can give a more human feel to your brand – something that consumers and other businesses seem to be quite receptive to. This can absolutely lead to new business and provide tangible outcomes.

Now, let’s cut to the chase and get in to how you will get there, now that your profile is up, running, and ready to go…

Provide Content – fresh, new, and if possible exclusive. Content is what keeps people coming back to Twitter. Because it’s an instant method for people (and businesses) to share basically anything (videos, pictures, news, etc), it is the first place many people check to get the latest information. That said, share some interesting, fresh content with your followers on a frequent basis – a behind the scenes look at your operations, a look at what your employees are doing in the community, or maybe even a sneak-peek at the development of an upcoming product. This kind of content will keep people coming back to your profile in search of more great, fresh content. It will keep them engaged even more so if you keep this content exclusive to Twitter – after all, sharing fresh exclusive content is really what it’s all about, at the end of the day.

Communicate – listen, respond, and ask questions. It is absolutely imperative that you keep a close eye on what people are saying about your product, company, and/or brand online. Pay close attention and find ways to get involved in the discussion. If someone compliments you, asks you a question, or gives you any kind of feedback at all, respond to them, always. And respond within the first 24 hours – Twitter is about instant connectivity and people will grow impatient very quickly waiting for a reply. Also, as mentioned above, one of the great things about Twitter is the window it opens to give you a view in to the minds of your demographic. Ask your followers questions to get them more involved – “as a lover of @CompanyABC, what’s one thing you would like to see in our next product release?” Use Twitter as more than simply another message broadcast channel and you will find success using it.

Be a leader – display ahead of the pack thinking, and know-how. If your company likes to consider itself a leader in your industry don’t just think it, be it. Provide your followers with insight and know-how that isn’t common. Give insight into the future of the industry (that’s not to say that you should make predictions or loose statements), and more importantly provide knowledge on your products or services that isn’t easily found elsewhere or commonly known.

Reward your followers – discounts, exclusive offers. Above and beyond fresh content, another reason that people will continue to pay close attention to you on Twitter is freebies and offers that they can’t find elsewhere. Provide your followers with a little something extra now and then – a discount/coupon to use on one of your products or services, or an offer that isn’t available from your website or sales staff. Keeping it exclusive is key though, so make sure your offers can’t be found anywhere other than through Twitter. Do this and they will not only come back, but will tell their friends about it, spreading your message through word-of-mouth (inarguably the best kind of marketing available).

Champion your passionate followers – retweet, reply, and give thanks. Those who are passionate about your brand are going to talk about it. And when they do you should publicly share their thoughts by Retweeting what they say. Retweeting not only strokes the ego of the user, which will help ensure that they stay passionate and keep on spreading the good word, but it also shares and spreads that particular message in itself. These same people are also likely to retweet your tweets, in turn spreading your message to their followers who may not otherwise see your message.

When users retweet your original tweets be sure to give them a quick thank you too. Something simple like “thanks for sharing, @twitteruser123” will be just perfect. I have one note of caution with regards to re-Tweeting, replying, and giving thanks, however and that is do it with consistency. If you thank a user once for retweeting, but don’t the next time they do it they may be turned off from sharing your tweets in the future. Twitter is very much a scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours kind of community.

Thank you for reading and be sure to add your own Twitter tips for businesses and other thoughts in the comments!

(This post was written by Adam Weitner, Account Coordinator with Mansfield Communications. Connect with him online by clicking the links below).

@AdamWeitner
adam@mcipr.com

Twitter 101 – sorting through the clutter

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Adam

As a casual user on Twitter, you may often find yourself wondering: “how can I make use of this service in a way that actually benefits me?”

While there are a number of more obvious ways that Twitter can benefit businesses and those that are looking to share a message, while creating conversation, it may not be as obvious how you can benefit as a casual user. And as you follow more and more people and businesses, it will likely become even less clear to you.

This is where lists come in to play. Lists are a way that you can organize the users that you’re following, and filter out some of the noise. They can be extremely helpful for the user that doesn’t have time to sift through thousands of random tweets, and is looking for something more specific while they are cruising through the Twitterverse. The most simplistic way to look at lists is to see them as a means to organize the tweets that you follow.

By adding the users that you are following to lists that correspond with what they are all about (i.e. news, entertainment, sports, etc.), you can create very specific feeds that will allow you to easily tap into a wealth of information that is of interest to you – quickly and easily.

For example, you may want to keep a close eye on your coworkers that are on Twitter. For that you would create a list called “Coworkers” (for example), and add them to it. Or, maybe you want to keep up on major news headlines. You would find and follow the outlets that you’re interested in and add them to a list called “News Media”. There are a number of ways to add a user to a list, but for getting started my recommendation is that you do it directly through Twitter.com. Below is an example of how to add a user to a list there:

Another way to make use of lists and save yourself some time is to follow lists that others have created. Likely the most widely used online tool for this is Listorious. By simply searching the Listorious database, you can likely find lists that encompass what you’re looking for. Try searching “News” to find a list of major news outlets. Below is a screenshot showing you how easy it is to follow a list that someone else has created:

Once you have created your lists (which you can add other users to at any time), or found the lists that you want to follow, all you need is a good way to view them. A web application that is very popular and widely used comes to mind right away when I think about managing my Twitter feeds: HootSuite. A brilliant (in my opinion), free web application that allows you to organize all of your social media accounts be it Facebook profiles, FourSquare accounts, and in this case, Twitter profiles, HootSuite will make managing and using your lists easy.

With HootSuite, you can easily organize your lists into columns, helping you read and sort through what’s important to you, and leaving all of the random clutter out of the picture. In the image below, you will see one of my current HootSuite set ups, and some of the various lists that I am watching through it:

Once you have a HootSuite account set up, you will see something similar to the image above: this is your dashboard. Simply click on the “+ Add Stream” button (shown above), select the “lists” tab, and choose the list that you want in that column.

As you get savvier in making use of your lists you will find that you can consume more and more useful information while wasting less time sifting through the mess – I hope that this will prove useful to you!

Thank you for reading and be sure to add your own Twitter tips for sorting through clutter and other thoughts in the comments!

(This post was drafted by Adam Weitner, Account Coordinator with Mansfield Communications. Connect with him online by clicking the links below).

@adam_weitner_pr
adam@mcipr.com

G20 Protests: Social Media vs. Traditional Media: When Two Worlds Collide

Posted on June 30, 2010 by admin

July 26, 2010 was considered by many to be one of Toronto’s darkest days. More than 400 people were arrested as violence broke out after thousands of anti-G20 protesters marched through downtown Toronto, prompting police to use tear gas in the city for the first time.

I was alerted to the protests via a text from a friend who ended up having to take shelter from the mayhem in The Rivoli (admittedly there are worse places one could be). Her picture text displayed an army of police dressed in full armour marching straight towards a crowd of people down Queen just south of east of Spadina. I immediately turned on both my television set and TweetDeck, watching CBC Newsworld while simultaneously reading the hundreds of Twitter updates and pictures that graced my computer screen. The pictures and updates where vivid, shocking and tense. While CBC Newsworld did a decent job of covering the riots, Twitter hands down offered the most up to date and truthful account of what really was going on in our city. It was amazing to witness the power, speed and authenticity of social media and how it has really changed the face of mainstream media and communications in general. CBC Newsworld andCP24 were updating accounts of the protests via tweets and pictures that were sent from various spectators that were sent to the CBC , CP24, Twitter and Flickr accounts.

A few journalists utilized social media solely as their medium to document the #G20 protests. Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s flagship current affairs program , The Agenda, provided a shocking and disturbing picture of police brutality through his tweets . Over the course of two hours, he became a trending topic for Canada and helped provide confirmation that, contrary to official denials and protestations, the police used rubber bullets when dealing with demonstrators despite denying the former. His followers went from a few hundred to over 7000 in a course of a few hours thanks to people re-tweeting his tweets and calling attention to his journalistic integrity and bravery which some may argue could unfortunately not be said for the mainstream media.

While I still believe in the power of traditional media and will not be cancelling my cable any time soon, I find myself continually relying on Twitter to for the latest in news and trends and commend CBC and CP24 for recognizing and embracing the power of social media and utilizing it to provide up to date news coverage to their viewers.

Karen Nussbaum