Media Relations In A Social Media World
Print Isn’t Dead, It Just Needs Video
We’ve been discussing the challenges being faced by traditional media for what seems like a very long time. The announcement that CanWest Global Communications Corp’s publishing division has been sold to Postmedia Network Inc., the organization led by Paul Godfrey and backed by U.S. private-equity player Golden Tree Asset Management among other investors, comes as no surprise.
In reading the piece in the Vancouver Sun, it is interesting to note that the new owners say they are going to “pursue an ambitious ‘digital first’ business model.” Godfrey said that he “would expect most reporters are going to carry video cameras so they can put their stories on the Web immediately, to cells, iPhones, and social networks.”
That will change the cycle of news to immediate. For communicators, it will also change how we pitch media. Traditionally we would have approached a print pitch differently, now the pitch blends print, image and video and will include a hook that focuses on the social networking side of coverage. At least, that’s how we’re approaching it. I know that for some, it feels like more work has been put on the plate of PR and communications – for our part, we’re pretty excited. Not to say that there won’t be challenges, but we get to be a part of the biggest shift in how we do our work since – well, since PR became more than running events and planning parties. There’s opportunity here people!!
What do you think? Are you ready for the brave new world where several mediums blend and we get to participate in a shift in how news and events are covered, when it comes to our organization and clients?
A good pitch can hit a homerun
I have spent a lot of time in my professional life pitching story angles either as a journalist with an idea for an article, where I had to get my editor’s buy in, or as a PR person putting forward a pitch to media about a client’s organization. Since many of my colleagues and friends are either journalists or communicators, I also spend a fair bit of time discussing what makes a good story, even when it isn’t about a specific pitch.
One of the things that AHA clients rely on us for is to help them with media and blogger relations. In the new world of communication, it is important to understand how to pitch both mainstream media (most of which now have some kind of online component), as well as online media, which includes bloggers. At the core of a good pitch is the story.
Winning friends and influencing people
Chris Brogan has an excellent post on his site this week on how to influence him, and it translates to how to reach out to anyone either online or not.
One of the key points he makes is “don’t let the numbers fool you” and that is so important. I’ve blogged a bit about this before and according to some of the AHA crew, I am a bit obsessed right now with this topic. It’s not how many people you reach, it’s which people. Reaching a blogger with 100 key readers or one with a wide-range of 10,000 creates different results, but the one with 100 readers may be of more value to your organization.
Media Relations and Social Media
There are a great many media on Twitter – for the most comprehensive list we have found check out mediaontwitter.com.
However, before you leap in and start pitching media on Twitter. This blog post at the Bad Pitch Blog is worth a read. Social media provides an excellent opportunity to start or join a conversation that is relevant to your organization. However, you can’t just jump in and start pushing yourself on to them – or anyone engaged online, for that matter. Like media relations, it just doesn’t work that way.
Peter Shankman of Help A Reporter Out (HARO) has a great approach to people that go off topic when participating in his (free) HARO service – if you are off topic when you pitch, he blocks you from receiving the list.
I have to say, Shankman’s crankiness about pitches ‘upped’ our game. We have always prided ourselves on effectively pitching the media … in building good, positive relationships with journalists because we don’t send them useless information. I worked as a journalist for years and have very strong memories of bad pitches, news releases and “samples” that we received at the magazine being put in the spotlight and the PR person who sent them being mocked in front of a group of reporters. These same reporters would then file that name away as “useless” and that PR person had a hard time getting attention then …
Shankman has that kind of approach to pitches – he is ruthless and this attitude reminded us that we have an obligation to our clients to hold our pitches up to a gold standard. Here at AHA, we even half-jokingly review our pitches chanting ‘What Would Shankman Think?’
Mentioned above is the Bad Pitch Blog – it’s worth reading and gives you direct and straight forward advice about what makes a good pitch, how not to send a “green” pitch that ends up putting materials in the landfill! – and how not to take your relationship with a journalist too casually (texting a pitch? Come on!).
Social media is creating an ability to connect with journalists, with bloggers and with your community – don’t take it for granted and please, view this as an opportunity to really connect …. Not to push out information AT people, but to start or join the conversation with them. It’s a two-way street, now. Be sure and look both ways.