Many business owners blindly pitch journalists on social media which almost always results in disappointment and zero publicity. Why? Because most journalists do NOT like to be pitched on social media, unless they ask you to. Pitching a journalist on social media is like cold calling a potential customer or asking someone to marry you on the first date!
Sometimes journalists will use social media platforms to put a call out for experts to help with a feature they’re writing or for a specific guest they want to interview on their radio or TV show, in which case you would pitch them providing you’re a good fit for what they’re looking for. In this instance, if it’s on Twitter for example, you could ask them to follow you so you could send them a direct message, or ask if it’s okay to email them, that way they’ll be looking out for your message.
The secret to using social media as a way of getting featured in newspapers and on radio and TV shows is to use it as a research tool. Firstly, to find the journalists that feature the type of content you specialize in and have the same audience as you and secondly, to find out what topics they like to cover, what angles they favour and what their interests are.
One of the best ways to find out what type of angles a journalist covers is to go to their Twitter page and read their tweets for the last two weeks. Most journalists use Twitter nowadays tweeting who they are interviewing, what articles they have written, and what they are interested in. If they have a Facebook page get involved there too, you will be able to find out what type of stories and guests they like to feature.
Once you’ve found your niche journalists you use social media to be ‘social’ with them (who figured?!), which means follow them on Twitter, like their Facebook page, look at their LinkedIn profile and subscribe to their YouTube channel if they have one. Wherever possible leave a nice comment on their posts, retweet, like and share their content, offer help wherever possible and engage with them, that way when you pitch a story idea (either by email or phone) they will know who you are. Naturally this needs to be done authentically, you would only share content that resonates with you and your audience and be supportive in a genuine way.
Twitter in particular is a great way of connecting with your niche journalists, it’s the most popular social media platform used by journalists. Not only do almost all journalists have an active Twitter account they also use Twitter as a search engine, particularly when they are looking for people to help with stories they are working on. With that in mind it’s important that you have an up-to-date Twitter profile, share content that relates to your area of expertise and use hashtags where possible in order to group together posts on a similar topic.
When there’s a breaking news story journalists may use geotags to find people to talk to in a particular area, which is one of the reasons it is worth being active on Twitter and sharing your location when it’s safe for you to do so. Also, if there’s anything you are particularly keen to raise awareness of, for example a new book or a workshop that you are holding, you might want to add a pinned post at the top of your feed so journalists can easily see it.
One of the main points to say about social media and journalists is to never turn down the opportunity to comment on a story, even if it doesn’t have a direct link to your business. Helping a journalist out and making a connection may well create another opportunity for you to work with them again in the future.
In conclusion, social media is an invaluable tool that allows business owners and entrepreneurs to find and connect with journalists in a way that has never been available before. It also adds a personal touch and ultimately helps people to make a connection with their ideal niche journalists easily and effectively.
To help you get publicity for your business I’ve created a free cheat sheet called ‘7 Proven Steps That Get You Featured in the Media & Turn Newspaper, Radio & TV Interviews into Sales’. To get a copy go to www.getfreepublicitytoday.com
By Sharon Bolt
