The last blog I wrote, A Media Pitching Guide For Dummies, covered the basics of media pitching (if you haven’t read this yet, what are you waiting for?) But, since then, the plot has thickened. Now we’re discussing pitching to the media over social platforms.
As the previous blog mentioned:
“Reporters receive hundreds of emails and phone calls every day, and the majority of these are pitch-related. How will you make your communication stand out from the rest? … Think outside of the box when pitching to the media in order to receive the most traction.”
What better way to be creative and stand out from the rest than by reaching out to media over a non-typical, conversational, informative news outlet, such as social platforms?
Do your research.
First and foremost, identify who you would like to pitch to and get a feel for their interactions on social media. Does this person have any hobbies? What do they discuss over social media? Are they more personable on social, or do they only post professional, work-related content? Are they avid social media users? What’s their post frequency?
Develop a relationship.
After doing your research and getting a feel for the media personnel’s usage of social platforms, it’s time to put that research to work by developing a relationship. “Like” some of their tweets or posts, “retweet,” “share,” and reply to content. Keep in mind, you don’t want to bombard their newsfeed by interacting with every single post (because that’s just weird). The purpose of developing a relationship over social platforms is to grab the media’s attention leading up to your pitch. By doing so, the chances of your pitch being successful is more likely.
Go in for the kill.
Ok, “kill” may be a little harsh, but what we really mean is now it’s time to finally make your pitch.
- Be conversational (Pitching over social media should be more casual compared to pitching via email)
- Convey your message efficiently (Social media limits your characters!)
- Make sure to answer the question, “Why does this topic matter to him/her?”
Here are some examples:
As always, don’t forget to follow up with the media after making your initial pitch. Continue to be creative, and think outside the box even with your follow-ups. (Note: Follow-ups are as important, if not more important than your original pitch.)
Still have questions? We’re pretty good at PR so give us a call or shoot us a message today!
Written by: Emma Thibault
