What do I mean by tweeting, following and Twitter? Read on...
Is Twitter the newest and coolest way to pitch the media?
By Christine Kent
chrisk@ckeditorial.com
A social media service that lets you tell people whether you got the frappuccino or the decaf latte, or how you’re passing time at the airport—what could be more useless?
Twitter is one of those social media technologies that is bound to make you scratch your head and say, “You’ve gotta be kidding me”—assuming you’re not already drinking the Twitter Kool-Aid.
Well, given the trajectory of most social media, you may not be surprised to hear that Twitter is rapidly gaining a following not only as a PR tool, but as a way to reach out to the media (yes, they’re slowly but surely getting on Twitter too). If you’re a total Twitter newbie, read our sidebar on Twitter basics. If you have a general idea of how the service works, read on for tales of Twitter success.
Journalists are Tweeting too
Slowly but surely, mainstream journalists (not just the tech media) are turning up on Twitter and often sharing thoughts on stories they’re covering.
“They’re out there telling us what they’re writing about, and what they’re thinking about,” says Lisa Dilg, account director at PerkettPR in Detroit. “It’s more valuable than an editorial calendar ever was.”
| Heather Mosley of PerkettPR and Rick Wion of GolinHarris weigh in on the benefits of Twitter. |
And there’s definitely pitching going on. “I’ve landed two editorial clips because of my interaction with [Adweek reporter] Brian Morrissey,” says Britt McColl, PR manager of Santa Monica, Calif. ad agency RPA. She’s only been on Twitter for a couple of months, but after reading a trade article about Morrissey’s use of Twitter, she signed up and started “following” the writer.
“Every so often, he’d throw out comments about what he was working on,” says McColl. At one point, he solicited some feedback on agencies going digital for Adweek’s “Just Asking” feature.
“I sent a pitch to Brian via e-mail, because he’d made it clear that he doesn’t want to be pitched on Twitter,” McColl says. Her reward was a placement for her ad agency in the article, with a similar clip in a feature a couple of weeks later.
“It’s always nice to get the inside track on what journalists are thinking about,” says McColl—and that information, say PR pros, makes a free Twitter membership worth your time.
“You’re just finding out what goes on in their daily lives,” says Lara Kretler, account director at Fahlgren Mortine in Columbus, Ohio. She’s currently “following” a local BusinessWeek reporter on Twitter. “You’ll hear about someone’s kids, or what they’re doing on the weekend. It can give you the personal touch you need when you finally send them a pitch via e-mail.”
Bellying up to the bar, via Twitter
Is it possible that Twitter could bring back the personal interactions that used to take place between PR people and journalists at the local watering hole? Nowadays, there’s little personal schmoozing between communicators and the media—it’s all mostly on a professional and formal level. Kretler is one PR pro who thinks Twitter can add that missing element.
In fact, Kretler is currently planning a local “Tweetup,” or a face-to-face meeting with local Twitter members. “It’s a great way to get to know local members of the media in person, share a drink or a bite to eat, and learn how to work with them and what they’re looking for.”
Shannon Nelson, publicist and chief blogger at Pierce Mattie PR in New York, is also a big fan of Twitter’s ability to provide a more informal channel for discussion with journalists. “Some of the people I am followed by, and that I’m following, are from The Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Globe, Gawker Media’s Consumerist, Fast Company, Advertising Age, BusinessWeek, and The New York Times,” Nelson says. “Everyone engages in conversation, asks for input for upcoming articles and watches for breaking news.”
At least at this stage in Twitter’s development, Nelson says, journalists seem to see no risk on being “followed” by PR people. “It’s less threatening to talk to journalists this way,” says Nelson. “And they can talk to you without being worried that you’re going to pitch them.”
That’s not to say that pitching via Twitter isn’t legit; it’s just not something you do the second you join. Clayton Blackham, senior associate at SnappConner PR in Draper, Utah, spent a couple of months “following” Matt Miller, writer of ZDNet’s “Mobile Gadgeteer” feature—and getting Miller to “follow” him—before lobbing a pitch Miller’s way. Miller sent a Twitter message back to Blackham right away, letting him know that he’d done a write-up of the story on ZDNet.
“I’m not sure that he would have done anything with the pitch if I had just e-mailed him,”
says Blackham.
Of course, the day may soon come when “TwitReleases” are commonplace. In his PR Squared blog, Todd Defren, principal at SHIFT Communications in Boston, recently pondered the impact of a press release from Softbank that was just one sentence: “SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp. today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Japan later this year.”
Said Defren on his blog, “[I] realized that this Softbank/iPhone deal could have been announced via Twitter, with 17 character spaces to spare!”
What’s the takeaway for PR professionals? Start practicing the craft of writing 15-word pitches.
| Twitter basics |
So what is this newish social media tool with the funny name? It’s like sending a text message via your cell phone, but to a group of people all at once, who can pick up your message via their own mobile devices, or check them on the Web.
You can send a Twitter message, called a “Tweet,” via Twitter’s Web site, or with your phone. Messages are limited to 140 characters, which prevents Twitter users from boring the heck out of their friends with long missives.
What do people Twitter about? Where they’re eating dinner, if they’re bored and wishing they were somewhere else—you name it, people Twitter about it. This is why Twitter is often referred to as a “micro-blogging” tool.
The value of these communications very much depends on the people you are “following”—that is, the people whose Tweets you want to read on a regular basis. If you follow people who engage in some interesting discussions despite the limitations of the message length, Twitter may be worth your time.
Here’s some advice for getting the most out of Twitter in terms of media relations:
Find and follow. “Do your research and see if your contacts are there,” says Mark Holterhaus, communications consultant for LaBreche in Minneapolis. Twitter lets you search by name, including the names of specific media outlets, and by location. If a journalist included the name of his or her employer in their short Twitter bio, you can find them via a search.
Learn from the masters. “Find an influencer that you have a lot of respect for, and see who they follow and talk to,” says Lisa Dilg, account director in the Detroit office of PerkettPR.
Don’t pitch right away. As with other social media tools, such as blogs, you get more credibility if you’re a listener and a participant in discussions prior to putting on your PR hat. Spend some time following your chosen media contact and see how or she wants to use Twitter.
Full disclosure. Don’t mask your identity; state your PR affiliation in your bio. “I want them to know that I’m a real person, and that I’m not trying to dupe them,” says Dilg.
Shrink URLs. If you want to share a Web site with fellow Twitterers, and especially with journalists, don’t take up the entire Tweet with a Web address, advises Catherine Bergstrom, principal of Espresso PR in San Francisco. “Get a shortened URL at TinyURL.com,” she suggests.
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