Over the Top (OTT) Market Size & Growth Outlook 2024-2030
How to Leverage Social Media to Build Relationships
1. How to Leverage Social Media to Build Relationships With
Journalists
PR News Webinar Thursday, February 23, 2012
2. Trevor Jonas
Identify and engage with influential media professionals on Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+
Build relationships with media pros on LinkedIn and track their career
progress and beats
Optimize press releases for social media
3. “Those who ignore the
party/conversation/network when they are
content and decide to drop in when they
need the network may not succeed. It’s
pretty easy to spot those that are just
joining the network purely to take – not to
give. Therefore, be part of the
party/conversation/network before you need
anything from anyone”
Be part of the conversation
before you need anything from
anyone
Jeremiah Owyang
5. Your playbook: education through research
Locate media of interest to you by beat; MRD aggregates Twitter news
Set up lists of journalists by category and identify trends – do the same with
influencers
Connect with freelancers, many of them do not publish their email addresses
Use RSS feeds to streamline the firehose of daily journalistic output
Establish familiarity and intimacy with reporters. Subscribe!
Track what media are jazzed about, writing about and asking questions
about – that you can provide answers to
Stack rank and prioritize
6. Your gameplan: engagement through conversation
Most important: each platform has its own rules and etiquette
Follow, follow, follow – and be transparent when connecting
Tweet articles your media friendlies have written
Don’t spam tweet media
Follow hashtags frequently used by journalists
Engage – don’t pitch: Being invited as a friend is not an open invitation
Facebook Subscribe – keep tabs on what journalists are sharing
Link to your resources (i.e.bit.ly links) to add credibility, save a step in
the conversation
Make sure your own profile is complete – and up-to-date
Don’t be lazy – take the time to write a personal note that shows you’ve
spent time getting to know the reporter
7. An indispensable tool reshaping journalism
Finding and connecting with sources
“Searching out friends of friends, experts’ experts”
Jon Swartz | USA Today
Building community
“We want followers who are re-Tweeting us”
Tiffany Black | CBSonline.com
Uncovering stories with legs – and giving stories
legs
“For stories that might be off the beaten path”
Brian Barrett | Gizmodo
Adding depth and content to breaking news
“We’re using it as a news-gathering tool for our
reporting”
Ryan Osborn | “The Today Show”
8. Stay aware…and stay tuned
Many journalists are using Google+…
But primarily for search engine optimization and content sharing…
Journalists don’t like that Google is so protective of analytics…little for
journalists to track and measure of their own coverage, readership,
engagement metrics
Not an effective platform to communicate, but…
Best to keep it in your PR sights, because who knows what Google will
think of next
9. Being proactive
Strengthening relationships
Keeping your own profile up-
dated to build trust, engagement
Building a rapport, tracking a
journalist’s career and beats
Use LinkedIn as a reference for
media: client information, other
news/info sources
Sourcing freelance journalists
who mask their contact
information
10. Being smart
Crafting a better pitch
Be prepared when pitching a new
media target for the first time
Look up past articles, get a sense
of style, craft the pitch accordingly
Track what media and influencers
are saying in LinkedIn groups and
sharing with their connections, to
prepare more targeted and
personal pitches
11. Being informed
Sourcing helpful information
Great secondary source for finding
new journalists, using advanced
searches on industry, area,
publication, etc.
Great to cross-reference details not
found in databases like Cision
Confirming information – current
publications, location – is up-to-date
12. When it comes to press releases, it’s a…
5 Important Rules to Crafting an Effective Release
13. Content is King…and conversion is Queen
New skills required to craft a good, social media optimized press
release? Not many…
Fundamentally, an optimized press release is a press release first, and
an optimized piece of content second
What does this mean?
Content must be newsworthy
Must be well-written – before optimization is even addressed
Develop the concept
Research the topic
Spend your energy writing a killer release
TIP: Link to or include SlideShare versions of presentations
to make them accessible and activated for sharing, great
visual add and have their own SEO value
14. Keywords light the way…with a concept as the guidepost
Concept: Before drafting your release, develop a concept that clearly
states what the release is about
Keywords: Write down a list of key words or phrases that support the
concept (Q: “How does my audience describe my product or service
before they know it by name?”) – in most cases these will be the same
keywords your audience uses when searching online
Validation: finally, verify that the list of keywords you’ve selected are
actually being used by your audience online
“Search volume”: Google AdWords can help
TIP: Incorporate relevant hashtags, Twitter handles and
host associated images on sites like Flickr
15. Use your assets wisely…act, and talk, naturally
Keywords are among your most
critical assets – use them wisely
as a component in every other
asset you have at your disposal
to communicate your message:
Headline
Subhead
Body copy
Boilerplate
Don’t overdo the keywords – TIP: Make headlines shareable:
think natural conversation snappy titles and easily conveyed
messages people want to push out
Want a guidepost?: Think one through social platforms
keyword per 100 words
16. Know where to look…and think like a search engine
Readers look to specific locations within a release to determine meaning
We do this by reviewing content that appears (1.) up and to the left and
(2.) front and center – i.e. reviewing the first part of a headline, a
subhead and an opening paragraph
Think like a search engine: they’re built to determine meaning the same
way and will use this - at least in part – to prioritize ranking
Make sure: you’ve got keywords up and to the left – and front and center
Key to developing an optimized press release
TIP: Be sure to include owned social properties
(Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) as necessary
17. Location, location, location!
Show the way: make sure you create a clear link between the release
you’re distributing, the concepts you’re promoting and your brand:
An optimized link
As you are finalizing, make sure to add a link to a major or supporting
keyword – ideally as high up in the content as possible
Make sure the keyword links back to a page on your website that is
optimized for (about) this phrase – this acts as an entry point into your
website and will help boost search ranking
Also creates a clear link in readers’ minds between your release and your
primary concept
TIP: Think about a post on the corporate blog versus a
press release
18. Relevant infographic
Keywords: Optimized keyword
IPv4 link:
IPv6 World IPv6 Day
Content is King
- Internet is exploding – why?
- Need for new technology
- There are challenges
- Key industry players engaged
- What is our company doing?
19.
20. Trevor Jonas
Director, Social Media
Access Communications
@TrevR
TJonas@AccessPR.com
707.227.8257 mobile
415.844.6245 direct
Editor's Notes
Jeremiah Owyang, web-strategist.com
Image is word cloud of the first chapter of Alduous Huxley’s Brave New World
When we read, we first take in copy, scanning the content