How To Use Twitter for Media Relations

With thousands of reporters on Twitter, anyone has the opportunity to play publicist, says Pete Holier, an Information Scientist. Experts are publishing their own books, and arranging their own speaking gigs, so why not add media relations to the “do it yourself” mix of marketing tricks. It is a good idea, but before businesses get ahead of themselves and fire off tweets to their favorite media outlets, they should keep a few things in mind. Content has become a commodity. Reporters are fighting for their jobs. Snagging a sexy exclusive is the most effective and expedient way for reporters to demonstrate their relevance and reach to their editors and readers. When competition for original stories is fierce, broadcasting a pitch via Twitter taints it unless the reporter publicly asked for it. But on Twitter you can’t send a reporter a private direct message (DM) unless he or she is following you back. So what do you do? Most reporters are highly selective with their follow lists. How do you get a reporter to return a follow? Be Consistently Observant If you’re really serious about using Twitter to cultivate a relationship with a reporter, you have to consistently follow his or her stream. To make sure you don’t miss an opportunity to get noticed by a reporter who you want a relationship with, set up a Tweetdeck column dedicated to his or her account. Be a Good Wingman Reporters are under pressure to drive traffic to their stories. One of the best ways to be helpful is to retweet their tweets, especially the ones that contain links to their articles. Be a Blogger Holier got John Byrne (@JohnAbyrne), former editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek.com, to follow him after he wrote a blog about how the magazine was an example for how other media outlets should be using Twitter. Byrne commented on the blog and promptly followed him back. Later, Holier pitched him a column idea via DM, and he published it. Be Helpful Once you really become familiar with the interests of reporters, you can become a useful tool in helping them find creative ways to cover their beats. For example, one favorite reporter to follow on Twitter is Del Jones (@jonesdel), the leadership reporter for USA Today. Jones focuses on CEOs and talks about how golf is engrained in the culture of the C-Suite. Holier happened upon a golf group on LinkedIn and suggested to him via Twitter that it might be a great way for him to find sources. He loved the idea. Starting and maintaining relationships with reporters on Twitter is one of the most fruitful and satisfying ways to use the tool, but if not done in the proper way, it becomes spamming and empty like anything else, so be careful how you do it.