Use Twitter to help break a story
ByDon’t forget that social media tools such as Twitter are helpful for reaching the circles of influence on your target demographic. Search Engine Marketing Specialist Anthony Kirlew has the guest post today about his experience helping a friend see the journalistic benefit of Twitter:
Anthony Kirlew
Recently, I was speaking with a friend who is looking to launch a new website for his business. He is extremely sharp when it comes to business but he is not fully dialed into the Web or social media. His new business is an RV Park, so he immediately told me that he did not think that his audience would be on Twitter, due to the demographics. I assured him that having a presence on Twitter may be more valuable to him than he might initially expect.
First, I told him that I could do some searches for him to find out if (and what) people were tweeting about RVs and RV Parks in the area he is looking to launch, and if so, what they were saying. I also mentioned that lots of journalists are on Twitter and that I was recently at a social media forum where a reporter mentioned that she regularly gets tweets from those in PR circles. For the first time he had heard what he thought was a practical use for Twitter.
So what about you? If you had a local story to break, would you be prepared to use Twitter to get the job done? If so, then you are probably already leveraging this medium. If not, I strongly advise the following:
- Look at your list of media contacts and find them on Twitter. You can do a simple people search to find them. If not, you can often find their Twitter usernames in their bio on their company website.
- Start to “follow” them and watch to see if they follow you back.
- When they start to follow you, send them a simple message, such as, “Thanks for following me, let me know if I can be of help in any way. Anthony.” I don’t recommend using an auto messaging system on Twitter. A personal touch is far more effective.
- Make time to consistently read what they tweet or retweet, and help further their conversations by re-tweeting to your followers. Ideally, you should set a time to check into Twitter a few times per day, so it doesn’t consume your time. They should take notice when they are mentioned in the retweet, and may make mention of it or thank you. The bottom line is that you are engaging in conversations, and building credibility with them. You are also showing that you are genuine by “giving first” instead of just making it all about you.
This is essentially how you would build relationships with anyone on Twitter, but the fact is that if you are in PR, then you will want to have those trusted relationships with journalists that cover your local region as well as those who cover the industries that you serve.
________________________
Anthony is an expert in the online marketing business. He has successfully helped companies of all sizes outrank their competitors online, leading to increased profits through their websites. He is the founder of a.k.a. Internet Marketing [ http://www.facebook.com/l/5b360NQ0lpvAOwxX1aB9CfyfxMg;www.akaim.com] in Scottsdale, Arizona and blogs at http://www.facebook.com/l/5b360nXXKI1riQqTNwJYTdlONjQ;www.oldschoolseo.com.
