What is a journalist looking for on Twitter?

News, of course!

A better question is, How is a journalist looking for news on Twitter? A savvy journalist uses Twitter to excavate story angles in a variety of ways. PR pros with a handle on how journalists are looking for news are in a better position to offer valuable, timely expertise and generate media exposure for their clients.

Here are five great ways to leverage your company’s Twitter profile.

FIND YOUR WRITERS: The number-one reason journalists use Twitter is that it is probably the fastest, easiest way to keep up with what news sources (you!) are up to. The first step is getting in touch with them. Acquaint yourself with the search tool in the Twitter platform, peruse contact pages of news organizations, and see who your industry peers are following to bolster your feed.

• PR Tip: There are online services offering journalist directories searchable by news organization, beat, and region. PressPass (www.presspass.me) and Seek or Shout (http://seekorshout.com) are two FREE online programs that can help get you in touch with relevant media entities.

LISTEN TO YOUR WRITERS: Journalists frequently pose questions to their followers to aid in the newsgathering process. Make sure to monitor this, and deliver exactly what they’re asking for whenever possible.

• PR Tip: Journalists looking for sources will post their requests @JournoRequest or #journorequest. Search those handles for potential media opportunities.

ENGAGE YOUR WRITERS: Relevance is the key to good sharing; every tweet should tie in to something else happening on Twitter. This is what is meant by “engaging” with social media. Random posting directed at no one in particular tends to be ineffective. Imagine Twitter as a giant conversation; when it’s your turn to speak, make sure to offer something that fits in with what others are saying.

• PR Tip: Use #hashtags to start conversations. For example, when tweeting at a trade show, always add in the tradeshow hashtag. That way, journalists covering the show will see your input.

PITCH YOUR WRITERS: Every journalist has a preferred method of getting pitches. Some use Twitter, some don’t. Check their profile; it’s often a good indicator. Journalists that prefer Twitter pitches do so because the 140-character limit ensures a quick, to-the-point pitch. Ultimately, it is up to the PR pro to feel out an editor’s preference. When in doubt, simply ask — “Hello @editor, I represent @company; I have #something you might dig; what’s the best way to reach out?”

• PR Tip: A good way to warm up to an editor is to retweet stories he or she posts.

GET IN FRONT OF BREAKING NEWS: Nothing is faster and more useful than a Twitter feed for a developing story. By searching tweets with #hashtags that denote a specific topic, a journalist is able to cultivate leads in real time. 99% of breaking news stories will not have any meaningful connection with your PR, but you never know when you can get in front of a breaking story and turn it into a nice chunk of earned media.

• PR Tip: Use Advanced Search to search by topic and location for happenings that present an opportunity for getting in on news coverage. For example, a tech manufacturer that supplies electrical components for a weather-tracking device could find itself in a position to provide timely information for news media covering a storm system. Refine your search to find news opportunities specific to your client.

Bigger is not always better in finding an audience for your press release. Not every news item demands the entire world’s attention. In fact, the content of most releases appeals to a very specific audience – oftentimes a targeted industry segment or consumer demographic. However, sometimes your most valuable readers are just down the street.

Going “local” is not just a boutique dining ethos. Keeping news targeted in a specific community can be the best way to ensure your press release isn’t lost in the glut of content being disseminated over the most well-trodden media channels. Furthermore, journalists and bloggers want stories that lend a sense of exclusive readership – that this news affects their community, and by extension, their lives. By identifying news that resonates with a local community and pinpointing specific interests within that area, you can help build an organic conversation started around your press release.

First, what news is best suited for local distribution? Consider the following types of press releases:

• Community events – These events can be as small as a neighborhood art show or as large as an international trade conference. Whether business journals want to report an event’s economic impact, or nearby residents simply want to share a night out with their friends, community events have a multitude of local angles for a story.
• Local achievement – Unlike a nationally syndicated profile, highlighting an individual in a local story doesn’t need to be grandiose in scope. Instead, the fact that someone from the community is making headlines can be enough of a draw for area publications. Examples of these kinds of press releases could be an individual winning an award, publishing a book, or making waves through their philanthropic interests.
• Neighborhood business news – Whenever a company adds jobs or expands to a new facility, the surrounding community is often an unsung benefactor. Positive stories of economic recovery are especially welcome as the nation continues to recover from the 2008 crash.

Once your story is written, you’ll just need to ensure that it’s been prepared for the best possible pick-up in the community. Consider these three areas to improve a press release for a local audience:

• Distribution – This may be obvious, but make sure your release is being sent over a local channel. While you may have to forgo the possibility of reaching larger media outlets in other parts of the country (or world), choosing a local circuit will ensure that the release reaches the local media, which will be the most likely to follow-up with the story anyway.
• Headline – Make sure to include some indication of the community in the release headline. Journalists may only make a determination on whether to read the release based on the headline, so including city names, neighborhoods or the name of a local event is key.
• SEO – Finally, always optimize your release for the best local search engine results. Hyperlinking phrases that speak to a local audience, particularly in the 1st paragraph of your release, will help bring up your release in search engines and across social media.

In our webinar we looked at how public relations professionals can get journalists to call them. In this series, we’ll look at how the experts put together an event from deciding who to invite to following up after the event.

This week, we look at the preparation before an event. 

Kei Baritugo, founder of BoldLove Communications says that one of the most important things when it comes to getting coverage, is organization.

Key Objectives

“Be creative and give yourself enough lead time. Most people underestimate how long it takes to get a pitch out,” says Baritugo. Part of that organization is to identify your overall goal with key objectives that have measurable outcomes, and demographics.

“Why are you hosting the event?” says Baritugo. “Who are your target audiences? Once you have those answers, you create your key media list.”

Some goals can be an increase in fanbase among a certain group of people or create a positive shift in public perception.

Demographics

Jillian Zrihen of Tracey Brooke Public Relations says demographics is key. “[It] would depend of the type of event I am inviting them to as well as who the client is, ” says Zrihen. “We recently had a holiday party for GLOSSYBOX.ca where everyone got to experience different beauty stations – it was a really girly and interactive event. So for something like this, I would target women who are passionate about beauty, open to trying new products and trend setters.”

Story Angles

Once the media list has been created, Baritugo finds good story angles that she can pitch to her key media. Not only does that help with getting early coverage for her product or event, it generates goodwill with the media.

“They see you’re organized and have thought about their publications,” she says. Baritugo also likes to send out a well-designed invitation and implement promotional activities such as contests and giveaways that create buzz leading up to the event.

Next week: What to do at the event.

Here are some things you can  and should put in your release:

1. Numbers

A strong number always works, especially when it’s sales numbers or quarterly revenue numbers. Put it in the headline or in the first sentence so it immediately makes an impact and catches a journalist’s eye.

2. Quotes

A quote is alway great to add to a release but the quote should be relevant to the audience and should add something that isn’t already in your press release.

Keep your quote short and pithy (and always relevant to the product and company). An overlong quote will bore your readers.

3. Information, Information 

If a journalist has to call you for some basic information about your company or product, then you’ve missed an opportunity to improve your release. Assume that people don’t know everything about your product or company and include it in your release.

4. A Great Boilerplate

We’ve talked about boilerplates before but it’s always good to remember that a boilerplate anchors your press release. You can read more about them here.

A company’s first press release is critical, showing what it is and what it does.

To keep your audience engaged, your next release should focus on establishing a more personal dialogue with the reader. How will your service make things more convenient, efficient or effective for the consumer? Does it have specific local relevance? The more novel the solution, the more your offering stands out.

Stories that connect to local non-profit or business sectors are also an excellent strategy to increase awareness of your news. Does your company support local charities, community funds or public works projects? Corporate events benefiting the community are always magnets for media attention, and your press release is the engraved invitation.

Keep it simple: no prologue, no preface, just get right to who you are and what you are doing. Even the most philanthropic of announcements can be hampered by long introductions that fail to immediately include the name of the company and the news being released. Stick to the Five W’s, include testimonials and employee insights or vary formatting with bullet points and subheaders; whatever you do, stay on message.

Have the headline take care of the ‘who’ and ‘what’ with particular attention to innovation – think, “how is this different from similar ideas?” A subheadline can be used to flesh out the main idea in more detail and reinforce the message; consider including percentages or other supporting numerical data.

Streaming video usage only continues to rise, so consider adding your B-roll or TV spot footage to your news release. This will enhance your web exposure and improve overall pickup. Adding a photo can also boost web visibility and even directly reach Associated Press Photo Editors, saving them time and money by eliminating legwork. Further increase your release’s web presence via Search Engine Optimization, which heightens priority of your press release in search results and helps drive traffic to your company website, keeping your information relevant and timely.

Always provide clear contact information, including phone number, email and any company or social media sites so there are multiple avenues for journalists and other interested parties to follow up on. Be sure to mention specifically if a representative is available for an on-camera interview. And in true practice what you preach fashion, be sure to close the loop with reporters by contacting their news desk post distribution. Get a feel for the stories they are currently running so you can provide them with content that’s more likely to be published.

Or, automate the pickup monitoring process with a News Dashboard and drill down to granular data on reach, access, SEO and visibility, and compare effectiveness of your releases. To better gauge results in the blogosphere, social media monitoring platforms such as Heartbeat take the guesswork out by pinpointing and tracking key influencers, brand and industry keywords. Then, put this feedback to work in your second release, combining all the most successful elements to guide it to the right people at the right time, every time.

Lastly, if you’re boring yourself, you’re boring your audience. Keep in mind your company’s uniqueness of service and diversity of solutions and show it in the enthusiasm of the communication. Don’t just talk, start a conversation.

Everyone loves a good story.
As people spend an increasing amount of time on the web, it becomes more and more crucial for companies to create their own narrative and not only publish, but promote this narrative in the digital space. An interesting, ever-developing story not only brings customers back to your website but also fosters brand enthusiasts rather than one-time buyers. A well-timed press release — coupled with a blog post, product launch, or email campaign — can proclaim the pivotal points in your company’s story and get both the media and consumers interested. But what developments in your company’s progression are fit for a press release? 

Website Launch

A website launch is a great founding event to announce with a press release. Broadcasting your company’s new web presence with a press release not only lets the media and consumers know about the debut, but, if enhanced with SEO, it also ensures the visibility of your website early on.

New Product

As your company evolves, you will inevitably have new products and services to offer your customers. A social media-focused release that includes pictures and video that include a caption will serve as an engaging way to reveal your new product. Here’s an example from the Marketwire news page.

Trade Event

If your company will attend or sponsor a tradeshow, seminar, or industry event, a media advisory press release lets the press know everything from what your organization will present to your booth location. Since journalists attending tradeshows are often inundated with information at events, an informative release proves an effective way to familiarize attendees with your company. Here’s one from the Marketwire archives.

Industry Recognition

Getting attention in your field? If our company or organization wins an award or makes it on an industry list, a press release can help you land an interview with the media. Here’s an example.

There are, of course, many other events — from earnings reports to new hires — that companies announce using a Marketwire press release. As each announcement builds and enriches the narrative of your organization, search engines and news sites such as Yahoo! Finance, and OTC Markets index and compile your company’s news so that it remains visible and searchable in the future. A simple search of your company’s name or ticker symbol on any major news search engine will provide a running list of your press release headlines, giving those interested a quick means of staying up-to-date with developments.

So, as your business grows, press releases become a useful tool to keep journalists and consumers updated. You’ve undoubtedly spent countless hours branding and fine-tuning your image both on and offline — why not keep the world informed?

How is your technology? Mark Evans takes a look at when to upgrade your hardware. 

He also offers some tips on how to stay savvy with your social media plans.

Speaking of social media savvy, one of the best campaigns run in 2012 was  f the RedBull Stratos space jump with Felix Baumgartner.

How good was it? We used Sysomos’ MAP tool to track the worldwide response.

MAP was also used by Mark Blevis to track the social media buzz around the US Elections.

Also on our greatest hits’ list is our webinar on How to Get Journalists to Call You. Lisa Elia, founder and CEO of Lisa Elia Public Relations took us through tips on how to lay the proper groundwork so journalists and bloggers are motivated to call publicists.

Our top searches included how to write a boilerplate and how to use a boilerplate to tell your company’s story. Many people looked up how to write a press release, how to write a press release for journalists, and how to write a social  media press release.

Enjoy the last four days of 2012!

So you work for a great company and you make an awesome product that can do some really cool stuff, what’s your next step? Getting your name and brand out to the public and letting everyone know what it is your company can do, how you do it, and how remarkably well your products and services will fulfill an industry niche. But wait! Before you jump into all the technical specs of how many bits, bytes, downhole drill meters or parts per million, remember the golden rule of all writing: keep it simple.

Believe it or not, it’s writing advice that is commonly forgotten in the heat of expressing yourself, especially when you have so much that you want to say. Take a step back and examine that last sentence you wrote: Is it filled with numbers, abbreviations, technical terminology and unfamiliar idioms? If so, then it’s time to peruse a few easy strategies to ensure your text doesn’t become engulfed by baffling technical language.

1. Read it out loud. Does it sound OK coming out of your own mouth? Do the sentences and ideas trip off your tongue naturally, or do you feel yourself pausing as you read to puzzle out the concepts that seemed effortless as you wrote them? Are you out of breath before you finish? If any of these things are true, and the words don’t flow smoothly as you read, it’s a sign that you need to try scaling back a little on the information. If you throw out too many facts, figures, statistics and comments, all at once, the reader will get lost in it very quickly, even if they are familiar with the concepts. Make it easy on your reader and introduce everything in a measured way to ensure a thoughtful and perceptive read.

2. Three letters: SVO, take a hint from the English classes you took when you were young and remind yourself about the common parts of speech and sentence construction; do you have the basic Subject-Verb-Object phrasing? While this construction may seem basic, it assures understanding: “the cat sleeps quietly” may seem boring, but it also makes a lot of sense.

3. Do you need a dictionary? How ’bout Google? If even once you need to look up the meaning of a word you’ve written, then you need to find a simpler way to say what it is you mean. A good strategy is to explain the concept to yourself in print. If your personal explanation strikes a chord in your own mind, try using it directly in your text to clarify all of the concepts.

4. Highlight the industry terms on the screen. How many are there? Is most of your screen taken up with color? Try to keep the level of such vocabulary low, if one sentence or paragraph is crowded with them, spread them out a bit with explanations of their meaning to heighten their impact and lessen the swarm.

5. Can you spell all of the concepts you’ve just put down? Some might claim that spellcheck is ruining our character, but there are advantages to having enough knowledge of your topic that you don’t need any outside help writing about it. Spellcheck is always a good first reviewer of your work, but keep in mind that it won’t catch all of your mistakes (and may introduce a couple), so if you’re having trouble keeping everything straight — and spelled correctly — then you should probably scale back the scope of your final text.

6. Sometimes the best reviewer of what you’ve written is a person with absolutely no knowledge of the subject. If a layperson can read and understand with ease the substance of your content, then you’ve hit a homerun. Imagine the reader of your work as an archeologist or historian who must puzzle out the meaning with only the text at hand; by giving a full and complete explanation of your subject matter you’ve done a thorough job of getting your message out there.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the longest lasting, too many details and confusing words can crowd the field. By using these tips you can make your text undemanding of the reader thus getting across your ideas in a more worthwhile manner.

References:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Part_of_speech

The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/09/has-spell-check-ruined-us.html

TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/how_simple_ideas_lead_to_scientific_discoveries.html

Writing a press release that is concise, clear and informative can sometimes be a challenge. Toss in numbers and it can be difficult to navigate through percentages, ratios, dollar amounts, profit and loss stats and numerals. Here are some tips to help when including numerous numbers in your release.

1. Put numbers in to context for your audience. Cut numbers down to size and make them personable. A figure may be large for one reader but average for another. If it’s appropriate for your release, use a metaphor to illustrate your point that would otherwise dumbfound your audience.

Example: If your release is about the importance of removing snow from roof tops, don’t make the reader solve a math equation — [(1 US gallon) / (0.1337 ft³)] x [(1 ft³) / (7.48 gallons)] x [(62.418 lbs) / (1 ft³ of water)] x [(1 ft) / (12 inches)] x SWE (inches) = Snow Load (lbs/ft²) — to figure out how much snow sitting on their roof can weigh.

Instead you could use the metaphor: The weight of the snow is like having a baby elephant sitting on your roof. The average weight of a baby elephant is 250 lbs.

2. If your release has ratios use figures and hyphens: the ratio was 3-to-2; a ratio of 3-to-2; a 3-2 ratio. You can omit the word “to” when the numbers are before the word “ratio.” Make sure to use the words “ratio” or “majority” to avoid confusion with actual figures.

3. Per AP standards, spell out numbers one through nine and use digits for numbers 10 and above. Large numbers are easier to read and comprehend when broken up by commas. For figures over a million, use a combination of numbers and words so the reader can digest the information quickly.

Examples: The boat had four bedrooms, two bathrooms and was 150 ft long.

What is easier to read? 205780 or 205,780; 205780123 or 205,789,023 or 205.8 million

4. When you can’t trim down your numbers, including charts, graphics, tables and factsheets are helpful.

Charts can show relationships or changes in numbers over a specific period of time. Graphics such as a pie graph can easily display percentages instead of listing the break down. Tables are essential to financial earning releases when a company’s profits and losses are being reported. A factsheet can be a bulleted list with nothing but statistics and percentages that have to be included in a release but can be neatly formatted as an attachment (PDF) or come after the main text of the release.

If you decide to include multimedia to help your audience sift through numbers, images (in .jpeg or .gif format) and PDFs will appear on the right sidebar next to the text body of the release; take the table route, and it will appear within the body of the text. Any combination of PDFs, images and tables can be utilized.

So next time you’re done writing your number filled release, re-read it, and if it leaves you a little lost in the jumble of digits try to go back and simplify the information.  The easier your release is to read and process, the happier your audience will be and it may give your pick up the boost it needs.

That’s a huge number but does one particular brand dominate the market? What do people think about their smartphones? Who reigns supreme? Is it the iPhone, Android, Windows or Blackberry? The Sysomos Industry Insider reveals all.

Once you’ve finished reading our Sysomos Industry Insider (on your smartphone, of course) why not do some planning for 2013? We’ve got 20 New Year’s Resolutions for Better Press Releases with short and sweet tips that will help you craft press releases that will be picked up by media outlets.

Download it. We promise you will refer to it again and again.