How PR People Use Social Tools to Engage with Media

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Over the years and through informed and professional dialogue, PR professionals have formed personal relationships with editors, writers and reporters. In turn, our pitches and clients are trusted and valued by the media. When we have a great client or story, those editors we have professional relationships with will pick up the phone and listen to what we have to say.

However, journalist come and go, move on and move up. New media outlets, websites, blogs and news services launch. The media landscape is constantly changing. PR pros need a little help from time to time to understand who the right contact is to pitch their fabulous client(s) to.

There are the tried and true sites such as Cision, Profnet and HARO – these sites have become instrumental in the way that PR pros find and pitch journalists. We also rely on our colleagues and their contacts. Who have they had success pitching? What do those editors like to hear about? How do they like to be contacted?

I want to share with you a new site I recently discovered called PitchingNotes.com. It’s a free service that enables PR professionals to rate journalists and share their reporter experiences with other PR pros. It’s not a site meant for bashing or complaining, but a place where people in the industry can give each other a “heads-up.” The PR world has finally went social!

I’m about to start pitching a new client, Hamster Stroller Bags, to the U.S. media. The client is based in the UK and launching its product here in the U.S. While I’ve certainly got my favorite journalists who will have first crack at this exciting new product announcement, I will definitely peruse PitchingNotes.com to see if I can find any useful information about some of the media contacts I’m not so familiar with but who might be great to connect with.

I’ll let you know how it goes!