If you’re a news reporter or anchor on Twitter, you’ve probably just begun to see them: story pitches from PR and other communications folks. And you can bet you’ll see a lot more of them in the months to come. Evidence:
The widely-read Ragan.com just published this handy list of tactics for PR professionals pitching on Twitter, from “find the actual journalist, rather than the publication” to “DM when possible.” There’s also a service called PitchEngine, where PR folks can create multimedia press releases and distribute them easily via social media. And coming in February, there’s even a conference in Las Vegas dedicated to it, “Social Media for PR and Corporate Communications.”
Of course, the hope is that PR doesn’t use Twitter like email, to spam newsrooms with everything under the sun. The Ragan article suggests to “build a relationship first,” but I’d add even another one: reserve Twitter pitches for the good stuff, not standard press release fare that hits the newsroom floor the second it comes in.
Journalists, your thoughts? Twitter pitches worthwhile?
