Can You Pass the Social Media Relations Quiz?

 

In 2007, I wrote a post called "Ready to Pitch a Blog? Take This Quiz First." Three and a half years later, I'm revisiting it to celebrate the Bad Pitch blog's Fifth Birthday.

While I thought I'd be noting how much has changed since it was written, it still holds up. But I've edited it a bit to better reflect 2011.
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Everyone wants to know the secret formula to pitching blogs. The secret is it takes more than pitching.

While many approach bloggers and journalists similarly, there's as much different about them as there is similar. From the amount of time needed to pitch and where each group fits in a strategy to the materials and approach taken, there's a difference.

As blog-savvy firms forge ahead, here are six questions you should be able to answer in the affirmative before you start pitching a blog. Have you...

Read more than the most recent post of the blog?

Searched the blog for your client or relevant product/service/industry terms to see if they are even covered?

Subscribed to the blog’s RSS feed or e-mail delivery to make it easier to follow over time and to boost their audience metrics?

Left a comment on the blog that continues the discussion and is unrelated to your pitch?

Looked for posts and links from their home page telling you if/how the blog author likes to receive information?

Sent the blog author an email unrelated to your pitch?

Does this read like a lot of work? Keep in mind you're building a relationship, not "puking swag all over bloggers and expecting them to clean it up."**

If your news doesn’t merit this level of effort, don’t pitch it to a blog. This will eliminate a few of the irrelevant news releases many blogs receive.

If you answered no to any of the above, you may need to ramp up your approach to mainstream media first. Here are four tips.

Send a reporter a relevant story idea or a lead that has nothing to do with your client. It builds the relationship and turns you into a source. This increases the odds you’ll be sought out for a story in the future.

Set up a Google News Alert on a specific reporter to follow their work more closely.

Seek out a reporter on Slideshare, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn or Twitter to learn more about them and connect with them as relevant. Just make sure it’s in context. Do NOT pitch a reporter using these channels unless they specifically request it. That's just skeevy.

Study up on current events…news is media relations jet fuel.

Does this read like a lot of work? Well as the definition of a media outlet morphs, so must our approach to engaging with them. And as more and more bloggers extend the olive branch, the price of a bad pitch is increasing -- less coverage, whiny bloggers, angry clients and amused competitors.

**This is a paraphrased quote from blogger Andrea Deckard when she noted successful brands and agencies are building relationships. But "many brands still puke swag all over bloggers and expect them to clean it up."

Cross-posted to the Bad Pitch blog

 

Comments

[Loki]

This is a much needed post, Kevin. The amount of press releases that I receive that have nothing whatsoever to do with any of the blogs I administer is insane. Almost always it seems that my email address has just been harvested with NO regard to the sorts of content I produce.

e.g.- I run a social media blog and two hyperlocal community blogs (Cincy and NOLA. In the past week I have received releases for geriatric services, social media services that appear to duplicate my own work, and a wide range of announcements about events in AZ and California. Events that have nothing to do with my blogs or my interests.

All this does is make point and laugh before relegating that email addy to the SPAM folder. If you cannot take even five minutes to research who you are pitching then you are NOT a marketer. You are a spammer.

Thanks for reposting / updating this. Most marketers need to be beaten soundly about the head and shoulders with it.

[Kevin Dugan]

Thanks Loki. You know as well as I do that folks are typing their term/keyword into an online database and sending to whatever comes up from that initial search. That didn't work with conventional media either.

And now I'm seeing an alarming number of folks using email marketing software to pitch. It's efficient, yes. It also tells me you might as well be a robot. How could they be customizing the pitch for me using that platform?

You're probably in the media dbases multiple times like I am. And you've gotten the same pitch twice? I'll bet King Cake on it.

[DebbieF]

Great post. It's important to realize at the end of every blog is a real person(s). Mutual interest in each others work is the building block of a good working relationship.

[Davina K. Brewer]

Kevin, Great outline of the time and effort it takes into developing targeted blogger relationships, much like with the media. Research, respect, regular engagement. Does not happen over night, so unless you have the coup de gras of scoops to share, better pass the test first. I want to make this a must-read for clients as well, so they get how much work it is. FWIW.

[Kevin Dugan]

Debbie and Davina: Thanks for the feedback.

[Emily Moorhouse]

I recently began my internship at the company Sprouter, an online community for entrepreneurs. I have been doing a bit of pitching, and am soon going to be embarking on a fair amount of pitching to different bloggers and journalists. I found this article to provide a lot of good tips. Some things above I have already been doing however I could be doing a few more of the tips mentioned above. Too often when pitching people only think of whats in it for me, in order to appeal to bloggers and journalists you need to show whats in it for them and definitely show interest in their blog/stories that are unrelated to your product, service, field or pitch.

[horse vacation]

http://had.hotelworldasia.com/content/lexmark-carpet-mills

[AllenCarlos]

Too often when throwing individuals only think of what is in it for me, to be able to entice weblog writers and reporters you need to demonstrate what is in it for them and definitely display attention in their blog/stories that are irrelevant to your item, support, area or message.