Twitter, the Ultimate Media Monitoring Tool
For many senior PR practitioners, Twitter can seem irrelevant and inapplicable. While acknowledging its value among younger generations, they frequently raise the white flag when it comes to their own use of the tool. The common complaints range from “how can I compete with the social media gurus in my field?” to “why would I want to add to the minutia that makes up most news feeds?” Usually these questions lead back to “what’s in it for me?” The answer is: a lot more than you’d think.
Twitter, like other social and traditional media tools, is an immediate communications channel. While the process of sharing your thoughts is the subject of much discussion these days, the opportunities arising from constant monitoring seems to pass by the wayside. Since it’s easy to follow almost anyone on Twitter, if you’re in media or communications you should consider following all journalists, TV stations, freelancers, radio reporters, anchors and newspapers you’d be interested in securing a story with. Often journalists will tweet in real-time if they’re looking for a resource, speaker or piece of information. When that happens, be listening and be ready. In this instant you have an interested and eager audience for your pitch. In one fell swoop, you can help out a journalist contact, your client and yourself. The payoff of being a good listener has never been clearer.
It’s also worthwhile considering following news makers and organizations or governments that connect (even in the slightest) to your professional interests. If you’re doing PR for a health-focused non-profit, make sure you’re following the other health-based non-profits in town. But don’t stop there. Also make sure you’re following the various ministers and ministries associated with your non-profit, along with the regulators, the academics in the field, political critics and commentators. Consider following any other third parties that may give you statistics, trends or ideas you can parlay into future pitches or use to support a current story.
While constantly checking back on Twitter’s website may be inefficient, there are plenty of tools available online that are free and can help you keep track of the Twitterverse. My own personal favorite is Digsby, a taskbar I can keep on the side of my screen which updates constantly. By staying on top of the news of the day – a key requirement for any serious media relations professional – I’ve found I can get to the media first with exactly what they’re looking for, creating a win-win scenario for everyone involved.
