How do I pitch the media?

Subtle...

I found a cool idea for a site while mucking about this afternoon catching up on some reading. The site is called Your Pitch Sucks (don’t beat about the bush!) which has been designed by someone who had hit a brick wall a few times when sending out pitches to the media.

He figured out eventually that it wasn’t his ideas, products or service but in fact his pitch. As a result of this, Your Pitch Sucks was born.

The idea behind the service is simple. You join the free member’s community, submit a pitch designed for the media and sit back and wait for feedback from the network. The plan being that by having a few more eyes check your work they will help give you some pointers to ensure your pitch is perfect before you send it out.

I like the sound of the service but I suppose the strength of it will depend on how good the feedback is you receive from the community. As a result I am going to ask one of our execs at the day job to try the service out this week and I am sure they will write up their findings on the Berkeley blog before the end of the week. Follow me on Twitter to find out when.

Think before you Tweet

Yeees, everyone now knows that I'm an idiot as well as being a bit rubbish at football. Result!

Great story on the BBC about why people need to engage their brain before they start Tweeting. I follow about 700 people and it always amases me the amount of PR professionals who post inappropriate things. It is always amusing but I also always cringe.

105 Twitter apps for a PR professional

Twitter

If there are any PR professionals still looking for how to get the best out of Twitter check out this post by Genesis Davies which lists a whopping 105 different apps.

Social PR Forum – 4 December

Social PR Forum

A conference which looks like it will be very interesting later this year is the Social PR Forum scheduled to take place on the 4th December at RIBA, London. The event is looking to bring together people from our industry to address the issues surrounding PR and the social media space, how they are impacting on each other and how PR professionals can relate and work effectively within the new challenges web 2.0 communication channels bring.

The speakers already look impressive, with my old friend Phil and Drew Benvie being speakers from the agency side I certainly won’t be missing as well as spokespeople from T Mobile, The British Heart Foundation and Asda also sure to be interesting.
 
The organisers of this event have kindly offered the readers of this blog with a discount code so you can get money off entrance to this forum. To secure your discount all you have to do is quote the code PaulS09 when registering either online or by phone (+44 (0) 117 321 8303).

The organisers list the events highlights as the following:
•  Learn from global PR companies who have successfully embraced social media
•  Understand what products and services you should be using, and how to use them well
•  Listen to top commentators and experts on their take on why social media can be effective in PR and why not to fear it
•  Learn how to seamlessly introduce social media into your way of thinking and into your employees
•  Listen to how award winning campaigns utilised the social space successfully
•  Understand how offical bodies view PR in the social media space
•  Network immediately with our first-class pre-show online meeting planner

Anyway, I hope to see you at the event in December and should you be interested in learning more about it please download the brochure.

Viral videos – Best of British

 

Revolution reported this week on the success of virals created by UK firms at the Cannes Cyber Lions event 2009. It has listed the eight videos shortlisted, some of which I had seen but included a couple of new ones (for me). Take a peek if you get a chance, there are some classics listed here. I have to say I hadn’t come accross the Transport for London one shown above before, but I really like it. Enjoy.

Microblogging event in London

WWW.media140.com

Media 140 is scheduled to host a microblogging event in London which is is claiming will bring together journalists, bloggers and publishers to share and discuss the use and impact of Twitter and other social media tools in their industry.

To date, The Times, Guardian, Reuters have been confirmed to attend where they will discuss topics such as:

Some of the topics for the event will include:
- how to persuade journalists to take and use twitter seriously.
- what is news worthy, how do you recognise it?
- breaking the news, how you can potentially undermine your own news room
- will local community create local news through microblog technologies?
- tools of the trade, what works and what doesn’t?
- is microblogging and twitter really a game changer?

Could be interesting. Especially when you consider the interview I just blogged about.

Media interviews on Twitter

Source: Paul Stallard

At my technology PR agency, Twitter is a trusted and constant tool which we use to share ideas, look for inspiration and communicate with the media. Today, however it took on another dimension when one of my clients used Twitter to conduct an interview with a journalist.

Female entrepreneur of the year, Margaret Manning CEO at Reading Room offered some comment on the use of Twitter within the work place to Real Business magazine. Having reviewed the comment the journalists decided they wanted to find out more but instead of requesting some written comment or speaking to Margaret on the phone, the journalists wanted to conduct the interview over 140 characters.

This is the first time I have arranged an interview to take place on Twitter and I have to say I am excited about seeing the results. Watch this space to see how it went.

The Today Programme Viral Video

Radio Four’s The Today programme has launched a viral video which if you get a few spare minutes today is worth a watch. Enjoy.

How many B2B decision makers use social media?

Source: Forrester

For those of you out there who are still unsure as to the business value of participating in social networks please review this research fresh out from Forrester.  According to the analysis 91 per cent of decision makers at  B2B firms are reading blogs, watching user generated video and participating in social media. 55 per cent of the decision makers belong to social networks and 43 per cent are creating their own media. On top of this, 58 per cent are responding to the content and joining the conversation.

B2B marketers need to understand that using social technologies in marketing is here to stay and needs to be incorporated into your communications strategy. Just because you are not saying something on the web about yourself doesn’t mean that someone else isn’t. 

Social media is prooving to be an ideal way to contact potential customers direct, and by embracing it you have an opportunity to lead the discussions in your market and improve your brand recognition.

How much can you earn from using Twitter?

Source: The Register

The wife is working late tonight so while watching the footie on TV I have been catching up on some reading and rather belatedly came across this story on El reg. According to the news piece the Cabinet Office is looking to employ a Director of Digital Engagement. One of the main roles that this new role will involve will be looking after social networks such as Twitter for the government.

And this Director of Twittering won’t come cheap. The remuneration is in the range of £80,000 to £160,000pa. That’s even more than the Prime Ministerial allowance of £130,959.

Not bad if you can get it.