This blog post is part of “The Ultimate Guide to Public Relations” blog series.
Where would be the best place for journalists, PR pros, and other communicators to interact, share insights, pick up the new info they need to get the inside scoop, write a good story, meet deadlines, and communicate something that’s worth reading and repeating?
A pretty popular step in that direction would be Twitter. You can’t necessarily catch all of the latest news on your own, but by following the tweets of industry leaders and influencers, you can keep yourself updated around the clock without relying on a backlog of digests and newsletters.
You might also want to build a tweet or two into your daily schedule. Not only will you be reaching out to clients and followers in a more personal sense, but you’re forced to ask yourself what you did during the course of your day that’s worth sharing in addition to the events, products, stories, news, and professional insights that are part of your beat.
Twitter: Common Ground for Communicators
If you’re a PR pro or journalist on Twitter, you’re often going to be sharing the same opinions, links, observations, and news about events (topical and serial). You’re all—in a sense—drinking from the same stream . . . or fire hose. The flow is controlled by you and who you choose to follow and, subsequently, who follows you. How much you get from Twitter is finally up to you and the Twitter management tools you use.
For instance, Twtrland is a way to focus on influencers whereas Twitonomy encourages interaction. Cybranding is a hashtag analytics tool and TweetDeck is well known for accommodating multiple Timelines and live column streaming. And there are dozens of other Twitter tools available.
Gregory Galant—Creator of Muck Rack—”What if you could get tomorrow’s newspaper today?”
Some authorities have said that Muck Rack “may be one of the most useful tools ever invented for media professionals, particularly those working in public relations.” If you’re a PR pro, marketer, blogger, or source, you can extend your Twitter reach and get the news you need with an immediacy previously not possible. Muck Rack is now used by global PR agencies, Fortune 500 companies, smaller agencies, entrepreneurs, as well as savvy small and medium businesses.
Muck Rack is a platform to filter and analyze how other journalists and PR professionals are covering the news in real-time. You can use Muck Rack to track the impact of your work and your colleagues work, keep in touch with career opportunities, find the right journalists when you’re ready to pitch story ideas, monitor what’s being said about your company, clients, competitors, and your fifth estate colleagues.
You not only have access to Twitter’s trending topics but can catch what’s trending on Muck Rack at any given moment. You’ll also receive the swiftest alerts to new PR opportunities (and/or crises) and have the ability to track the success of your campaigns, generate reports, and tweet exactly when the time is right.
And—beyond the scope of Twitter—Muck Rack pulls information from thousands of journalists (about 25,000 at last count) on Facebook, Tumblr, Quora, Google+, LinkedIn, et al. who are all vetted by a team of Muck Rack editors.
Muck Rack, Twitter, and its associated management tools give you the resources you need to stay in the flow whether you’re writing a 140 character tweet, a Pulitzer Prize series, or an electrifying press release. As a PR pro or journalist, you are situated within the same timely proximity to each other.
Hit send and make your mark!
This blog post is part of “The Ultimate Guide to Public Relations” blog series.
