The Press Release vs. Social Media Tweet

Moderating a panel at a conference is similar to hosting a live show. Today wraps us the Social Media Marketing Conference in San Francisco and my panel, The Press Talks: How to get PR for your Startup.

Panelists: Kym McNicholas – Forbes, Ben Parr – Mashable, Joe Vazquez – CBS 5, Sarah Austin – Pop17

“One of the biggest challenges for startups is getting noticed by their target audiences, and on a limited budget. Before startups can successfully compete for the attention of major press outlets and blogs, however, they can follow guidelines to ensure their “news” is newsworthy, and understand how to talk to the press. Hear tips from some of social media’s biggest voices: members of the press who get pitched on stories hundreds of times per day. If there was ever an unwritten manual on how to get PR for your startup, this panel would be it.”

“Social Media Marketing is an essential event for anyone who’s serious about social media in San Francisco. You can either spend months learning by trial and error, or you can attend this event and learn it all in a day,” said Murray Newlands, a UK blogger and director of the agency Influence People.

The first event had 200 people attend at the Cavendish Conference Centre in London two weeks ago. The consulting group organizers are starting their series of events in San Francisco, as of today.

Murray Newlands live blogged the panel today:

en: “Where is the energy? Good morning!”

Sarah: How do we fit social media into our business? Her personal answer is that it’s mostly rooted in PR.

Joe: You have given up on the big organizations – less pitches to the large networks, more social media pitches.

Sarah: How do you engage with journalists correctly?

Kym: Make a list of the media outlets you want to target. Write down the names of the reporters you want to reach out to. For example you can see what the reporters cover on their sites: www.forbes.com/kym.mcnicholas. Go on to the social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn). Add people as friends with a personal note, be honest about what you are looking for. Right now, every journalist is “trying to build our brand across the web. We want to see our stories go viral. We all have egos. We want to build our communities. Our editors are looking at who has the biggest (web) footprint. Don’t be a facebook stalker, engage, read, and post comments. Highlighting a new facebook friend who wrote a nice note to her on facebook, Kym thought that maybe she knew this gal, and after getting to know their company she has become a great connection.

Ben: I get several hundred emails a day and I have to filter it. To cut through the noise, build a relationship with the right people. The people you want to cover the stories. I have a folder that trashes the emails that are just press releases.

Joe: Best way to build a relationship is to share stories about other companies/startups/ideas.

Sarah: Be aware, stay in touch with people. On that note, which platforms should people connect with you on?

Kym: Of course facebook. Twitter is key too.

Ben: I’ll notice people who are engaging with me via twitter and facebook. Yet, I prefer engagement through email. Short and concise pitches. I will not reach the fourth paragraph. I want a headline. I hear “it’s the next best thing” 3x a day. I want to know how the news will relate to my readers.

…

Joe: A headline is something new and different. Sometimes it’s about timing of the pitch, if you pitch at 2:30pm by the 5:00 air time it might be on.

Ben: Timing is very important. Don’t send pitches when a huge story just broke. For tech blogs, weekends are good times to pitch.

Joe: Help us get it (understand the product/issue). “You know what’s funny, I still get emails that say ‘For Immediate Release’ – everything is for immediate release.”

Kym: You know I’ve had a story that was offered to various news sources in subsequent days – the key is to give the edge to the reporters that you want and then make sure you have a different angle on each story for each news source.

Ben: Sometimes when stories break by one source, the other sources won’t cover, so to be covered by multiple outlets make sure to have different angles.

Joe: It’s rarely the case that we’ll just do a story on a product – for us it’s a commercial – give us an angle to report on a new idea that is related to a real person.

Sarah: For the dont’s – what should people just not do?

Kym: To pitch me in SF and then pitch another Forbes reporter in NY. Forbes is global.

Ben: Don’t just say we are going to “be the next facebook,” we’re going to “destroy linkedin.

Sarah: Facebook is the number one way to reach me, but I have a limit on my friends. So Twitter is key. And, DailyBooth is nice for reaching me. Anything with a video/picture goes a long way.

Audience Question: How do you choose the right PR agency?

Ben: I see a certain PR lead at Edelman (Michael Brito stands up and waves )

Kym: I would talk to Marissa Louie (today’s excellent moderator @Malouie).

Ben: The best way is personal recommendations. Friends will refer you. In general, the more you pay, the better you’ll be.

Kym: If I see names I recognize, I guarantee you that I’ll take notice.

Joe: I ask people to do a Who? What? Where? Why? in their headlines.

Audience question: You mentioned weekend pitching, are you actively checking your accounts over the weekend? And, how is contributing content impacting your stories?

Kym: I have a secrete. We are looking for contributers.

Email our technology editor Wendy Tanaka (wtanaka@forbes.com) with a submission. For leadership: Fallen@Forbes.com For women: Choward@Forbes.com

Ben: Mashable is also hiring writers. Mashable.com/writers. If you have good pieces, a great writing style, relationships with people. I came from the guest writer program.

Joe: We are a slow moving huge boat – we just got comments. CBS just bought CNET and is trying to figure out where it fits. So stay tuned and keep pitching.

Kym: For startups, the editors ask for the numbers. The best stores I see are revealing the numbers.

Ben: If you have good stats, don’t be afraid to talk about them . (Joke: We want your balance sheets!)

The panel’s interesting and insightful tips and tricks to generate PR for your startup provided an excellent manual on how to get PR for your startup. I’m honored to be included in such a fine panel.

For more information and insights on social media PR check out Chris Brogan.