Getting social with media relations — 5 tips for building relationships with journalists on social media

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

You have just written your first ever press release, or you are a PR professional convinced you have pitched the greatest story, and you still don’t receive any responses from journalists? Don’t let that drag you down! At Laika, we understand what that feels like,  and even statistics show that you are not alone: a survey from Muck Rack showed that 59 per cent of participants struggled with getting answers from journalists. However, most of the time, it’s not personal. But if you then get the idea to just message them on another channel to get their attention, think twice! Because then, the next time a journalist ignores you, it might really be personal. 

The idea of connecting with journalists on additional channels isn’t a bad one though. Social media can very well be used to build relationships between PR professionals and journalists, and trusting relationships make getting an answer more likely next time you send an e-mail. To get a better idea on how to achieve this, Lisa, one of our working students, decided to take this topic on for her bachelor’s thesis. This blog post will share her results and cover the basics of trust and relationship building with journalists on social media.

Social media follower ≠ friends

Preconditions for building trusting relationships with journalists over social media

First of all, building trusting relationships is not easy, meaning that it’s not enough to just hit the follow button, and then poof… you are friends. To come up with some tips on how these relationships are really built, Lisa researched theories on relationship building, and conducted interviews with German PR professionals, journalists, and people with a background in both professions. In her research, she found that building a relationship over social media depends on different preconditions. Being able to use social media and the possibilities it offers, communicating on a mutual and equal basis, sharing only useful information, being committed to using social media, and creating an atmosphere that builds empathy are the most important ones. Furthermore, to build a trusting relationship, even more criteria come into play. For building trust, being authentic and having integrity are most important. Only then, journalists can see you as benevolent, competent, and dependable, which are the other three criteria needed for trust. To make it easier to put this knowledge into practice, Lisa summed up all the findings in five easy tips on how to build trusting relationships with journalists on social media.

1. Network, don’t pitch

When you want to build trusting relationships with journalists over social media, it should really be about networking. Journalists recognize if you are honestly interested in them and their work, or if you just want to push yourself and your content on to them. Rather than just sending pitches via direct messages, try to follow the journalist, like their posts, or even start meaningful discussions in the comments. This way, a relationship can be built that goes way deeper than a one-time interaction about that one press release you want to get published. Social media also makes it so much easier to get to know the journalists because of all the profile information, photos, posts, comments, and so on. Use this knowledge so you only contact journalists about topics interesting to them. Journalists are confronted with so much spam, fake news, and an overwhelming amount of information on every channel, especially on social media. This way, you can make sure to not be part of this problem.

2. Keep calm and network on

You followed the first rule, but because you are so careful and only contact journalists about really relevant topics, there hasn’t been any direct contact for a while now? Don’t stress, this does not mean that all the work you already put into this relationship is lost. One PR professional in Lisa’s interview called this a “latent relationship”. The special thing about social media is that you can be up-to-date about another person even when you are not in a direct exchange. If you then want to pick up the direct exchange again, you can directly tie it to your knowledge or to prior interactions. Unlike e-mails, old chats on social media are still visible and easy to re-read. If you tell a journalist via mail that you already had contact with them, they may or may not believe you. Journalists are in contact with so many people, and if you don’t have a strong relationship yet, it might be that they don’t remember you and their inbox is way too full to check. But seeing the old chat on social media creates common ground. 

3. Commitment is key

To take advantage of latent relationships on social media, you need to be committed to using it. This means that you should check for updates regularly to stay up-to-date, answer and react to messages, and maybe even post about yourself to create value and be interesting to your followers. During the interviews Lisa conducted, this was referred to as the importance of social media as a “constant background noise” by a participant. However, sadly, in her research, she found that PR professionals are usually more committed to these social media interactions than journalists are, meaning that they follow and like more often. Of course, commitment is also a matter of resources. Both parties already have stressful jobs, so don’t pressure yourself too much. Still, social media should not be forgotten. When you want to use it professionally, it is something that you cannot just do on the side.

4. The bigger the better is outdated

Even if you or your clients reach for the stars, don’t promise the moon. So, no overpromising or using too many buzzwords. Not all clients and stories are the greatest, and journalists know that. They like it better if you are honest and self-critical, because otherwise, they would be more skeptical of you. Honesty is not only important regarding clients, but also when it comes to self-presentation. Forget about “go big or go home”  and turn that instead into “go authentic or go home”. When you are inauthentic, all your actions might get questioned by journalists. Even when you aim to be nice to them and, for instance, share their article to boost their reach — which usually is appreciated — yet they might interpret it as you doing this to get something back. This is harmful in building trust. Therefore, always mean what you say and do.

5. Be a gentle(wo)man

Lastly, the most obvious but maybe even the most important tip: Basic etiquette also applies on social media, even if some tend to forget that. So, be respectful, reliable, punctual, polite, patient, and professional. Already, with just these basics, your chances for building a relationship are quite high. Additionally, integrity is key: If you can’t accept a no, or you treat people unfairly, don’t expect anyone to see you as dependable, competent or even trustworthy. Regarding professionalism, it is true that social media creates a more personal environment. However, make sure that you don’t cross personal boundaries. The journalist posted a video of their cat? Then it might be fine to mention the cat in the next conversation if it comes up. But don’t pretend like you are good friends if you barely know each other or crack inappropriate jokes.

And now?

5 tips to build trusting relationships with journalists

So, now you have some tips on how to build trusting relationships with journalists on social media. Based on these tips, you can find a strategy for yourself on how you want to use social media for relationship building. This can make it easier for you to commit to these platforms in a professional, consistent and confident way. For starters, answer questions like what you want to achieve on social media, how many personal details you want to share with your professional contacts, how much time you can invest, and which channel you want to use. Lisa, for instance, found LinkedIn to be very popular for building professional relationships — at least in Germany. The last thing to remember is that while your plan should help you represent your authentic self, and therefore fit your ideas and needs, you must also accept that everybody else also has their own ideas and needs, which may not fit in your plan.  That said, try using these relationship building tips yourself, take advantage of social media — follow, like, share, interact and engage.