The dos and don’ts of social media pitching

One study suggests that over 96 percent of journalists use social media every day.

Almost all journalists use Twitter, nearly everyone in the civilized world is on Facebook, 92 percent of journalists are purported to be on LinkedIn, and any number of journalists and influencers are using any social network at any given time. Social media offers access to anyone else on it (more or less), which means that every PR practitioner and communications aspirant can interact with journalists, bloggers or others who wield influence.

I want to examine conventional wisdom about how PR practitioners should use social media to communicate with journalists. In each instance I separate “pitches” from usual interaction, because there are some social networks where it is appropriate to interact but not to pitch.