Given enough pressure, even the grumpiest baby boomer in communications will admit that social media can earn a media placement. The problem is that everyone else knows that already. The question is how to make social media work the news when competition is tight and attention spans are low.
Tracy Samantha Schmidt, the principal at her eponymous PR firm, is seeing a lot of clients land earned media from social media.
"Just last week, a client earned an interview with a Wall Street Journal columnist after he saw an Instagram post she shared," Schmidt says. "Last year, a journalist from AARP asked another client if she could quote from a blog post she'd written."
I recently experienced this same success from a social media post that was picked up by an international media outlet. Here's what I learned.
Stop Chasing Consensus
When news of SpaceX's IPO dropped, the starting gun went off. There's only one slot for "first to post the hot take"—not a viable option for 99.9% of the population. That's why many people instead offer substantive analysis that creates a second round of coverage.
This case offered two top narratives: (1) "Elon Musk is an evil trillionaire," and (2) "Elon Musk created over 4,000 millionaires." Between the two, (1) launched first, but (2) had legs—it was unusual and it reached local communities where each newly minted millionaire lives.
This was not contrarianism for its own sake. It was an effort to thoughtfully challenge the consensus—the foundation of a good newsjacking story.
Policastro Communications Founder Jacqueline Policastro noted something else important.
"One of the first things reporters do after identifying a potential expert or interview subject is Google them and dive into everything they can find, including social media," Policastro says. "A professional bio may tell us what someone accomplished, but a LinkedIn post, an Instagram photo or even the way they talk about an issue can reveal why their perspective matters."
As my LinkedIn friend Chase has put it, reporters are ageist—they refuse to consider old news. That's why most people should focus not on being first, second or third to the "takes," but on finding something nobody else is saying.
Facts for Breakfast
The downside of social media is that it's created a chaotic "make the news" horse race in which many people confuse confidence with credibility. Slam an opinion on the table and people will believe it, because look how many exclamation points you're using (!!!).
But reporters still care about research, experience and evidence. Renee Lynn Frojo, Founder of A Good Reputation says, anyone can have an uneducated opinion on anything, but perspectives mean more.
"A perspective is essentially an opinion that adds value and carries weight because it's backed by experience and earned wisdom," Frojo says.
You could state that SpaceX's IPO is about more than just Elon Musk the new trillionaire, but it would have been just an opinion. Instead, using the "20 years in the media" angle to frame why thousands of millionaires are likely to snag local media coverage—gives months or even years of legs to the story long after the "evil" narrative died off.
It wasn't just hot air. It was substantive and thoughtful value-add commentary.
No Social Media Worship
"Okay, so I should become a content creator. Like Mr. Beast."
Nope!
PR doesn't need social media for earned media success. Heck, some clients' most effective placements have nothing to do with social media, and the sources often have only a few posts to their name.
But the reality is that journalists care about social media as both proof of credibility and a source for their content. Chief Marketing Officer at Scale, Becca Chambers, says journalists have reached out to her cold because a social media post showed her expertise on a timely topic.
"They knew I'd be willing to talk, because I was already talking," Chambers says. "Reporters are stretched thin. They don't have time to hunt down an expert who might route them through three layers of PR approval."
Earned media will always have its place, but it doesn't have to be the only tool in the boomer's toolbox. Hitting a social media home run is not out of reach—and it can make an old PR man feel young again.
Dustin Siggins is Founder at Proven Media Solutions.