Reporters prefer the Email pitch

Do reporters use social media? Yes they
do, almost universally. Do they want you
to send them pitches that way? Not at
all.
That’s according to the 2014 State of
the Media report released by marketing
and PR software firm Vocus Thursday.
In its survey of 256 media professionals
from newspapers, online media, TV,
magazines, and radio, researchers found
that more than 90 percent of
respondents say email is their preferred
method of receiving story ideas.
The other options were social media,
phone calls, and instant messenger.
A magazine health care reporter the
researchers interviewed said, “Social
media is conversation in public with the
public. What I decide to report on is not
open for public debate. Plus, it’s lazy. If
you can find my Twitter handle, you can
find my email.”
Another interviewee, an online business
reporter, added, “I just want a short,
clear press release with some facts so I
can see if I want to follow up.”
Nearly half of the respondents—45
percent— said they’d rather not
receive pitches through social media at
all. The ones who did say they’re OK
with social media pitches tended to
prefer Facebook (37.1 percent) and
Twitter (30.6 percent).
The study found that nearly all the
reporters surveyed do use social media,
at least occasionally. Only 1.9 percent
said they never use it, while more than
three-fourths use it either “very
frequently” or “frequently.”
They view social media more as a tool
for self-promotion than for connecting
with sources, however. The biggest
groups of respondents said they most
often use social media for connecting
with viewers and readers or promoting
stories.
[RELATED: Find out how to craft
the perfect pitch at our April PR
& Media Relations event in NYC.
]
Asked to rank their trust in information
coming from social media on a scale
from one to 10, the biggest group, 27.2
percent, said they’d give it a five.

posted from Bloggeroid